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BEST AND BEST MEMORIES ...
 Memories? If only my two
remaining grey cells would collide more often I would have
memories, but sadly they ping around in the emptiness
between my ears very rarely sparking.
That would be the easy excuse for not pinpointing
remembrances, but the more solid reason is that there are
way too many. Of them, they are almost uniformly good ones.
There has been little I would class as a low. My personal
match losses are not applicable (I lose almost every one I
play, for mine is a very different game to the elite one
that only involves using the strings of the racket!)
 It would be so difficult to pick out events, but
directing twenty British Opens, each one a fantastic
team effort, underpins so much.
Being involved with
running all the Al Ahram Championships and so viewing
the wonderful Giza Pyramids dozens of times;
Indeed
similarly in Egypt playing on the Hurghada Island for
several years (where a ball hit over the front wall
would be 'lost at sea'!), conjure up splendid memories.
The Al Ahram was a wonderful spectacle, but
challenging too. Pre-wifi was problematic when a camel
trod on the telephone cable to the press tent! The
rider, on sentry duty, carrying a cardboard rifle for show!
Fantastic JSM Supersquash events in Japan, so many
World Championships where the excitement, where the
emotion of winning, were a joy to behold, while feeling so
much for those who lost.
 Being in Toulouse in 1986 when Ross Norman ended Jahangir
Khan's unbeaten reign - and reputedly being the only
person to have been both there and at his preceding loss in
1981.
Also right up there was a full Royal Albert
Hall in London for the finals of the Men's World
Teams we ran in '87.
Watching some of the 'legends' in full flow, current stars
too, but most of all seeing many of the memorable matches
that feature in anybody's all time list.
But I will stop before I start getting into a list loop.
Away from events, so many WISPA Promotional Tours, exceeding
$1.5 million prize money for WISPA (became WSA and now
merged with PSA) in 2007, seeing
so many parent-accompanied kids turn into teenagers and then
delightful adults, being involved in so many developments
generally .
But most of all I feel squash is blessed.
In every crevice
of the sport across the world there are a huge band who are
not only devoted to playing, officiating, organising,
volunteering and so on - but they are just so terrific, such
great people, that it is a privilege to have the opportunity
to know them.
And here, a special mention of all the WISPA
members while I spent fifteen years there - to a person
simply great girls (well they would have to be to have put
up with me for so long!).
They deserved, and continue to
merit everything that comes their way.
Downside? Just one.
Failing to get a rule added that would mean that taller
people would have to use shorter rackets to level the
playing field!
Yes, personal interest there!
But my best memory is still in
the future.
It begins the day after it is announced that
squash has secured the cherished Olympic place.
What a
memory that will be! |
Al-Ahram
Hurghada
WISPA Promotional Tours
WISPA assembled
best memory still to come |
