The Sunset Country Squash Club has taken off with two tournaments under its belt already this season. Four club members have also qualified for the Ontario Winter Games.
Mike Canfield is a member of the club and works with some of the junior members. He says the junior program has had a great start so far.
“The junior program has been excellent so far,” he said. “We’ve just kind of built on it year after year, just making sure that kids have a lot of fun primarily and then the squash will come after that. Because we’re making sure the kids have fun, I think that’s the reason we’ve had such a good turnout.”
He added that there are about 25 kids registered and though not all of them make it out every night, many are pretty consistent.
Canfield says with squash joining the Los Angeles Olympic games in 2028 Squash Canada is hoping to grow the game.
“I got an email from one of the clubs in Winnipeg, one of the coaches there was contacted by Squash Canada and they want to have a tournament there in April that will be just for the juniors,” Canfield said. “Squash has always been in Toronto or Vancouver but not really across the country. I think if it’s going to be in the Olympics, they want to make sure they have interest across the country, because you never know where the next great squash player might come from.
Canfield hopes to be able to take about 10 players from the junior program to that tournament in the spring.
The club is also open to more young players joining.
“We don’t really turn kids away,” Canfield said. “We’re not at that point yet. We have two nights now that we’re coaching. At some point I’m sure if it got too, too big we’d have to cap it at some number but we’re not there yet. We’re trying to keep all the kids involved, if there’s interest out there we want to nurture it.”
Thanks to a grant the club also has equipment for kids to use if they just want to try squash out.
“Because of the Moffat grant we got, we actually have all new rackets and eyewear and balls for the kids so all they need is a pair of shoes which they probably already have and a day pass or a membership to the Sports Complex. We don’t charge anything for coaching or anything like that so it’s a good sport from a financial point of view.”
Robin Wright of the Fort Frances Kiwanis Club applied to fund on behalf of the squash club.
“We’re very lucky that Robin Wright applied for us through Kiwanis,” Canfield said. “We were able to get $10,000 for the club. Squash equipment, everything I mentioned (rackets, eyewear, balls), is really not cheap. So there’s a few thousand just on equipment for the juniors and then we’re going to be covering the fees to go to these tournaments and for our tournament as well. We’re going to look at possibly, if there’s some money left over, covering some travel costs because that’s where a lot of the cost is, hotels have just gotten outrageous.”
They’re also hoping to have former Fort Frances Squash standout Anika Alexander come to town to do a clinic with the junior players.
“She’s had some pretty top notch coaches through her career… and she’s going to be able to pass that knowledge on to the kids,” Canfield said. “But also pass that knowledge on to us coaches.”
Recently young members of the club have had success and qualified for the Ontario Winter Games. Julia and Jorja Guertin, Carter Payne and Hunter Jean have qualified to join Team Northwest Ontario at the games in Thunder Bay running from Feb. 16-26.
Other members of the club saw success in the annual Northwest Thunder Bay open last weekend as well. Of the 16 locals at the tournament, 10 juniors and adults placed, according to club member Bob Tkachuk.
In the men’s B division, Andrew Hansen was the Champion with Jeff Wright coming in second and Ryan Brady placing third.
In the men’s C division, Ian Jodoin was victorious in the field of participants, with junior Carter Payne capturing third place.
In the women’s division Sarah Noonan was the champion, third place winner was junior Julia Guertin.
In the junior B division, local Graeme Drombolis beat another local, Everlee Canfield for first. Theo Faragher was the Junior Plate champ.
The next event for the Sunset Country Squash club is the 40th annual Boxing Day tournament which is almost full, Tkachuk says.
The club’s 36th annual open tournament will be held January 12-14.
