BFTTC members turn it up at 40 year celebration tournament
Uwe Hohl explained that Blue Fountains Table Tennis was playing out of the Fontainebleau Nursery School Hall when it was first opened.
Current and past members of Blue Fountains Table Tennis Club (BFTTC), and their families, gathered for a social event and fun tournament in celebration of 40 years since the club was founded.
BFTTC was founded in 1984 and has been a strong member of the Randburg sports community since then. It is currently the largest table tennis club in the greater Johannesburg region, and the only club that has continuously existed for all these years.
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It has seen several hundred players come through its doors, many of whom represented both the Gauteng Province and South Africa at some level. It still has current provincial players, who will be competing at the upcoming South African National Championships.
The club chairperson is Uwe Hohl, one of the old players, having joined the club in 1989. He explained that the day was a success, with everybody enjoying the day and the games.
The tournament featured singles and doubles categories. Tevia Sapire won the singles beating Jonathan Wernich in a tense final. Prakash Singh and Jonathan Wernich were crowned doubles winners, beating Ronald Vice and Uwe Hohl in a nail-biting final.
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“The day has been excellent; even the people who haven’t played for 20 years are showing their competitive spirit,” said Hohl. “The current new members as well have shown amazing support. Since Covid, there has been a lot of new interest in table tennis. It’s been a great day; everybody is taking it lightly and enjoying the games.”
Among the attendees was the founder of the club, Rolf Horsthemke. Explaining how the club started he said that after he was chairman of Triple Crown for 12 years, he decided, at the closure of the league season in September 1984, to form a new club.
“In October 1984 I placed an advert in the Randburg Sun newspaper advising the community of a new club opening in the area, and playing out of the Fontainebleau Nursery School hall. Therefore, also hence the name, instead of calling the club Fontainebleau, we changed around to Blue Fountains. The response from the community was better than expected and therefore it was founded in November 1984.”
January 1985 the club had its first annual general meeting (AGM). It was decided that it would enter four teams into the 1985 league. Because of the growth, it moved premises and played out of the Roosevelt Park Recreation Club in 1990. It moved once again, to the Boskruin Community Centre, in 1991, and this became the club’s home for 28 years.
Because of security reasons it moved premises again in 2019, to the Lutheran Church Hall in Ferndale. In 2020 it found its current home at the NK Kerk in Ferndale.
Horsthemke added that he is proud of the growth and the improvement that the club has achieved over the years. He wishes for it to grow even further and stronger.
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