Ex-Trinidad and Tobago table tennis players put their soul into sports book

FORMER Trinidad and Tobago table tennis players Bellina Barrow and Sherdon Pierre have collaborated with several ex-pro athletes and sport administrators to co-author the book Soul of an Athlete - Stories and Lessons on Life Post-Athletics.

The pair are the only contributing authors outside of the US and combined to write the book’s seventh chapter, entitled Conquering the Racquet World.

The book was launched in September 2023 and “explores the wisdom and invaluable life lessons that lie within athletics. It's not just about the victories or records; it's about the relentless pursuit of personal growth and the resilience forged through triumph and tribulation,” its description read.

Altogether, 14 former athletes share their stories and life lessons about sport and personal reinvention.

In their chapter, Barrow and Pierre share their knowledge and experiences as ex-athletes and administrators, and how they transitioned and built their post-athletic careers. Barrow is now an attorney at a law and Pierre a sports agent and journalist.

Both started their ping pong careers at D’Abadie Youths before Barrow moved to Woodbrook Gladiators.

“We wrote about our life, entry into sport as we would have done different things before we got into table tennis. We tracked our entry, analysed our table tennis and our careers, the personal and administrative challenges and the wins,” Barrow said.

“When you have to make the decision to focus more on academics or your career than sport, and you kind of have to come down on one side. After a while if you’re not going to become a pro athlete you have to be an upstanding citizen and lead a professional life.”

Through LinkedIn, US-based non-profit organisation Athletes Soul put forward their project to Barrow in search of contributing authors. She approached Pierre who was also willing to document his journey.

Athletes Soul is a support system for retiring athletes and its mission is to support athletes as they transition away from sports, raise awareness about the challenges of athletic retirement, and empower athletes to develop beyond sports.

Despite both former talents highlighting some of the ups and downs in their past sporting careers, they hope their collective submissions can serve as real-world examples, and also help to inspire positive change going forward, for athletes, administrators and the sport at large.

“We want do more work beyond this book to help sports in TT, at any level,” Barrow added. “While we did not achieve maybe what we wanted to achieve, if the improvements are made, those coming up can benefit from the improved system and structures, to lessen future casualties, those bringing a short end to their careers. We want to be change makers in that regard.”

Pierre said the writing process was a bit tough, at points, since despite being a journalist, he’d never written about himself to that extent. He has a BSc in Sport Studies as well as an international Masters in Sports Development.

Like Barrow, Pierre penned his journey in sport, some of the issues faced during his stint and how he used sport as an opportunity to further his academics.

“Writing this chapter with Bellina would not have been possible if it wasn’t for sport, touring the world and meeting new people, because sports has been my entire life

“We brought something different to the book because we’re the only authors who are based outside of the US. We brought a difference in culture, experiences and obstacles faced. Some of the athletes may or may not have faced similar issues but there are challenges in every nation, not only in TT,” he said.

Like his compatriot co-author, Pierre remains optimistic their contributions can spark improvement and change in the way sport is looked at and run.

“I hope my story can affect people positively especially the younger ones. Being an athlete 20 years ago is a lot different to now. What I went through, they could look back and improve on to become an even better athletes and sport academic than I am.”

Both writers described the process and “enjoyable” and “nostalgic”.

They urged sport enthusiasts to pick up a copy of the book via Amazon.com or through private message via social media.

Barrow closed by saying, “We all have a story to tell. There’s no reason to hide your story or to be ashamed of it. Tell it and also be part of the narrative to change the stories of others coming up behind you.

“There’s life and work to be done beyond TT, and you can have impact and engage and collaborate with people beyond your home country, to make that kind of change.

“That’s the reason for the chapter. Because we don’t want to only tell our story but also be part of solving the problems in our different ways, capacities and professions.”