Cousins Shield - Napier
What a better way to catch up with the Squashies than to be a part of this year’s Cousins Shield event in Napier. The prestigious National Interclub event was held in Napier this year. I will be playing for Remuera again after a few years absence and hopefully help us win another title. I landed in Auckland at 11am after a 12 hour flight from Malaysia and took the 1pm flight onwards to Napier. The flight landed at another one of NZ’s cute little airports on a beautiful Friday afternoon amongst breathtaking views. Graeme and Alex were waiting for me there and we caught up with the rest of the team – Croc, Matt and then later on Phil at the motel. NZ mum Aileen wasn’t far behind and it was great to see her again. It was good that we had a bye on Friday and I could get some rest and looked forward to going to the club in the morning.
It was great to catch up with everyone at the club. At times it felt like I was never away and at others that I had been away too long. On court, I was in the formerly familiar and now unfamiliar freezing conditions. It reminded me of how and why I started liking the cold playing conditions. We took on Island Bay in our first match and Shane Hatwell played very well to push me in every game. Our semi later in the afternoon was against Ti Street, Rotorua and I was up against Danny McQueen. I knew it was going to be hard but Danny came up with his best Squash for years and I was only lucky to win it 11-9 in the fifth. At 50 years of age and still fitter than most half his age Danny is surely an inspiration. The dinner and the festivities after lived up to their reputation and it was the most fun I have had for a while. Everyone put in the effort and looked great. My costume was probably the worst or the other way round depending on how you look at it. It was an early night for the team as we preferred to focus on the final. It paid off and the team put in a great performance to take the Cousin’s Shield back to Remuera after 6 years. My third win for Remuera and fifth overall.
A week in Auckland
The following week in Auckland was spent mostly training and catching up with friends at my favourite spots. It wasn’t as cold as I was expecting and I have avoided being sick this time around to break a decade long cycle. It has been hard enough to get over the fatigue of travel and training has been hard. My daily routine for this busy week has been to catch up with sponsors in the mornings, rush back home for lunch and head out soon after for training. A drink with the guys at the club and then catch up with friends in the evenings. I am lucky to have been given a car to use for the two weeks I am here by a generous friend – mine is de-registered. All is all a great week and I look forward to the next one which might be less busy and more fun with a few activities planned with the boys.
Manawatu Open - Palmerston North
I got an email from Willy a week ago inviting me back to Palmerston North for the Manawatu Open. The guys are so enthusiastic and welcoming. I enjoying playing there for the convenience of it amongst other things. Apart from that I am also keen to catch up with one of my best friends – The Mughal. The flight is delayed due to fog and I am sitting at the airport pondering whether I should drive back home or sit here listen Pearl Jam and keep on writing.
I finally got on the 7pm flight and got in at 8pm and got to the club just before my game with Ben Murphy. Ben gave a good account of himself and almost won a drink of me. Had a good rest at the luxurious and handy Quest apartments. On Saturday I played a talented local Youngster by the name of Tom Nash. Tom competed well and we had some excellent rallies. The semi was in the afternoon and I faced the experienced Shane Johnstone. Stoney can slot a few and he did really well to win the third game with me eventually running away with a four game win. Dinner was at a lovely Pakistani restaurant hosted by the owner himself. It was a real treat and I will surely be back there. The talented Wellingtonian Evan Williams was my opponent in the final. He played the best I have seen him play and used his skills very effectively. I won the well contested match in four games and thanked the sponsors FitzherbertRowe for their support as well as SquashGym for having us all at the event. After dinner with another friend who has moved down here from Auckland, I was on my way to the airport. It was an excellent weekend and I am glad I could make the most of it with Squash and seeing friends. Apart from others I also managed to catch up with Grant Smith – the driving force behind SquashGym for many years. I managed to interview him which will be on here soon.
Another week in Auckland
The second week in Auckland looked even busier with an Exhibition with Gary at North Shore Squash club - a couple of meetings in the mornings as well as training. I looked forward to it all and especially to Wednesday night when we gather together at my favourite room in Auckland and a final get together at Remuera Rackets for the team on Thursday night before I head off to Australia on Friday.
After 10 days here it feels like I never left and being in Europe was in a past life.
.JPG)
