May 27, 2008 by Steph.

From: Steve Wren (Via Viola)To: mslpbertin@netzero.com ; bmurphy@premieresuites.com ; squash1939@yahoo.com ; dougandviola@sympatico.ca ; vincenttaylor@rogers.com ; ambushbob@shaw.ca ; lmramsay@shaw.caCc: Vaughan UtteridgeSent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 12:04 AMSubject: World Masters Squash Champs

G’day Barbara, Robbie, Mike, Viola, Vincent, Bob, Laura,Received each of your emails from the Sq. Canada site, Masters page. Congratulations on forming the Masters Committee in Canada, you will likely find it to be a good growth segment of as we all hang in there that bit longer. Masters squash here in NZ is well and truly organized with provincial bodies, National competitions, funding, and international test meets with Australia.

Quick intro to those of you I don’t know, that I am not a spammer from NZ.

Until September 2006 I lived in Toronto, and Gatineau, Quebec, for the last 6 years. Canada was a terrific host to me when I arrived in 1986 for a few months to play tournaments for a few months. Over the next 20 years during my time in Canada I stayed involved in the game, worked in the clubs, played many tournaments around the country, and organized many others over the years. Most notably though I met some of my best mates through squash in Canada who remain there today. Some may be with you there at the Canadian Nationals this week.

In October this year, The 2008 World Masters Squash Championships is on, right here in Christchurch, New Zealand, and I believe Canada can be a force to reckon with at these Champs if we can see more of your entries. So far we have 5 Canadians out of 250+, with total entries expected to climb close to 600.

A visit to the South Pacific for these Championships takes plenty of planning for those considering coming down. Hopefully there are players there at Niagara on the Lake who may be considering coming down to join us for some thunder down under. It’s only 6 months away but not too late to make the commitment.

I’m asking that during the course of the Nationals at White Oaks, your Master committee can promote our event to the Masters fraternity while all there together.

Keep in mind that there are now Vancouver – Auckland/Christchurch direct flights, and what a great time of the year to be here.

A poster of the event is attached and here’s a few important links below to check out…

http://www.worldmasterssquash.com

http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/

http://www.christchurchnz.com/

Anyone interested can stay in touch with me if you require more information, …can point you to a couple of good kiwi pubs worth a drop in too.

All the best for the week at Mark’s joint, no doubt he’ll run an event to be proud of.

Cheers Canucks!!

Regards,

Steve Wren

Attached PDF: World Championships Flyer  (PDF)

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May 6, 2008 by Steph.

What a blast

For a lot more pictures, http://squash.famille-bazin.com/photos/index.php?folder=/200805_nationals/ 

For the complete draws: http://www.squash.computan.com/Tournament/DrawsByTr.asp?picker=SCN08 

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March 14, 2008 by Steph.

Where would you rather be?????

Aruba or Ottawa Aruba?

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February 23, 2008 by Steph.

For those who do not know, Burlington is south west of Toronto http://maps.google.ca/maps?daddr=Burlington,+ON&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=ottawa+ontario&f=d&hl=en&sll=43.32616,-79.79855&sspn=0.31369,0.748444&ie=UTF8&z=8….. We stopped at a trucker’s restaurant on the way there for lunch, lots of burly trucker guys… Arrived in the hotel in time for a nap…. first matches were at 19h30…. we travelled all this way to play each other… Viola played Stephanie and beat her (of course:) However Stephanie paid off a respectable showing and took off a game while Paulette was in the harder draw…. Paulette had a tough run today, but it improved as soon as she realized that her opponent was left handed.. Note to self : always check what hand your opponent is holding the racquet End result is that Viola and Stephanie are going to play the opposite semi-finals (against Po’s adversaries) tomorrow - hoping for a Ottawa final, possibly with Penny reffing

After our rousing match of squash, we watched a few games entertained by Sam Cornett, Shauna Keithing then it was back to the motel for a sparkling shiraz, with salmon pate on absconded bagels - Dinner was at the Jack Astor again with yet another Barefoot Merlot (very good) and we are now back at the hotel finishing off the casal thaulero SANGIOVESE and our suckers…. life is good. hope yours is too.

 Po, Vi & Steph

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January 24, 2008 by Steph.

While some were celebrating Barb’s 50th birthday, others were running around a frozen squash court in Winnipeg Being really bad with names (birth defect), i will not attempt to describe all exciting games that were seen or lived. I had the honour of being part of a great team playing amongst people who actually practise 6 or more times than me, play internationally, breath squash every day and drink loads of beers. I must highlight the outstanding performance of John Fredericks (the beerbeared one) who can drink and play amazingly well the next day. His laugh is very communicative and it is still echoing in my brain as i type this message. We fought well, and i must say our numbers #1 never lost a game (David and Julie well done !). After the first round, Ontario was looking pretty strong (we beat Saskatchewan) and then Manitoba’s second team…. Our toughest match was against Alberta’s 1st team: games were tied 3-3, and the deciding match went to 5 ! Chris did his best under the intense pressure of that underground audiance in subzero temperatures… i mean, we were the only eastern province of Western Canada…. imagine that… now that is defying the laws of physics and geography :) So the end result is that Manitoba’s #1 team came first, defeating Alberta’s #1 team in the finals. Ontario came in 3rd… Thanks to you Elka for the precious tips on conservation of energy and basic game strategies…  i definitely need to do something about that if i want to reach the next master’s level alive Mike (our captain) did an amazing job at making sure everyone was at ease and included.

It was a great experience. Next year, it is happening in Saskatchewan… anyone want to go ? oh yeah, i forgot to say that the exterior temperature was about -43 degres celcius (and inside about +O  - the ball was dead)

 Cheers,

Steph-The-Squashed-Master

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