Good Keane man made life member

MARION VAN DIJK/ The Nelson Mail

BIG LEAGUE: Bryan Keane was honoured with a Table Tennis New Zealand life membership, and has been elected chairman of the national body.

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Four decades of sporting involvement have resulted in life membership to Table Tennis New Zealand for Nelson's Bryan Keane.

He's the first Nelsonian to receive the honour, with the 52-year-old Keane also being elected as TTNZ's new board chairman in Whangarei at the weekend.

"It's a great honour," he said. "Usually life membership goes to people who are well into their 70s or 80s who have done years and years of service."

He said it was a humbling enough experience to be awarded life membership at TTNZ's 75th jubilee dinner and awards on Saturday night.

But, to be elected chairman the following day took him completely by surprise. "I was asked to stand for the board and I gave it a lot of thought and said, 'yes, I would stand', but I was lucky enough and pooled the highest which was again a bit of a surprise.

"And at the [board] meeting [on Sunday] they asked me if I'd be the chairman, which was another shock."

Keane, who moved to Nelson in 1988, has been involved in all aspects of table tennis on both the local and national scene since taking up the sport as a 12-year-old in 1969. His early involvement in administration saw him set up a club at school when he was 14. He was elected president of the North Harbour association aged just 19.

In the mid 90s, Keane was involved in bringing Chinese professional coach Binquan Hu to Nelson as a prelude to establishing the New Zealand Academy of Table Tennis in Stoke two years later. As a result, Nelson players won most of New Zealand's major titles in the following years.

Keane has filled many roles at national level, including TTNZ management committee member, board member, New Zealand team manager, convenor of selectors and technical convenor.

With no chief executive currently in place, chairman is now TTNZ's top position, of which Keane intends to take full advantage.

"My vision for TTNZ is to keep developing our player base, along with supporting our players to the Commonwealth Games and other international events, so I will be putting a lot of time into making sure these goals are met.

"TTNZ is in a sound financial state and with the support from Sparc and local RSOs, these goals can be achieved."

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