Former world and Commonwealth champion Ross Wilson has reflected on his retirement from table tennis following the latest in a series of injuries that have plagued him throughout his illustrious career.
The 30-year-old three-time Paralympian from Minster in Kent won Paralympic team medals at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and reached a career high of world number 2 in men’s Class 8.
In April 2018, he won gold in the men’s Class 6-10 singles at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and later that year became the men’s Class 8 world champion after beating the double Paralympic champion from China in the final.
“I know my body very well after all the injuries I’ve had,” he said. “Last year I had my labrum repaired because I tore it and then they reshaped my hip. Before the surgery my bone got bruised which could result in a fracture and I also have cartilage damage that was a little too far gone to repair but the doctor said if they shaved the bone off so it didn’t have bone to bone contact then the hip should heal and I should be fine.
“So I spent seven months rehabbing and working really hard and when I came back they found that my hip was already broken anyway, so I was going to be out again for a long time. It would probably take me about a year to get back to a decent level, and I just thought, ‘I don’t want to do it again’. It’s just not there for me now and it’s not something that I really want anymore.”
Wilson played table tennis for the first time while on holiday at Center Parcs and an onlooking member of staff, noticing the Arsenal shirt he was wearing, dubbed him the Thierry Henry of table tennis. As a junior, he was ranked in the top 10 in the country and won two national doubles titles before being diagnosed with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, which affects the growing ends of the bones.
He joined the GB Para squad in 2011 and won bronze in the men’s grade 6-8 team event in London in 2012 at the age of 17. He overcame a series of injuries and two years out of the sport to qualify for Rio 2016 and take another bronze in the men’s class 6-8 team.
Despite further injury problems, he competed in his third Paralympic Games in Tokyo and took team bronze with Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton, but missed out on qualifying for Paris 2024 after being reclassified in Class 9 on the eve of the 2023 European Championships.
“Injuries have definitely been the biggest challenge of my career,” he said, “and it has shaped a lot in the way I have been able to train and play, which has been a bit limiting. To be as good as I needed to be, that in itself has been a huge challenge because there are some great players out there.”
“Looking back, I think I was able to continue the career I had and when I look at the people I competed against, I’m really proud of that.
“I would probably say that winning the World Championship is the biggest highlight for me. That was always my dream growing up; I remember when I was little, someone came to interview me and he said, ‘What are your goals?’ I said I wanted to be world champion and he said ‘yes, but what is your realistic goal’ and I looked at my mother and said ‘what is this man talking about, that’s what I’m going to do’.
“I must have been under ten years old, so to have worked as hard as I have all those years and then to be able to win the World Cup gold and the title under my belt is something that I will be able to have with me for the rest of my life.
“Winning gold at the Commonwealth Games was also a huge highlight for me and being able to do that with Team England was a completely different experience. I think it was my first non-Paralympic multi-sport event and my family traveled to Australia to watch me, so it was lovely to share such a great experience with them.
“London 2012 was definitely another big highlight for me. I remember my first match, I was playing against a Polish player who was really good, and it took me the whole first match to realize that the crowd was actually supporting me because it was so loud that it took a few seconds for the sound to actually reach me. That was an amazing experience and so different from anything I had ever experienced before.”
“I lost 3-2 in the semi-finals to Chinese player Zhao Shuai, who won gold in London, Rio and Tokyo, and then I lost the bronze medal match to Swedish player Emil Andersson. Losing in the singles motivated me even more for the team event and I remained undefeated in the singles matches in the team event and we managed to get the bronze medal, which was great.
“I’m definitely going to miss competing. I think one thing I’ve learned throughout my career is how to be disciplined and hardworking and I think I’ll miss the work for those competitions because although it can get a bit boring and repetitive, I found that it was during those boring times that I could best improve and develop. I would try to work a little harder than everyone else and I think that made a world of difference and I ended up enjoying those times so I’m going to miss the general day-to-day work in the room as well as the actual competition.”
Wilson recently graduated with a first-class degree in psychology, which could well provide the foundation for the next phase of his life.
“I have a few options and I’m not sure which way I’m going to go,” he said. “I’ve been doing some coaching over the last few months, which I’ve really enjoyed, and I’ve also been doing some psychology work, so I don’t know if I’ll end up in a general psychology role or a sports psychology role. I really enjoy the psychology part of the sport, so maybe I’ll do something that integrates that into what I do next.”
The late Gorazd Vecko MBE played a huge role in Wilson’s career and nurtured the 15-year-old when he moved to Sheffield to train full-time with the Great Britain squad.
“The first time I met Gorazd, I had never met anyone like him,” Wilson recalls. “He was very different from everyone else, and I ended up moving into the bungalow with him and some of the other players quite early on.
“Gorazd was like a second father figure to many members of the team and he brought his family over, so I grew up with and was very close to his son and daughter, Alex and Pia. We talk a lot about the family structure that Gorazd brought to the program, and I think that came from the very beginning, when we all spent so much time together and basically did everything together as a family.
“Throughout my entire career, Gorazd has been there. A lot of things have happened during that time, and he has been the biggest support you could ask for – not just for me, but for virtually every member of the team. He was a great person and he has a great family. His family has now become our family, which really shows that the family structure he brought in was something very special.
“Greg Baker, Andrew Rushton and Jason Sugrue have also played a big role in my table tennis career and I would like to thank them all.”
Paying tribute to Wilson’s career, British Para Table Tennis Program Manager Shaun Marples said: “Ross is a brilliant person to be around, and he has been great for the program over the years with his fantastic performances in winning the world title in 2018 and being a three-time Paralympic medallist.
“He has had an incredible career and an incredible journey. It is a sad time for the program that Ross has decided to move on, but we appreciate why given the circumstances. He has always had to deal with his injuries, but while in Sheffield he has grown as a person. He has completed his university education and got married.”
“We all feel the warmth and love that Ross has brought to the program, and he will be missed, but he will always be welcome at any time. Many people are proud of Ross and what he has done for the sport, and we would love to have him continue to be involved with us in the future.”
“Thank you, Ross, for all you have done for British Para Table Tennis – together with others you have taken the sport to a new level in this country, so thank you for your contribution and what you have done for Para Table Tennis.”
#Ross #Wilson #admits #latest #injury #tough #overcome #reflects #career #Table #Tennis #England