Mitch Calvert
Members of the local Sunset Country Squash Club got a taste of national competition over the weekend at the Canadian Junior Squash Championships at Niagara-on-the-Lake—and will go back to the drawing board knowing the level they need to reach to succeed there.
“The kids were really in tough, the competition was really difficult, and their results kind of proved that,” coach Bob Tkachuk admitted.
“At times, the nerves and anxiety played a factor for the young ones, and anybody who plays squash knows what happens when one tightens up,” he added.
“But it was a learning experience and I think they’ll be better for it in the long run.”
Anniss Seid, playing in the under-17 boys’ division, opened with a convincing 3-0 win over Chad Hagen (Nova Scotia) before falling 3-0 to fifth-ranked Stephen Rush of Ontario.
Dropping down to the Silver event, Seid rebounded with a sweep of Matthew Sharpe (Nova Scotia) 3-0 but then dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Neil Pohlman (Alberta), including identical scores of 11-9 in the final two sets, to end his hopes of a national medal.
“There is always one match you would like back and it would be the Pohlman match,” Tkachuk said. “Having two game leads of 8-6 but not closing the door.”
All things considered, however, the 15-year-old performed admirably in a tough field featuring 64 elite players.
In the under-15 girls’ bracket, Anika Alexander opened with a 3-1 loss to Sydney Leslie (Ontario).
“This was a very close match score-wise, within Alexander’s grasp, but to no avail,” Tkachuk recalled. “Just a few moves here or there made the difference.”
In her first match in the Silver event, Alexander defeated Tara Shannon (Alberta) 3-0 to send herself to the semi-finals, but then fell in a heartbreaker 3-1 to Dasha Reddy (Ontario) to end her championship run.
And Angel McCormack, 11, making her first appearance at the nationals, opened with a tight 3-2 loss to Shannon in the gold event. She followed that up with a 3-1 loss to Leslie in the Silver event before wrapping up her tournament with a 3-2 loss to Jamie Nelson of Ontario in her Bronze event match.
“Angel performed admirably for her first time on the big stage,” Tkachuk lauded. “All considered, the kids gave ‘E’ for effort and as a coach that’s what you ask for.
“It’s disappointing when you are playing as hard as you can, and sometimes don’t get the wins, so I felt for them as a coach.
“Every point is such a battle that sometimes it’s overwhelming to keep playing hard and hang in there, but the effort was there for sure,” Tkachuk added.
“There were lots of red faces after matches.”
Tkachuk said local players are at a disadvantage when it comes to big competitions—considering they must travel to face top-notch competition.
“You are a big fish in a small pond here, but down there they can play against stiff competition every second weekend, so it’s hard for our kids to jump in and win,” Tkachuk admitted.
“But they did well and I’m proud of them.”
In related news, Tkachuk said an instructional camp might be organized this summer for area squash players thanks to the provincial squash organization.
“Squash Ontario may send a squash professional down for a camp later in the summer for some of our athletes here and from Kenora and Thunder Bay,” he noted. “They are trying to help the north out a bit, which is a good thing that came of it for sure.”
For now, though, the junior players will go their separate ways and recharge the batteries for a few months.
“As a coach, I tell kids to go play soccer and keep in shape doing other things [over the summer],” Tkachuk remarked.
“We don’t really like to force them to play 12 months a year, and they are better rounded when they play other sports,” he reasoned.
