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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.
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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.
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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�
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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." |
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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� |
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