Baltimore.... 1 star ($10,000 tournament)

I had now played three tournaments and with very average results, I was lacking in confidence to say the least... Baltimore was my next stop and I needed to perform...

It was my second visit to Baltimore, and I was fortunate to be staying with the lovely Millers again. Jay Bewley was the organiser, who did a great job, and was very friendly.

I met a good buddy Ben Coleman, at the airport, who was an English squash professional with a great array of achievements and results. We continued on to our billets and shared the details of our previous tournament and adventures. The following morning we arrived at the club for the qualification draw. I was seeded 1, as was unfortunate as this meant I needed to play two rounds in order to make the main draw. Everyone was present for the draw at 12pm, and the players were seeded and matches were drawn.  Unfortunately, I got two of the toughest rounds possible, with my first round match against a very athletic Patrick Chifunda. If I won I was to play my good friend Ben Coleman, who was the British Junior Champion. And English number 1 the previous year.

I was really looking forward to these matches, as I believed they were matches I should win, but would be a great test to my current form. My first round against Patrick was tricky. He is very skilful, and his shot selection is very random. Anyways, my length was on, I felt good, moving well and continued to take control and dominate the T area. I won the first 11-, and continued my form to win 11- in the second game. A slight relaxation and a minor dip in energy meant I lost focus and dropped the third game.  I wasn’t ready to loose and came out fired up, pushed the pace and my shot selection improved. I took the forth and the match 3-1 (11-7 11-5 4-11 11-7).

Next I was playing Ben Coleman, and from watching him play, I knew he was a great athlete, retrieves most balls, and very patient. I thought about my game plan, and knew I needed to create the openings and seize the opportunities when they arose. This would only come from a good length. Good advice had come from a fellow player years before in Arthur Gaskin. “Good length comes before a good shot”. I took control of the match and felt I had Ben doing slightly more work than myself.  I saw Ben began to grow in frustration and pushed on to win the match 3-0 (11-5 11-5 11-7).

I had qualified, not easily, but the wins had helped my mental state, and gave me confidence. They drew the qualifying places, and I was up to play the gigantic Adrian “Wall dog” Waller.  He was currently ranked firmly inside the top 60 in the World rankings, and I knew I had to produce my best in order to make an impression on his game.  I was a little stiff, but was playing better. I played hard, gave it my best and was toe to toe with Adrian. I was under pressure, but producing good squash. Towards the end of each game I failed to produce enough quality to convert and found myself losing the match 3-0 (11-8 11-9 11-9).

The loss was tough, but the lessons I learnt were important. Not to be content with your achievements until you fulfil your goals. You have to be confident and believe you can win otherwise you have already lost before you step on the court. You can always push more that you believe you can.

I had also been playing in the hardball Doubles competition alongside the PSA event, and had progressed through to the finals with two separate partners.  Hardball courts are twice the length and one and a half times in width. The ball has no air inside, and resembles a gold ball in hardness compared to a spongy squash ball. Patrick Miller my billet and I picked up the winners trophy and cheque to round off the week.

Madison, Wisconsin... Super Satelite!

Madison arrived.

After the two-hour drive and a slight detour due to lack of directions. We finally arrived, checked out the club, met and greeted all the members, players and Damon Bourne (organiser). The club is a small business unit, which has been done out wonderfully. The courts are brand new ASB, and look perfect to the eye. Damon has done a great job in both organising the event, building the venue and promoting squash in the area. 

Anyways, first match I drew my good friend Jonas Knigge Laursen, which was unfortunate for one of us. After the warm-up I knew that the courts suited my game more than his, so I looked to take full advantage of this. I started well, hit good length and forced Jonas to pursue his best shots from the most difficult positions. I had some good spells and the start of each game, and created enough of a space in the points to feel confident in my win and performance. Jonas has great shots, but with a slow court, I was able to pick up the nicks and force him to twist and turn to a slow death. I came home 3-0 with the win (11-5 11-5 11-6)

We retired to the pub for some food and a couple of games of pool. Jonas and I took on Lyall Paterson and Fernando Lopez, from the rest of the world and continued in winning ways.  I guess they don’t have pool tables in Mexico, and Lopez seemed to foul more times than he potted. Anyways, early night sleep in preparation for my quarterfinal against Eddie Charlton of England.

