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The first in many years and a first full one since junior
years, the off season training was going according to plan. There was so much
time till the next event that every part of my game could be attended to.
Sometimes it felt too long a time without competition. To avoid getting bored,
I entered The Australia Day Challenge – a PSA event in Ipswich, Queensland in
January. This kept my focus on training and gave me something to look forward
to.
I knew it was going to be hot and humid on court at the end
of January. I knew it might not best suit me. A fracture in the join of the
middle finger and the knuckle on my playing
hand didn’t help the cause. Neither did the strained hip flexor from the leg
press in the gym. However, I stayed positive and trained on – I felt fitter and
stronger than I had felt in a long time. I also took the trip as a getaway from
daily life in Palmy – something I couldn’t do properly over the holiday season.
When it came for time to head off I was ready for the challenge.
Australia Day
Challenge
The trip was a multi purpose one for me. My main task in
Australia was to talk to the partners of the international men’s squash body, Professional
Squash Association as the Oceania representative. The main contact was with
Squash Australia and a few other regional members. The trip proved to be an
excellent one for that matter and we made a lot of progress for one weekend.
On court, the conditions were hard as expected. I was well
prepared for the bouncier ball as I had been training with a blue ball back in
NZ. However, the heat on court was hard to handle – even though it wasn’t as
bad as I thought it could have been. In my first round match I played a young
Pakistani-Aussie they call Solly. He is number 1 in the under 17 rankings in
the country and an excellent all round player. It was good to see this
enthusiastic youngster give it his all. Even though I won in three – it was
never easy. In the second round I had another 3-0 win against Aussie TJ French.
I was through to the quarters.
The match against Corren
In the quarter final I was up against old rival Mike Corren.
Even though I have beaten Mike more times than I have lost to him, it has
always been hard. He had also beaten me the last time we played – in
Christchurch last year. He is a solid player and maintains excellent fitness to
add to his vast experience.
Just like last time I played him, I underestimated his front
court movement and went too short too early. His tight drives meant the risk
was much higher. I made a lot of mistakes and lost the first in a close game.
The second game was similar as I struggled to shift to plan B.I was down 2-0.
In the third, I got my act together and rallied with him. My fitness kept me going
and he struggled with my length and width. Referees strange calls and missed
balls were not enough to distract me and I won a close third to shift the
momentum back to me. All that was good but it had been another hard and long
game in the hot and humid conditions. In the fourth, I could feel the energy
disappearing from my legs. In the middle of the game, I felt drained whereas
Mike kept going. That was the crucial point of the match and we both knew it.
He pulled away with a lead of a few points and never looked back. I on the
other hand was left gasping for air and distracted by the stars I could see. I
went down in four games.
As every loss, I learnt a lot from this one too. I took it
as an off season event to give myself a test run. Even though the result hurt,
I was pleased with the work I had been doing as I could see improvements in
aerobic fitness and speed. I looked forward to getting back to the drawing
board and improving further in training.
Back in Palmy
Any doubts I had due to my seniority on the men’s tour were
brushed aside by another inspiring performance by Amr Shabana at the TOC – we
are exactly the same age. Now back in
Palmy, I was happy that that I had got through the first part of training. I
was even happier that I was going to take the training further – which meant
further improvements could be expected.
On the coaching side, things were looking great as well and everyone made huge improvements in the summer camp. With the NZ junior open in sight, we presented another plan to some keen youngsters. There future looks bright. I have also been offered the role of coaching the Central high performance squad for senior nationals. I look forward to it all.
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| The Central team at senior nationals last year |
