#2 Meet Andreas

�  Men's World Team Championships 2011 � 21-27 Aug � Paderborn, Germany �  

 

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#1 Welcome to Paderborn ] [ #2 Meet Andreas ] #3 Meet more teams ] #4 Norman and more ] #5 Scotland plus ... ] #6 A Team and and Major ]

EN BREF #2
 
Everything you never knew you needed to know about the World Teams ...

ANDREAS & NORMAN,
THE A TEAM�

A lovely surprise waited for us today. When my stomach started to make weird noises around lunch time, I was shown to the VIP areas where lovely warm and cold food along with drinks of all kinds (but no tea, oh well) are provided in a lovely environment.



And I was lucky enough to meet
there the two "Mister Big" of this event, Norman Farthing, Championship Manager, and Andreas Preising, President of Paderborn Squash Club (Passion, Professionalism, Preising, President, Paderborn, so many �p� as Andreas stresses!).

It's their passion and professionalism that made that dream turn into reality
.



First, please meet
Andreas Preising....


When did squash started for you then?
Well, at the end of �78, I was among the 7 people it takes to create a company in Germany that founded Paderborn Squash Club. I became Vice President in �81, and when our president moved to Singapore, I replaced him in �89.

What attracted you to squash?
Well, I discovered squash throughout my younger sister, I was myself playing handball, and I happily switched to squash, as I thought it was really good for the body, and I just enjoyed the game immensely.

You have a fantastic venue here, haven�t you.
Yes, in �84, this SportPark was built with 10 squash courts, with the idea that we would have to make this place financially viable, and for that, we had to become more professional, more structured, more organised. It took us a few years, from �84 to �91, to get there, but we did. And if when we started, there was not too much work, well, now, there is an awful lot of it!!!

This event took a lot of preparing, didn�t it?
Yes, it was all about building a team, a real one, where everybody does their part, admin, marketing, transport, etc. And every day, we have a meeting to make sure that we are all in tune with each other. It�s not about individuals here in Paderborn. We also had to find volunteers, which is not easy, so we are grateful to the soldiers who are helping us, the young squash players, everybody who is participating to the event.

At the end of the day, why did you do all those efforts.
We wanted to promote the sport really, here in Paderborn, but also, we like the idea of the Olympics very much! And you know, you need a good team, good transport and excellent food, a good hotel, a good location, and you have a great event!

Most of all, when the kids involved just can�t get to sleep before the event because they are so excited, and when you look into their eyes, you see how much they love the game, you realise that�s what it�s all about�

THEY SAID....

Keir Worth, England Squash:
"They spend weeks of the year knocking chunks out of each other that when they come together for the European and World events they treasure and value it."

NAMIBIA

We have three teams who are participating to the Team Event for the first time. Namibia is one of them....

I chatted for a few minutes with Archi Botha, Namibian Manager.

�The idea came when we played in the All Africa tournament back in January at the start of the year. We were supported by our main sponsor, TRUSTCO Group International. It took a bit of organising, finding the coach, and the team of course.

�In Namibia, we have a great base of social players in the country, and about 90 competitive players, between the leagues and the tournaments. To select our team, we used a top 16 event that we organise every year as our trials.�

And when I asked what attracted him to the game, he replied �well, I used to play Hockey for a long time, but the intensity of squash is just amazing. And also, the challenges that one can set up against oneself really.�

SPAIN

It was nice to catch up with David Vidal, who is playing four of Spain, and National Coach Constantino Casas, whose been taking care of the Spanish Teams for 6 years now.

�Constantino has been wonderful for Spanish squash�, said David. �He�s really put the emphasis on the grass root, that our country cruelly lacked off. And now, we start to have some lovely players coming through.

�I�m 33 now, still based in Majorca, and I don�t seem myself going anywhere else, I�m very happy there, I�m going to finish my career, but I�ll still train of course, and coach as much as I can.

�Majorca had a lot of squash courts, after the boom of the 80s. Now, we have only a few left in the islands that count about one million inhabitants. So, I�m going to try and do my best to boost a bit squash in Majorca, to encourage the juniors to play � at the moment, we have only 5��

It�s so great to see David still passionate about his sport: �I just love squash, I want to try and do all I can to see it prosper, Fram.�

Hear, hear�

#1 Welcome to Paderborn ] [ #2 Meet Andreas ] #3 Meet more teams ] #4 Norman and more ] #5 Scotland plus ... ] #6 A Team and and Major ]

#2 Meet Andreas

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