Morning hit, warmed up and began preparing. I felt average, not good, but not bad. Went through my routine warm up and got ready for my match physically and mentally. I struggled to make a good impression in the match, and constantly made bad starts to each game. I left myself too much to recover and failed to perform. For whatever reason, I had lost my consistency and began to grow in frustration. I went down 3-0 ( 11-6 11-6 11-7). I sat, reflected and tried to think of the things I did right and wrong. I learn allot from losing, more than when I was young. Experience comes from loses, and as much I as I hate losing, i was beginning to understand why...

Chicago... The Windy City

I had never visited Chicago, and heard many compliments for the Windy City. Some Americans say that they prefer Chicago to New York, which made me excited to see what the attraction was.  What I thought would be a straight forward International flight from Ottawa, Canada, to Chicago, Illinois seemed to be allot more complicated. Like most of my flights I take, my bags were over-weight due to the extra equipment and clothing I had now brought or borrowed, to compensate for my delayed baggage. I checked in on time and continued through to passport control.  Normal procedure, why are you here? how long you staying? and where will you be staying?  I answered and the officer seemed it was appropriate to pass me on to security control for further checks.  I waiting for the next available officer who interrogated me for further details, and seemed to be in disbelief to why I was in the United States of America.  After providing every detail I knew, where I would be staying for the next 6 weeks, and who I would be staying with, another two officers walked in to join the interrogation, and ask further questions.  The initial officer couldn't find any people on the system, and my explanation of using Blackberry Messenger to contact them seemed inadequate. My bags were called off the flight and my thoughts turned to maybe an early flight home.  Anyways, my bags were all checked, everything was cleared, and after spending 3 hours in intense interrogation, I was booked on the later flight and sent back through passport control just in case they hadn't checked my enough. 

I finally arrived in Chicago to stay with Jonas Knigge Laursen, before we drove to Madison for the Workshop Open in Wisconsin. We had three days to train, and a short 2 hour drive till the tournament started. Unfortunately the draw for Madison, meant that we in fact drew each other, and one of us would be out in the first round. Anyways, we trained at the University Club of Chicago where Jonas is the Assistant Coaching Pro. The club held the U.S Open this year, and I could see why! The club is amazing, very traditional, well maintained and central to Chicago City.  I was given my locker for the next few days, trained and ventured into the city for a browse. 

I was not disappointed, the City Is lovely, very pleasing to the eye, sky scrappers mixed with astonishing parks and lake Michigan within reaching distance.  Tournament day came, so we hired a car, but oh, not any car, we would only drive in style, and when I say "They see me rollin" I mean  a Lincoln Town Car, and drove to Madison..

Goodlife Open - Ottawa

My second stop on tour, took me east bound in Canada. I headed from Niagara to Ottawa via the train for 5 hours. I  set up camp with Adrian Dudzicki on the outskirts of the city and began training in preparation for the tournament.  Adrian and I had spent the summer in Australia together, so knew how to handle each others company, and the week was a blast.

With three days preparation, Johnny Wilson from the Ottawa Athletic Club, gave us some good advice and suggested some sessions in order to prepare efficiently for Thursday's first round matches.  The body was starting to feel good, more fluid and the strength and power was coming back..

Thursday came and I warmed up mentally and physically for my opponent Lawrence Delasaux, from England. We had played once before, and everyone knows how talented and tricky he can be, as I thought about my game plan and strategy.  Lawrence had been under the weather the week before, and I knew a strong mature performance could play tough on his mind. I began on good form, attacked when in-front, jumped on balls that were loose and managed to keep the tempo high.  2-0, 11-4, 11-8 and 5-2, Delasaux decided enough was enough, and withdrew from the match handing me the victory. Although I would grasp the win with two hands and look forward to my quarter-final match, you never enjoy winning in this style. 

