History

The Veteran formation in our country dates back to the 1990s. At that time, all athletes were continuing their activities under the roof of the Veteran Association, on the Fenerbahçe peninsula, in the Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe Facilities. We were all trying to spread the VETERAN event, announce this sport to the masses, and gain members. In 1997, the Galatasaray club closed the Table Tennis branch and transferred the hall to water polo. Thus, the Table Tennis players who used the hall were left out and started looking for a hall for themselves. Because the Fenerbahçe Sports Club Facility was not large enough to accommodate all the members. Here, a small distinction began to form between those who came to Fenerbahçe and those who did not. In the meantime, the regular general assembly period of the Veteran Association arrived. Some of my friends nominated me as the association's president and, after an unpleasant election, I lost the election by 1 vote. The friends who won the election started making speeches that made me feel that they were the ones in charge of the association and that I could establish another association if necessary. When I realized that they were uncomfortable with me, I left all my work there and in 1999, with permission from the Fenerbahçe Board of Directors, I founded the “FENERBAHÇE VETERAN TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS ASSOCIATION”. We continued our activities under the roof of Fenerbahçe Sports Club until 2005. The monthly payments made by the veterans provided great support to the club. In addition, by having former national players play with youth athletes, the veterans played a big role in the youth team gaining experience and achieving success. When my duty at Fenerbahçe Sports Club ended in 2005, we were also left without a place. In line with the requests of my friends, we gathered with around 50 friends at Moda Municipality Facilities and made an assessment of the situation. All of my friends encouraged me by telling me that they trusted me at that meeting, that they were behind me, and that they arranged a hall and wanted me to continue in the same way and not to give up after all this effort. We started looking for a hall together. When I was looking for a hall, I never wanted a hall in the basement, between columns. Table Tennis had to be removed from Bodrum. For three months, I didn’t leave a place on the Anatolian Side that I didn’t visit, I didn’t like any place. When I had no hope left, our Vice President Nesibe Müsevitoğlu, who was the Education and Culture Director at the Kadıköy Municipality, was also working at the Kadıköy District Governor’s Office at the same time and was doing research for us. Nesibe Müsevitoğlu brought the news that the gym of our current school in Göztepe Automotive Industry would be rented and I went and looked at it right away. The gym was in terrible condition, but in other respects it was exactly what I wanted. We immediately obtained permissions from the National Education, School Principal and District Governor’s Office and rented the school with a 3-year grace period with a build-operate-transfer system. We started construction again and first smoothed out the uneven floor coverings. We had the hall heating installed with a radiant system from the ceiling and brought the lighting system to international standards. We needed to build a facility next door for the changing room, showers and cafeteria section, and the Kadıköy Municipality would provide support for this. We prepared a project and submitted it for approval. Just when everything was complete, Kadıköy Municipality gave up on construction because the Metropolitan Municipality declared this area as a reclamation area during the approval. We did not give up again, this time we were left with the expenses of this place and started the construction. Money was going everywhere. Money was not enough and I was in a tight spot, I asked for some support, but no one said anything. I held a meeting, explained the situation and in order to make it attractive, I asked everyone for 1000.- TL so that they could use the hall for 3 years free of charge when it was finished. 30 of my friends paid this money. We completed the construction by taking a loan from the bank and had a nice opening. The district governor, the director of national education, the late Halil Türkkan who donated the school, the principals of the surrounding schools and members of the protocol attended the opening. Our association was praised in the speeches and it was wanted to be an example for everyone. There is no such facility built by the table tennis community within the borders of Turkey with its own means. All our association members can be proud of this.

As soon as we started operating, the first thing we did was to prepare a new bylaw for our association to be able to operate in all branches and to transform it into a sports club with the club number 1473. If we wanted, we could even establish a football team. We established our coaching team for the infrastructure and started team activities to play in the leagues. Although we had no money other than the monthly payments we collected from our members, we caused many of our players to go to other clubs. Batuhan and Tarık Ulucak brothers went to İBB, Gülpenbe Özkaya went to Fenerbahçe. We did not request any money for these players. All of them are currently playing in the National Team. We distributed many more players we trained to various clubs. The RATING tournaments and SUNDAY tournaments we held within the association also attracted attention in the surrounding provinces and our work became an example. Our friends from BURSA who participated in our tournaments eventually declared us a sister club and implemented our system exactly as it was. We also pioneered the establishment of several associations. We have been continuing the International Veteran Table Tennis Tournaments that we started in 2000 with the cooperation of Kadıköy Municipality with uninterrupted success since then. As I mentioned in my resume, I have never been a part of the Table Tennis community. I have always been involved in financial and moral activities. Because there is no infrastructure for table tennis. We create this with our labor. I AM TIRED NOW, ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!! Currently, our association's board of directors consists of young and active friends, all of them are trying to take the association to higher levels. Our Girls' Team continues their struggle in the 1st League under the sponsorship of Özcan Köm and our Boys' Team Bülent Nömer. Our coaches, Sedat Taşkın and Ünal Civak are at the head of the infrastructure works. Our club members are aware that everyone is equal under the roof of the association and that a person's social opportunities should remain outside the association. We have turned a deaf ear to those who do nothing but criticize. We see these people as people who have never left even their little fingers untouched and who live in their own ego worlds.

Our association members are aware of the fact that they only engage in activities to glorify the association. Those who think otherwise have no place in the association anyway. We are pleased to see the words Fenerbahçe Veteran Member written next to the names of our association members in various tournaments they participate in. Everyone follows everything, being multi-sided sometimes creates problematic situations. Everyone wants to see their friends by their side. Let's not forget that associations have democratic rights as much as individuals. Our members pay their monthly and annual payments on time, they know that this is necessary for the association to survive. If tournaments held in our environment overlap with ours, they prefer our association's tournament, they embrace our club and give signals of unity and solidarity, and our club will be strengthened in every way in the future. We are preparing a new bylaw suitable for the new conditions for our association, which is getting stronger every day. When our staff is well established, we will switch to a system where all our members will have rights in the new ordinary general assembly and the presidency will change. We will inform you about the details of the regulations later. From now on, we will continue our struggle hand in hand with you to keep the table tennis sport alive and alive. We are waiting for everyone from seven to seventy to play table tennis in our club.

Kind regards

Savaş Pravuştalı