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Squash New Zealand Annual Report 2010
Silver medalists Joelle King and Martin Knight in action at 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
The all important gold medal match opponents were
to be number one seeds Cameron Pilley and Casey
Brown (Australia). With an impressive record in winning
the Australian Doubles Championships and a solid
performance throughout the event, this was always going
to be a difficult prospect. To make matters worse, Joelle
had to begin this match just fifteen minutes after winning
her gold medal in the women’s doubles.
Joelle is always ready for a challenge and starting where
she left off, injected immense pressure and belief into
the match resulting in them taking the first game. However,
the experienced Australians were able to make some
adjustments which saw Pilley heavily involved in the second
game, lessoning Joelle’s impact and eventually taking the
second game to level the score. The third game saw the
previous efforts Joelle had put into the women’s doubles
take its toll and the Australians capitalised on this. In the
end, New Zealand was to go down fighting 1-2 earning
them a brilliant Commonwealth Games Silver Medal!!!
The Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games was a tremendous
moment for squash in New Zealand. The media coverage
and excitement from the public once again saw squash
in its rightful place of prominence. The whole team: Joelle,
Jaclyn, Tamsyn, Kylie, Martin and Campbell gave complete
commitment to playing their best squash and should all
be congratulated on their accomplishments. Kylie’s ability
to produce some brilliant doubles squash, after being
brought in at the last minute, was sensational. Tamsyn and
Campbell both had to contend with partner changes and
did this in a spirit that put the team first. The whole squad
is a credit to squash in New Zealand – they have all
certainly left a legacy for others.
World Junior Boy’s Squash Championships – Ecuador
The World Junior Boys’ campaign started back in 2009. This
saw a group of eight players come to Auckland each month
between November and May (before finishing the year off
with tournament play) to participate in a training camp.
The content of each camp involved all squad members
completing every facet of their training in their designated
program, each month, before the next camp. This would
give the players an awareness of what to expect and more
importantly, what they were capable of.
In June 2010, after a heavy year of training and selection
events, Paul Coll, Lance Beddoes, Bryce Redman and Michael
Sunderland were selected as the New Zealand World
Junior Boys’ Team. With the championships taking place at
an altitude of 10,000 feet, the fitness level of the players
was critical to the chances of success. All the team
understood the impor tance of this and worked
tremendously hard to reach their individual fitness targets.
It was encouraging that on departure to Ecuador all players
reached their peak fitness levels and were ready to take
on the world’s best under nineteen players.
Pool Matches
In the team’s event New Zealand was seeded 11th. This
seeding put the team in a pool with Mexico and Guatemala.
With the team beating the Guatemalans with relative ease;
it was Mexico who was the team to beat for New Zealand
to win the pool. This tie saw some impressive hard fought
matches which were a credit to junior squash. In the end
New Zealand beat the sixth seeded Mexicans 2-1. Both
Paul and Lance had to work incredibly hard, at times barely
able to stand up between points, to win their match 3-2,
sealing a round of sixteen match up with Venezuela.
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