Table tennis champ faces biggest opponent when he's not playing
By Mitch Cormier
for CBC Sports Online

Like most athletes, Todd Gregory will have to watch everything he eats and be mindful of his surroundings during the Canada Winter Games, but not just because he's in training. The 15-year-old has allergies, and some of them could put him in hospital.

Gregory, P.E.I.'s big hope for a table tennis medal, has been playing the sport for five years and is the reigning Atlantic Junior Champion. He'll be playing in the under-17 boys category alongside a team of relative novices, most of whom prefer soccer or hockey to the smaller game of table tennis.

Charlottetown's Todd Gregory demonstrates his winning form

"There's going to be some tough competition there but I've been to the North American championship earlier this year and I got to see how they were," says the Charlottetown resident. "So it shouldn't be too bad. There's a few top guys but I think I can give them a shot."

While the competition will be tough, it won't be anything like Gregory's most feared opponent, his allergies. He suffers from more than 80, the worst a potentially fatal sensitivity to peanuts.

"As I've grown older, I've outgrown them a lot," he says, but "peanuts is still the bad one, I have to stay away from, the smell kind of gets me irritated. I just have to tell everyone that I'm allergic, usually the players are good not to take peanuts into the gym or anything like that."

Such an allergy means Gregory's team manager, Najam Chistie, has to do more than get him to his games on time. She helps keep him clear of any allergens, especially peanuts.

Chistie is also armed with a special hypodermic pen that can inject Gregory with special medication to help lessen an allergy attack, perhaps save his life.

"I hope it doesn't come to (that), but we are ready for it," Gregory says.

The 15-year-old has started expanding the sports he participates in, and now plays hockey, soccer and baseball. And now he's setting goals for his table tennis career.

"I'd like to, in a few years, become the Atlantic men's champion. That's a real big goal I'm looking forward to and maybe get a medal or something in the top three in national level."

But for the next two weeks Gregory will narrow his focus to the games in New Brunswick.

"I just want to go over there and play all right. Just do my best, maybe a top five finish."