30 July 2026
Five SPSC students travelled to Weihai, China, during the July holidays as part of a three-week South Australian table tennis training tour.
Zeek Neelawala (Year 4), Will Neelawala (Year 6), Henry He (Year 7), Ben Wang (Year 10) and Charlie Baker (Year 10) joined a team of 15 South Australian players at the Weihai National Olympic Training Centre.
From Monday to Saturday, the players completed seven to eight hours of group training, along with fitness sessions and individual coaching with elite coaches. They also had the opportunity to train and play matches against players from Shandong, Inner Mongolia, the Taiwan region and Switzerland under the guidance of former Chinese national team coaches.
Will, Zeek and Charlie reflected on their experiences:
Will Neelawala (Year 6):
Hello, my name is Will Neelawala, and I am an 11-year-old in year 6. I am currently ranked number 1 in the state for my age group. I attended a National Table Tennis training camp in China specifically in Weihai for 3 weeks, my parents and other Table Tennis teammates joined me on this journey. I trained in a high-performing environment alongside professional coaches and Olympic players. The intense training involved playing for 6 to 7 hours a day excluding 1 on 1 trainings. We played matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays against other team players, Sunday was our break day, so the team would organise a trip. The intense training helped me improve my footwork, technique, consistency, and tactical mindset. It gave me a better mindset on training and matches, giving me chances to play with unique styles of players. I learned to adapt to players styles during heated matches and confidently. I played with other passionate players which allowed me to motivate myself hitting shots. My Chinese was not the best, so my kind friends translated to me. This was my China training experience for the holidays, I had a great time.
Thank you
Zeek Neelawala (Year 4):
Hello everyone, my name is Zeek Neelawala in South Australia I am placed number two in table tennis. when we were Going in the plane to China it was so devastating waiting for 6 to 7 hours a day. When we arrived, I was so shocked about the China airport because it was massive and it was the biggest airport I’ve ever seen in my whole life. In China we stayed in Qingdao and the city we stayed in was Weihai and we stayed in Olympic Centre the hotel was right next to us so we could walk to the training centre.
I felt that the training was much harder and more tough than South Australia for me, I thought that the players were way higher standard, and I felt that there was better than south Australian people. I like how we play matches at the end so then I can judge my standard personally , I think the training made me better and it made me improve in more pacific stuff like top spins for an example.
Charlie Baker (Year 10):
In the June/July holidays (lasting 21 days), I had the opportunity to travel to China to train table tennis at a national level. A team consisting of state players from SA and I were able to travel to Shan Dong, Weihai National Olympic training center. Daily training consisted of roughly 8 hours starting from early in the morning (~8:00 am) till evening time (8:30 pm) with breaks in between. The team and I was extremely privileged to be able to stay and train at Olympic training centre consisted of 2 gyms, 3 training halls (consisting of ~90 professional tables), a running track, combined with a buffet and 5-star hotel stay rooms (with 24/7 room service).
The training in China was extremely intense and professional, trainings where extremely structured with daily physical sessions, drills, and match tournament days. Compared with training in South Australia, training was much more challenging, but allowed me to improve significantly. The facilities and resources were very high end and modern (incomparable to any training centre in all of Australia).
With the help of the Gym trainers, physio trainers, national and former Olympic coaches such as Li sun (former National head coach for the Chinese team) and Wang nan (having won 4 Olympic gold medals, 15 world championship titles, and 4 world cup titles), my physical ability, endurance and technique and understanding in table tennis significantly improved.
The people training alongside us was players from Taiwan national team, England national team, USA national team and Chinese province & national team players made me feel very welcome in another country. Coaches and the players were very welcoming, kind and supportive despite there being a language barrier.
I am extremely excited and I look forward to going back to the Weihai Olympic national training centre again in September before representing South Australia in nationals.
Shelby Baker
Teacher – Chinese Language
2026/27 National Hopes Tour
In June Charlie Baker, SPSC year 10 student attended the Table Tennis Australia Under-18 Future Pathway Camp, a prestigious development program designed to identify and support emerging talent from across the country.
Following two days of competing and assessment, the 17 participating players competed in a playoff to determine the camp’s top performer. Charlie delivered an outstanding performance, remaining undefeated throughout the competition and finishing as the overall winner.
This achievement will earn Charlie valuable rating points towards his national ranking, yet his rapid progress and high level of play have already attracted the attention of national coaches. Through countless hours of training, he has established himself as one of South Australia’s most promising young players. Charlie’s next goal is to represent South Australia at the National Junior Championships later this year, alongside fellow St Peter’s College table tennis player Steven So, who is currently undertaking advanced training in China.
Adreeja Sitwala
Coordinator – Table Tennis
