Idols and Role Models

When speaking of those we look up to as a role model or idol or someone you have huge respect for, I’d prefer not to use the word “hero”. Someone who simply plays sport and is looked up to by thousands or millions around the world is not a hero. People who save lives are heroes.

As a youngster I didn’t have a particular sporting idol as such, but I had a lot of favourite players. Actually with the amount of sport I played I had my favourites in many sports: Cricket – Mark Waugh, Golf – Ernie Els; Surfing – Kelly Slater; Rugby League – Mark Carroll; Tennis – Gustavo Kuerten and Squash – Rod Martin, Brett Martin, Rod Eyles, Jon Power.

I didn’t exactly look up to these players in the sense that I wanted to be them, but simply the way they played the game. I enjoy watching the style of a player – and still do. Obviously my bedroom was filled with posters of all these sporting idols and I always dreamed of maybe one day getting on poster myself. I remember thinking to myself as a kid that if I ever got on a poster, it would just be the best thing ever!

As the years went by obviously I looked at how players conducted themselves on court and that would affect whether I still liked them or not. Some players are funny, some serious, some emotionless, some annoying, but that’s what makes squash, especially, so unique in that two opponents are in a glass box, playing physical chess for positions in the court. The characters the sport has seen over the years has been amazing and I’m sure there will be plenty to come. The obvious one that comes to mind is the Power V Nicol rivalry. You couldn’t get two guys with more opposite personalities than these two if you tried. And that created even more interest in their matches.

Whether sports men and women like it or not, they are seen as role models by many. How they conduct themselves on court/off court/in interviews/in public, that is how they are perceived by many. Any professional sports person who says they are not a role model or don’t want to be a role model are kidding themselves. Just by playing professionally, people observe your play and form opinions.

Over the years it’s not just professional sports people I have looked up to and taken things on board from. There have been individuals from all over the world – either that I have known for years or just met randomly in some weird or wonderful city around the globe – that have had an impact on why or how I see things in a certain way. Obviously those I have spent the most time with (my parents, brother and sister) have had the biggest impact.

It’s something I am consciously aware of when I travel and meet new people, especially junior players who can be quite impressionable. I’ll never forget meeting Power for the first time (not only because I was shitting myself at meeting Jonathon Power). I was 19 years old and I couldn’t believe how friendly he was. Then I’d see him about a year later and he would ask how I was doing and how my squash was. I was blown away. Jonathon Power asking ME how MY game is going?? Not as good as yours mate! Little things like that can leave huge impressions.

Another New Year

The start of another new year has begun but we’re only half way through the season. The World Series Finals are currently on but my last event was in India last month and my next event is in Vancouver on the 12^th of Jan. Never been to Vancouver but I must admit I love Canada. Pretty laid back place and I know a few Aussies who have made the trek over there for the snow season and haven’t come back (not dead, just loved the place!).

I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last 3 weeks back home in Yamba, Australia and the weather has been awesome. I say it every year but spending time at home is so refreshing. A total recharge of the batteries is exactly what the body needs and it’s when I’m back home, close to the family that I get jealous of the Europeans and Poms that can live and train in their native land.

Most of Christmas day is spent at the beach and there’s never a dull moment. Our ‘funky trunks’ (see twitter @campilley) were a standout on the beach and although we did it for a laugh, my brother Morgan has now started using them regularly! It’s been great to catch up with family and friends that I haven’t seen in a year but obviously training is still a priority. Luckily for me Yamba is full of hills so I’ve done my fair share of hill sprint training whilst here.

Vancouver is next stop for me, followed by New York, Detroit and then back to Holland for a bit. Might sneak some shopping in whist in NYC and max out that 23kg of baggage allowance!

Adios

Life on the Road

The past month has been pretty busy with tournaments and I’ve racked up a serious amount of frequent flyer points. I’m gonna be racking up a few more by the end of the year with a flight to India then onto Australia. Come on Gold status with Star Alliance!!

I’ve been giving my results via twitter but if you’re not on twitter, then you should be. Kidding. Results have been average, nothing great, nothing too shit. Instead of getting into my matches I thought I’d give you an insight into what actually happens day to day as a professional squash player.

Going off the last tournament, only one thing was really happening. Backgammon. There’s those who can play (Copps), those who think they can play but just seem to get unlucky rolls all the time and their opponent always gets the lucky rolls and all the luck (Robbie), and those who are just learning but are now addicted (Ryder). I find the way a player plays backgammon reflects the way they play squash, which was ringing true until I played Kempy. Extemely attacking squash player yet very defensive backgammoner (if that’s a word). But Kempy did go away and do some research after getting flogged by myself and Copps and came back with some game!

