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Cayman XTRAS ... #3, Aussies go
Scuba |
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Cayman XTRAS ... #2, A court for
Cayman |
A court for Cayman
Cedrus Investments to purchase Glass Court ...
 Last
year's Cayman Open was held entirely at the South Sound Squash
Club, while this year's final stages are being held on an
all-Glass court in Camana Bay, and it's already proved to be a
big hit with officials, players and spectators.
 It's
not a one-off though, this is part of a plan that includes
another event next year, and the Women's World Open in 2012,
and a Glass Court is obviously crucial to all these plans.
The court in use here has been hired from Mexico, shipped and
assembled by the McWil team, and mighty fine it looks too.
 On
opening night we had speeches by the Island's Premier and other
dignitaries, but the biggest cheers were for the Premier's
announcement that Cedrus Investments, one of the
event's Gold sponsors, had agreed to buy a glass court for
future events on the island to use.
Naturally we had to have a chat with the man behind this, Cedrus
Managing Director Rani Jarkas, at a special meet
the pros workshop at SSSC ... organised by Cedrus of
course ...
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more workshop photos |
 "I
grew up playing the game, and I was the #1 Amateur in the US for
four years in a row in the mid nineties.
"I stopped playing when I moved into business, but I love the
game and want to put as much back into it as I can, it gave me a
lot, and some great memories.
"Cedrus Investments is a global boutique asset and private
wealth management and advisory firm, we've been on the island
for a year now, we have around 40 employees and we'll be
expanding into Asia by the middle of this year.
"I joined the club as soon as I arrived, and met Dan who's a
wonderful pro and one of the main reasons I got excited about
doing this.
"I've played on glass courts in many tournaments in the past, so
I know how important they are for the profile of the event, and
how they're able to bring the game to the existing fans and to
new audiences, especially in fantastic settings like we have
here in Camana Bay.
"The game is dear to me, specifically expanding the junior
programme is very important, and the way Dan is gearing all the
junior activities around the event, and using it to support the
junior programme is a great move.
"So when the idea of having our own glass court came up, it was
simple, the decision was made!" |
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 On
Tuesday morning some of the girls took advantage of a trip to
Don Foster's Dive Centre for a bit of snorkelling.
"That was great, there's some wonderful creatures down there,"
said Alana Miller, for whom it was a first time
snorkelling experience.
While some of the girls stayed on Alana hitched a lift back to
the club in Mr Transport John Macrury's tiny Daihatsu
runabout along with myself and Mr SquashPics Steve Line.
Unfortunately a couple of hundred yards along South Sound Road
we picked up a smell of burning inside the car. "Too much
weight," said John, much to Alana's disgust. "Ok, let's say the
suspension just can't take it, that's the tyre burning," John
corrected.
Whatever the reason, Alana was unceremoniously dumped by the
roadside, to be picked up after John had dropped us at the club!
Still, I guess there's worse places to be abandoned ... |
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