GOLDEN DAY FOR
PARRIS
By Gregory Trujillo
Midweek Sports
Trinidad Publishing Company
March 1, 2000
Page 8
Shelley-Anne Parris received two gifts on her 23rd birthday on
February 9, which she will cherish for the rest of her life.
The
gifts were not given to her by anyone special.
They were not from her mother, father, two brothers and sisters, nor
were they from her friends.
Instead,
Parris earned them through her own dedication and excellence in the sporting
arena.
Firstly,
Parris, in her role as goalkeeper, won a gold medal as she inspired Malvern to
victory in the Matouk's Big Four hockey tournament, which was staged at the
National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua.
Then,
the talented lass grabbed her first ever senior table tennis crown (trophy and
gold medal) by emerging women's champion in the Clico classified championships
at Jean Pierre Complex.
"I
saw it as a blessing in disguise…it's kinda special for a tournament final to
fall on your birthday," said Shelley-Anne, after smashing her way to her
first national senior ping-pong title.
The
Crusaders player broke the "jinx" by turning back 26-year-old
southpaw Shelly Ann Wilson 21-19, 21-19 in the final.
Her
victory crowned off a memorable double for her Crusaders Club, as clubmate
Anthony "Sand Fly" Brown triumphed over two-time defending champion
Courtney Pugh 21-16, 21-19.
"I've
been on the fringe for a while, but the turnaround has come because of a closer
association with Crusaders," Paris disclosed. "I'm really grateful for the dedication of my coach Colin
Cudjoe and the support I got from the rest of my clubmates like Anthony Brown,
Qwame Laurence, Terrance Corbin and Michael Noel."
"Also
Trinidad and Tobago Table Tennis Association secretary Stanley Hunte showed us
a video of top foreign players and what I saw was one of the things that
inspired me to play harder," added the accounts clerk with Consulting
Accounting Secretarial House Limited (CASH).
Parries,
who stands five feet, five inches, used powerful drives, looping shots and
spinning serves to brush aside her D'Abadie opponent - something that she
struggled to get right in many of her previous encounters against the top
players in the country.
She
believes that her hockey goalkeeping has helped a great deal in building her
confidence on the green-table.
"I
firmly believe that the goalkeeping made me a bolder person," she
said. 'It's hard to let a hockey ball
fly at you at 100 miles per hour and not flinch and that made me
confident."
Parris
explained that she worked harder on her backhand, despite the limited time she
had to train (her club trains only on Mondays and Wednesdays when the T&TEC
ballroom is available).
She
said: "It was necessary for me to work on my backhand because I feel that
that is an asset since it shortens the movements on the table."
"Instead
of pushing only, I started to loop and that made my game more attacking."
Parries
started playing table tennis at the age of nine at Newtown Girls' RC under
school coach Aubrey Edwards, whose daughter Aleena was a member of the team as
well.
"Aleena
was always better than me…she kept coming first and I second," she
admitted.
When
Parris passed her Common Entrance Exam for St Francois College she gave up the
game for a little while to concentrate on field events (javelin, discus and
shot putt).
"I
wanted to do something new and different," she said. "And, because I was good at it at
school I gave it a try. But I stopped
after leaving school because there weren't suitable training facilities."
Five
years ago she returned to the sport she loved in her childhood days but she
confessed that her heart wasn't in the game then.
The
soft-spoken player said that her liking for hockey grew as a result of having
to accompany her younger sister Liselle to training with Malvern.
Parris
is from Cocorite and lives with her mother Sylvia, father Dellington, brothers
Dellano (25) and Jason (22) and sisters Liselle (17) and Julia (13).
She
is the only family member who plays table tennis. Dellano plays rugby (former Roebuck member), Jason is a middle
distance runner with Memphis Pioneers, Liselle plays hockey for St Francois and
Malvern and Julia is a member of St James Secondary football team.
"Our
father instills in us to be active in sports," she ended. "That's what he wants and that's what
he gets."