Wellington Squash Memories

Given the Wellington Club has been my second home for the past 6 years and may or may not continue to be so in the future (The club has decided to discontinue squash) I have decided to document the top 5 moments of my Wellington squash career they are ranked in order with the highlight being number 1.

 1)      The First Club Championship: I never quite became the number one player at the club, I was always close but there was always one player Ziyad who had my number, I have beaten him on occasions but never in a big “event”.  In 2004 however he was injured at Club Championship time and a window of opportunity opened up, I played well the whole tournament beating arguably 3 of the top 5 players on route to a 3-1 victory over the club pro Con in the final.  I made 3 appearances in the final in total winning 2 and losing 1 but obviously the first time you can classify yourself as “club champion” is the sweetest.

 2)      The Triple Bagel: To beat someone 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 requires both skill, fitness and above all else concentration, the match in question was a T&D match and although I can’t remember the opponent it was special because my sister was in town from Britain.  My sister had never witnessed me play squash in a real match before, so I was determined to put on show, I came out on fire and won the first two games in rapid fashion and at the start of 3^rd began to realize the possibilities….this unfortunately results in you tightening up and no longer playing a free flowing game, however I was determined to play error free and chase everything down, my opponent must have served around 15 times over the course of the match and to go 15-0 in those crucial points to this day remains a particularly satisfying performance.

 3)      The Greatest Match: In a bizarre twist of fate the greatest match I ever played at Wellington was a losing effort, it was the final of the club championships in 2005 against Ziyad.  I lost the match 3-1 but played well the entire way though forcing him to hit winners and work for every point that he earned.  As mentioned in point 1 Ziyad was always a superior player to me and usually if I made the match competitive I would be pleased, so to not only play well but compete in the biggest match of the year gave me a sense of satisfaction.

 4)      The First Match:  One of my best friends in Toronto, is a man called Arthur Ching, he is also the first person I played squash against at the Wellington Club on my first day at the club I saw a man practicing on his own, he wasn’t a particular skillful player but was enthusiastic non the less.  I introduced myself and we hit for around 30mins, obviously you are hitting so your opponent can return and Arthur had no idea I was a competitive player until he witnessed me play a few days later.  Over the last 6 years myself and Arthur have shared many courts at the Wellington and many “Teas” at Tim Horton’s he remains a good friend to this day.

 5)      The Corporate Challenge: This was special in two ways, firstly because my own company didn’t ask me to play for my own team (To this day I have no idea why) and I went on to win the tournament playing for a local law firm.  I had only the loosest of connections to firm I played for, one I had a friend who worked there whilst in addition a pair of women I had met at speed dating a few months earlier were also connected to the firm (Squash and dating coming together it’s a beautiful thing).  Secondly it was the conclusion of a mini trilogy, I had played the club pro Con 3 times in competitive matches over a period of about 4 months.  We played in the club championship (see Point 1), we then played in the final of house league, where Con was victorious and tied at one match apiece we concluded the trilogy by competing in the final of this event.

There are numerous other events I could list, every single beginner clinic I taught was an absolute please……whilst at different times I have played weekly matches over prolonged periods of time with Aman, Olivier, Dev, Ravi, Jerry and Bill all of these players at different times have pushed me to the brink of exhaustion and helped shaped my game. 

Obviously not everything has been great, I never really enjoyed competing for the teams, whilst I accept it is an honor to represent the club, traveling to Barrie on a cold winter’s night to compete against an over matched opponent is no fun at all…..and as the movie quote goes when it comes to T&D “You never know what your going to get”.  Whilst leaving the club on a gurney one time could hardly be described as pleasant either, but that wasn’t directly squash related, so I won’t expand on it here.

In conclusion, Wellington Squash – I’ll miss you, and thanks for the memories.