Evergreen, T&T pros pass test of time
By: Kwame Laurence (Trinidad Express).
"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"
These words, spoken by African American baseball legend Satchel Paige, are a source of inspiration for Dexter St Louis, Trinidad and Tobago's best-ever table tennis player.
"I heard it about ten years ago" St Louis explains. "This is my motto."
St Louis turns 41 this month, but is still a key player for his French club, Cam Bordeaux. He has been a pro since 1992, but is still highly motivated and not ready to talk about retirement.
"I don't want to put a clock on it. The body is feeling good; the club has confidence in me."
Followers of the sport here in the United Kingdom would remember St Louis as the man who gave the home team a scare at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. The rasta-hairstyled left-hander won twice in T&T's 3-2 defeat to England.
St Louis was 34 when he forced the English table tennis fraternity to sit up and take notice. Many would have thought he was in the twilight of his career, but they were all wrong. Since his Manchester heroics, St Louis has captured his second and third Caribbean men's singles titles, in 2004 and 2005, and more significantly, made a second Olympic Games appearance at Beijing 2008.
And if St Louis takes pattern from Paige, his rivals both in France and the Caribbean won't be seeing his back for a very long time.
Paige made his major league debut at 42, and pitched in his last game, in 1965, at age 59.
St Louis is making a study of athletes who have defied the calendar. He is particularly impressed with cyclist Jeannie Longo, who finished fourth in the women's road time trial at the last Olympics. The French lady was 49 at the Beijing Games!
The amazing wheelwoman has-so far?-captured one Olympic gold medal, two silvers and a bronze.
Paolo Maldini is another golden oldie who has caught the eye of T&T's table tennis maestro. Just three months younger than St Louis, the former Italy football team skipper is still shining for AC Milan in Serie A.
Ian Cox is another veteran defender unwilling to hang up his boots. A member of the T&T squad at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Cox was a full-fledged pro up to the age of 37. But last March his stint at Gillingham ended after five years.
"When I finished at Gillingham," Cox says, "I wasn't enjoying it. I didn't want to train."
But the central defender didn't call off his career. Instead, he switched to semi-pro football with Ryman Premier League team Maidstone United.
Cox appreciated the regular routine of two training days and one match per week, as opposed to the everyday commitment during nine years of Premier League, League Championship and League One football, at Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Burnley and Gillingham. And while there was a significant pay cut, he was happy to make the adjustment.
However, Cox has not lined up for Maidstone since January 23. About five months ago, he got a job working with young offenders, and has found it increasingly difficult to juggle his schedule. But we probably haven't heard the last of Ian Cox the footballer. The man who was nicknamed "Pops" by his Gillingham teammates still has a passion for the beautiful game.
"I'm not ready to finish," Cox declares. "I'm still reasonably fit. Age is nothing but a number. You're as young as you feel."
Dwight Yorke was 34 during the 2006 World Cup Finals, but if we are to judge by his performances he must have been feeling much younger.
"He was one of the fittest in the team," says Cox. "That's a testament to Dwight."
Yorke was a mere teenager when he made his Aston Villa debut back in 1990, The Smiling Assassin getting his first taste of top-flight English football against Crystal Palace. He was a key member of the Manchester United team that copped the coveted Champions League/Premiership/FA Cup treble in '99 and, a decade later, is still good enough to be in the Premier League set-up as part of the Sunderland squad.
Cox is very impressed with his fellow 37-year-old.
"Dwight has done fantastically well. A lot of players he used to play with, he has seen them off. He's always fit as a fiddle."
Like Yorke, St Louis appreciates the importance of physical fitness. Love of the sport, he says, compensates for the extra work he now requires.
The France-based pro offers sound words of advice for anyone planning to pursue a career in sport.
"Love what you're doing, and enjoy what you're doing. If you love something, you will sacrifice your life for it. If you don't love it "
Express assistant sports editor Kwame Laurence is currently on study leave in London, England. Kwame.Laurence.1@city.ac.uk
