Table Tennis

The history of table tennis in Volkovce dates back to 1956, when several enthusiasts-Koloman Drahoš, Juraj Brandt, Ladislav Kéry, Jozef Brieška, Karol Bóga, Cyril Mlynka and others purchased a table tennis table for the village hall and effectively began to write the history of table tennis in Volkovce. Within a short period of time, table tennis became the second most popular sport in the village, football being the first.

From 1958 the Volkovce team started to participate in a regular competition, The Zlaté Moravce County Championship. As the game became more popular, so did the game and the quality of its players improve. Naturally, this meant that team moved up in the league table and in 1970 they played in a regional level competition. The team stayed at this level for two years.

Due to financial reasons, in 1972, the entire team had to be re-registered under the team TJ Calex Zlaté Moravce. The team now played under the name TJ CALEX Zlaté Moravce „B" using the Grammar School in Volkovce as its base. The existing team was joined by local players Klement Tesársky, Štefan Kobes, Jozef Kozolka, Ignác Frajka, Ján Horňák and also by players who were not originally from the village Ivan Chovan and Ján Baláž. This team continued to play in regional competitions and also in the National State Competition until 1977, when for various reasons this team dissolved. This was the end of the primary phase of table tennis in Volkovce.
The rebirth of table tennis can be accredited to our current mayor Ondrej Kozolka. When Mr Kozolka returned from compulsory military service in 1981, he was the Director of Sports Activities in the village. He asked two of the initiators of table tennis club from 1956, Mr Juraj Brandt and Mr Daniel Lackovič (who moved into Volkovce in 1974), to consider restarting the activities. These three men were then joined by two younger players, Ľudovít Kozolka (Ondrej's brother) and Ľudovít Kozolka jr. (no relation to the mayor), who revived the table tennis team now called TJ Inovec Volkovce.

This team took part in various county competitions (the Nitra County) until 1987. Along with the above-named players, there were others taking part, namely: Ignác Frajka, Štefan Kobes, Jozef Kozolka, Klement Tesársky, Koloman Drahoš, senior and younger players, Ivan Haspra, Jozef Krajči, Koloman Drahoš jr. , Marian Kováč and Emil Hollý. The grammar school's premises were the training ground for the team. The school's management was very supportive; this eventually led to a table tennis club for pupils (led by Mr Daniel Lackovič) being set up.

Later, however, the team's activities had to be temporarily suspended again. This was due to problems with training premises and also personal reasons. This suspension lasted 7 years.