The picture above I took in Macau. It’s a massive casino which I kindly donated a few Benjamins to purely because it looked as though they needed some money. 3 years ago the building was just getting started, now it is finished and looks spectacular. There’s another casino behind that one which is even bigger and better!

Hong Kong is a great place for a tournament and it was great to hang out there for a week playing squash and eating a LOT of rice and noodles. I seriously don’t know how many dishes of bbq pork I ate but we’re talking double digits.

With India the last tournament of the year in 2 weeks, I’m just training and preparing for 1 last push before an Aussie summer.

Ouch

Ok so you may have seen the latest squash clip doing the rounds on the web of me and my brother having a bit of a ‘laugh’. And if you haven’t, just YouTube: Taking a squash ball hit at 175mph. I recently clocked up 175mph on the speed gun at the US Open last week, which is the fastest hit ever recorded. For some reason this struck a chord with my brother.

There’s over 160,000 hits on YouTube and there are some amazing comments from viewers to go with it. It’s amazing how many people think that video is fake! Obviously they’ve never played squash before. Some say Morgan put a sticker on his back immediately after the hit, some say it hit his arm, some say the clip was edited and make-up was put in place. We had a good old laugh at these. Maybe people don’t realise that it actually happens in a game of squash. I don’t think a tennis ball would do as much damage as a squash ball. Well for starters, the clip would go for about 16 minutes to allow for drink breaks, towel breaks, bathroom breaks, etc.

The clip came about quite spontaneously actually. We were off to do some training together when my brother suggested the idea (he didn’t lose a bet, crash my car or steal my stuff). Off we went to the club. Needless to say, it only took one take! I kept asking him if he was sure he wanted to do this, he keep saying make sure you hit me in the middle of the back. Consider it done.

Obviously it was all done in good fun and we found it pretty hilarious ourselves. Some people are saying, oh what if you hit him in the neck or kidneys, you might have killed him! I hit squash balls for a living, I’m not going to miss his back from 2 metres away.

Now my brother tweeted the other day something about ‘looking forward to making the sequel”. I’m not sure what he has in that crazy head of his – apart from rocks – but he’s definitely not riding over me on his bike!

Pilley in Philly

Last day in Philly for Pilley tomorrow. Unfortunately I had an early exit from the tournament, losing to Mossad first round, but it happens. So I jumped back up on the horse and had a few practice games with some other pro’s who lost early. Tomorrow I’ll be heading off to do the Rocky stairs – I mean, it would be an insult to everything Rocky if I didn’t. I might have a little wander around the streets of Philly and see what’s going on. From what I’ve seen so far I really like the city and could definitely come back more often.

I think the tournament itself was a standout from most of the other World Series events on Tour. Funny, everything I said in a previous post about making tournaments, ‘events’, was here at the US Open. It had games for the kids, speed gun, inflatable squash court, food areas, social areas, massive TV screens all over the place and a bar. Seeing as though this was the first year it has been run and held at Drexel, from a players point of view it was a success. I’ll be back next year for sure, and hopefully to make it past the first bloody round!

Speed Gun

First day hitting on the glass court here in Philly and it feels good. The setup here at Drexel is all starting to come together nicely and it promises to be a great event. A nice little addition to the tournament – and something I think all major events should have – is a speed gun! Tennis have it for every match and it’s something squash can put to good use too. There are some hard hitters of the squash ball out there and it’d be great for the spectators to really see how fast the ball is traveling on court. It’s something to have some fun with between matches for all those attending the event. I managed to crack 170Mph today and then managed 122Mph with my left hand – which beat one of the WISPA players, who shall remain unnamed…

British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix concluded the other day and Ramy Ashour racked up another win. I lost out to Ramy in the 2nd round 3-1 in an hour of pretty high paced squash. People talk a lot about his racquet ability but it’s his retreivals that often suprise me.

It’s the biggest event in the UK but it would be great to see the event reach the top tier of tournaments on the tour. It is behind quite a few in terms of prizemoney offered, and points, which may be why some players skip this event altogether. One thing I can say I was impressed with was the court attendents. A couple of good looking girls and decent music to bring the players onto court and attend the court when needed was a breath of fresh air.

Squash needs to turn major tournaments into major events. It can’t be just a squash tournament anymore. It needs to be a place where people can hang out all day with activities, contests, meet/beat the pro, food stands, a DJ and most importantly a bar that serves alcohol. Take darts for example, (Note: darts is not a sport) but have a look at what they’ve done to their game! They’ve attracted a massive following of not just darts fans, but people who want to go to an ‘event’ and have a good time. Imagine if you went to a darts event and everyone is sitting in stands, not allowed to move during play and don’t not allowed a beerr? No chance it would reach the level of popularity it has reached right now.

