Merewalesi Vakacegu Rodan was introduced to table tennis in 2014.
To say that she fell in love with the sport would be an understatement. Her passion for the table-top game could perhaps be best measured by her personal commitment to never miss a training session, even when the family coffers were running on fumes.
The former Fiji Paralympian and multiple Pacific Games gold medallist, said from the first time she held a table tennis penhold paddle, she fell in love with the sport and vowed she would one day be a champion in Fiji.
Though a paraplegic, Rodan went on to defy all the odds stacked against her, and became one of the most recognisable and successful athletes in the Pacific.
She attended Vishnu Deo Memorial School for primary studies and moved on to Laucala Bay Secondary School and jumped straight into the workforce where she was employed at the Special Tea Bread Shop in Raiwaqa.
“At the time there were many financial constraints at home so my father thought that it was a good idea to work after high school,” the 55-year-old mother of six said.
She attended Fiji Vocational Centre to study teaching and after completing her studies in 1987, she received a contract to teach at Naleba College in Vanua Levu, Labasa.
Originally from Sinuvaca Village on Koro Island, in the province of Lomaiviti, Rodan was diagnosed with sepsis in 2006 – a condition that caused her to be paralysed from the waist down.
“As a young child, I used to have sharp pains in my back that would come and go over time,” she shared.
After years of shuttling back and forth between home and the hospital with doctors unable to find the root cause of the pain, she was finally diagnosed and underwent an operation in 2006 after her condition was identified by a student nurse at the time.
“The doctors said there was a 50 per cent chance that I would walk again, but they were not going to make any promises.”
The realisation that she may never walk again left Rodan devastated. She said she was able to deal with the depression through the overwhelming support of her husband and children. Rodan said she believed she was blessed to have such a close-knit family that had taken good care of her for the past 17 years.
After spending four months at the Tamavua Rehabilitation Centre in Suva, Rodan returned to her Vatuwaqa home and almost didn’t recognise the place.
“When I returned home, I found that my husband and kids had remodelled our house so that I would feel more comfortable moving around in my wheelchair. My kitchen had been lowered; there were ramps around the place so I could easily wheel into different rooms.”
The 2016 Sportswoman of the Year said she became involved with table tennis through a friend, the late Seinimili Naivalu, who had invited her to attend a program called “Smash Down Barriers Program” that was funded by the Australian Government.
The program was first introduced in 2014 and was run by the International table Tennis Federation Oceania in partnership with the Fiji Table Tennis Association.
“Seinimili told me that they also wanted to include disabled people because they wanted it to be inclusive and so we were told to meet in Suva on a Saturday evening.”
After her first sessions that evening, Mere said she instantly fell in love with the sport.
Former Fiji Table Tennis president, the late Anthony Ho, was present at the meet and noticed and complimented Rodan after her first game.
“After that, the coaches were inviting me to the next meet and gave me dates of the other meets to come.”
Not long after that, Rodan became addicted to the sport and would rarely miss a training session, most of which were held in Lauca
