After training in Fort Worth, disabled table tennis players have Paralympic hopes

An angry bull known only as “56” brought Michael Godfrey’s professional rodeo career to a halt in 1996, with a thud and a broken neck that left him a quadriplegic.

It also ended a rough chapter in Godfrey’s life, which he had lived in a haze of drug abuse and alcoholism.

“I was just strung out on drugs, and the rodeo life was going fast,” said Godfrey, now 50, a Fort Worth native who lives in Dublin, in Erath County.

He spent last week training at Texas Wesleyan University with 10 other athletes with disabilities for the table tennis competitions in the Parapan American Games in Toronto next week.

The athletes, who have a wide range of disabilities, head to Toronto knowing a bigger prize awaits — a shot at the 2016 Paralympics next year in Rio de Janeiro.

“It is amazing that there are opportunities like this for athletes with disabilities,” said Jasna Rather, head coach at Wesleyan and director of the USA Table Tennis Para Program. “It definitely changes their life for the better, because they get involved. They’re not just staying at home and not socializing. They travel. They have lots of friends.”

Para athletes across the country are training on their own or with a handful of specialized programs, such as the one-week camp hosted by Texas Wesleyan.

The fifth quadrennial Parapan Games expects 1,608 athletes from 28 countries to compete in 15 sports.

Each para athlete has story about a game-changing event or illness he or she overcame, with competition table tennis playing a major role.

Godfrey is clean and sober and works on his family’s ranch.

“I broke my neck riding bulls, and now I’m raising them,” Godfrey said with a laugh. He said he might not have achieved that without table tennis. “I never thought I would be playing at this level by any means. It’s just given me another chance to do something productive in my sport.”

He plays with his paddle fastened to his wrist with a stretch bandage. “I asked for a major change, and three weeks later, the Holy Spirit took me right where he wants me. But I dang sure didn’t ever think I’d be playing pingpong around the world.”

Tahl Leibovitz, 40, a native of Israel who lives in Queens, N.Y., has coped since childhood with osteochondroma, which causes lumps to grow on his bones. He was homeless in his teenage years, stealing food from salad bars and sleeping in trains. He won a gold medal in table tennis at the 1996 Paralympics.

He won both while he was homeless, but later in 1996 he moved into an apartment with his sister.

“Table tennis showed me how to do hard work, to be disciplined and have good focus and concentration,” he said. “But most importantly, you’re training for something — and it’s four years away.”

He doesn’t see that living on trains and soup kitchen food should be a significant obstacle to winning a world championship.

“I think it’s not anything special,” he said. “The human condition adapts to different circumstances.”

Jenson Van Emburgh, who suffered a spinal-cord injury during birth, started playing table tennis when he was 9 and got into para programs at 11 or 12. He admits to being a bit nervous about his first Parapan American Games appearance, but he also is confident, a trait he credits to his success at table tennis.

“It’s helped me to meet more people and to talk better in front of people,” said Van Emburgh, who is a paraplegic and has full use of his hands for playing. “It’s helped me a better person.”

His mom cheered him from the bleachers. She’s a huge supporter of his decision to pursue the sport.

“It’s been great for him to be around other athletes and see them perform,” Tracey Van Emburgh said. “It has given him incredible self-confidence and self-esteem. I have to tell you, it has made the biggest difference in his life.”

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 9:58 AM with the headline "After training in Fort Worth, disabled table tennis players have Paralympic hopes."