The Men’s World Teams in Germany was a prime example of how a squash event can and should be run – best squash event I have ever been involved in (excluding the Yamba Open – what a tournament that was!). The US Open is next up on the World Tour, let’s see what those Yanks can produce for us!

Back in the Day

I was talking to my brother the other night about racquet breakages in tennis. It quickly moved on to squash, then on to junior squash, then finally on to just funny stories about squash from back in the day.

With my brother having had a bit of a ‘temper’ as a junior, I asked him what his record was in regards to racquet breakages. Now he was, (IS), a bit of a madman on court and always drew a crowd. If I had half a dozen people watching my matches, on the court next to me my brother would have 50+ people watching him!

After informing me that he often broke racquets in solo practice (yes that’s right, it was only him on the court), I asked how many racquets he’d broken in a year. The answer? 30. I attended most of his tournaments and I’d say 30 is being conservative.

Although I didn’t have much of a temper, I remember one time I really wanted a new grip on my racquet. I kept asking Dad if I could have a new one and he always said that I didn’t need one and that it wasn’t dirty enough. Wasn’t dirty enough? Later that week I promptly took my racquet into the carpark at the squash club and rubbed as much dirt as I could on it. It was filthy. Needless to say I got myself a new grip that night!

Another time when I still had an aluminium racquet, I really, really wanted to upgrade to a graphite racquet. So one day I went on court to do some solo with my double shafted, aluminium racquet and pretty much went psycho. I don’t know how many times I smacked that racquet on the wall it just wouldn’t break. After about an hour of ‘solo’ practice, it was seriously bent but still not broken. It just wouldn’t break so I had to endure that sh***y racquet for a while after that.

Oh, and last year my brother borrowed my racquet for a ‘friendly’ hit at the local club. Yeah, that racquet ended up in 3 pieces.

World Team Champs

The Men’s World Teams Championships ran from the 19-27 August and there were 32 countries represented from all over the globe. It was held in Paderborn, Germany. The Australian team consisted of David Palmer, myself, Stewart Boswell and Aaron Frankcomb and the coaches were Anthony Ricketts and Byron Davis.

We were seeded 4 for the event behind England, Egypt and France. We beat India in the Quarter Final but lost out to England in the semi. In the semi I was first on court against World No.5 James Willstrop. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the boys off to the start we were looking for, and lost 3-0. I played ok but James was sharp. He didn’t miss too much that day. Next up was the anchor of the team – David Palmer. He had the task of taking on current World No.1 Nick Matthew. Nick was in pretty impressive form and ended our title hopes by beating Palmer 3-0.

Obviously losing to England in any sport hurts badly, but we had to mentally get ourselves up for the 3rd/4th place playoff the next day. Egypt beat France in the other semi so we were up against the frogs. French No.1 Greg Gaultier was in pretty devastating form and took out Palmer 3-0. Our No.3 Boswell made amends by taking out his opposite number 3-1 in a close tussle. In the decider I managed to beat
world number 6 Thierry Lincou 3-1 to grab 3rd place.

Like 2 years ago in Denmark, we managed to get ourselves up for the playoff match on the last day of the event and get that last podium spot. There’s a big difference between getting that podium finish or not.  It means a lot to the boys to exceed our seeding for the event and hopefully in 2 years time we can push again for the title.
It was an extremely well run event in Germany – probably the best squash event I have ever been involved in. No stone was left unturned by the organisers and the players felt welcome everywhere we went. Top marks Paderborn!

Aussie Open finished – On to Germany

Well although my Australian Open finished earlier than I’d hoped this year, it’s all about getting back on the horse and performing well for Australia in Germany next week. I lost out to Gaultier in the 1st round this week. I played pretty solid but Greg was sharp. It’s the best he’s played against me for a while now and I thought he was going to push for the title (he made semi).

I can’t wait to pull on the Green and Gold and week – well, poo coloured green and white, by the looks of our uniform. Our team is Palmer, myself, Boswell and Frankcomb. I think we can do well this year and as always, we’ll be leaving everything out on court in pursuit of title number 7.

It’s been awesome to spend a few weeks back here in Oz and the weather has been very kind – although Canberra is freezing at night! I’ve gotta say though, I think everytime I come back, everything is more expensive. I’ve been killing the chocolate milk since I’ve been back and it definitely gets more expensive every 6 months!

Cheers