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MEET THE WSF PEOPLE...
Not sure how it all works to be honest, who is in charge of which
tournaments - some are ruled by WSF, some by PSA/WISPA, but I'm pretty
certain this one is a joint effort between the three of them, which is nice
to see!
But who is WSF in fact? Have you ever asked yourself, who the heck is
running the house? Of course, we hear about Mr Ramachandran, our
President, who is spending so much energy and time to try and get us in the
Olympics, and of the immense work he has accomplished in Asia for squash
already.
But, who is the team behind him?
You may have heard of Andrew Shelley. Who shouldn't need introduction, he's
been in the squash world before squash existed, he is the one that actually
wrote down the first book of rules (only joking...).... In the recent years,
he nurtured WISPA, the ladies association, and is now helping running the
WSF Ship.
But on the emails, you may have read the names Lorraine Harding - no
relation with our Press Guru Howard Harding - or Jasmine Gibson. And thought,
wonder what they look like, who are they...
Well, look no further, good people. You are about to discover the "WSF
People".... First, Lorraine.... |
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LORRAINE HARDING
Operations Manager, 52
Since when are you at WSF, and where do you come from...
I’ve been at the WSF since 1996 but I took 2 years out
(07-08) to be Assistant Project Director building a new
College in Hastings - hard hat, boots and Hi-Vis gear were a
bit of a change to say the least. Prior to that the Royal
Navy, a solicitors and the Chess Federation.
What is your job in fact?
I’m the Operations Manager, so I guess my role is to keep
things running smoothly, the Member Nations happy, support
the Chief Executive and ManCom where necessary, anti-doping….
just about anything that’s needed.
A typical day?
Mayhem, madness, organised chaos; never typical.
Where are you the busiest?
We’re always busy, no matter what time of year, and what I
plan to do is often bumped because of something that comes
in on email. I love that though; it’s never boring.
Let's talk about the referees...
Ah referees…. an interesting part of the job! Jazz [Jasmine]
assigns referees to events and I process the annual review.
We really need more referees and we’d love to see some of
the players going down that route; there’s even a fast-track
process in place for getting them to WSF Referee level
quickly.
Do you like playing squash?
I have to confess that I’ve never played squash, I rowed
back in the day, but I enjoy watching squash and have been
privileged to be at some amazing matches over the years.
Please describe squash in three words....
Olympic, Olympic, Olympic!
I’ve been involved in bids to get squash included since the
2008 Games; 2020 will be our year!
Best and Worst memory on the job?
Worst memory is dancing around the office with Ted
Wallbutton in 2005, after we’d been advised by a reporter
from The Times that squash had got in the 2012 Games, only
to find out that we hadn’t….
Best part of the job is the people; it’s like having a
global family.
Anything else you would like to add?....
I’d like to acknowledge the incredible amount of time put
into squash by all the volunteers at all levels; they
deserve a huge “thank you”, we couldn’t manage without them.
Regards
Lorraine
Lorraine Harding
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