What went wrong... well I learnt a few lessons from my second attempt Vs David Phillips. First one was preparation.. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. As much as I wanted to win, I needed to let my emotions subside and remain focused for the task in hand.  The excitement and adrenaline played on my mind, and that night I failed to get much sleep, as I began thinking about my match over and over. The poor performance indicator was my eating patterns. Due to the late night, I therefore slept in late in an attempt to regain the hours. This hindered the amount of time to eat, and instead of feeling light and energetic leading into my match, I felt lethargic and slow. Lesson learnt, I became clearly frustrated, and even at the top of my performance levels, a great performance would of been needed, while Phillips cruised to a 3-0 victory. I was disappointed in myself for obvious reasons of inconsistency, but also realised that Phillips had played well that day and maybe it was a step to far..

I stayed and watched some great matches, and enjoyed some good squash. Julian Illingworth, World no. 35 came out the winner, beating Joe Lee from England, ranked 77 in the finals. 

I regrouped, thought about my match, and started to think towards my next destination, Chicago, Illinois.  I would be staying with a good old friend, Jonas Knigge Laursen from Denmark. Jonas and I have grown up playing the junior European squash circuit together, but in different age groups, so knew each other well.  He is now the assistant squash coach, at the University Club of Chicago, situated in downtown next to Millennium Park. I was going to be based here for 4 days before we rolled up to Madison, Wisconsin. 

1st Stop Niagara Falls..

Well first place I visited was Niagara Falls..

Amazing tourist attraction, but a some-what surreal fake feeling town. The Falls are beautiful and pleasing to the eye, but the surroundings are filled with ghost trains, arcade machines, popcorn and fast food. This was my 2nd opportunity to play the White Oaks Cup, which was a 1 star event, which means the total prize money is 10,000 dollars. This gets divided down to each player according to their progressions in the competition. This stay was as enjoyable as the first, and the facilities are superb. 

We get to stay at a 5 star hotel for free, which is included in the tournament package. The hotel is connected to the squash club.  For the next 6 days you can stay within the complex, and go without seeing sunlight with ease. Everything is well prepared, and the organiser Mark Sachvie, does a perfect job running the competition along side a busy amateur tournament, and makes sure the players are very well looked after. There's a starbucks, gymnasium, tennis courts, squash courts, pro shop, swimming pool, jacuzi 3 dinning rooms and much more.

I arrived on Sunday and wasn't set to play until Thursday. I was certain my bags would show up before I played, but how wrong I was. I lent a racket from a friend and fellow PSA player, Nathan Stevenson from Australia, brought boxer, lent kit and socks and played in a loosely fitted size medium U.S. Being 5ft 5, small UK is good, and we all know American sizes are slightly more generous than the british. 

Anyways, as much as the situation continued to stress me out, I knew I had to be professional and try to forget about the situation. I prepared well for my first match Vs David Phillips of Canada, but the outcome wasn't as good as hoped. I lost 3-1, and in patches, controlled and played good squash. David is a very steady player, hits good length and is tough to move from the T, due to his size and reach. I was disappointed, as I felt if the circumstances mentally had been better, then maybe I could of pushed my opponent more than i did. I lost 11-8, 11-3, 2-11, 11-5. 

For the next few days, I trained hard, got some good practise matches against Rasmus Nielson of Denmark and hit the gym for my two sessions a day.  The final was a tough affair between Julian Illingworth, the American no.1 and Mark Krajcsak, Hungarian no.1.  Julian, world number 35, looked a little jaded from his previous tough encounters, while Mark looked slightly fresher. Mark came through 3-0 but the score line of 11-9 16-14 11-7 showed how close this match really was.  It was a good match to watch and a few strange back-wall shot choices by Jules could of been his letdown.

The Saturday night held a squash function, where the PSA players socialised with fellow member and players while enjoying the semi-final matches. Myself, Kashif Shuja, Rasmus Nielson, Nathan Stevenson, Adrian Dudzicki Chad Dommasch, Mark Krajcsak and Dane Sharp enjoyed a few drinks and rested up for the night.I was beginning to prepare for my next stop in Canada, which was Ottawa for the Goodlife Open, the following week.

8 Week Tour of North America begins....

Well my travels on the PSA Tour (Professional Squash Association)  now expanded to the North America, and what a great continent it is. From past memories, I have had only positive experiences, fun occasions and plenty of success...

This continent is not only the most friendly I've visiting during my Professional Squash Career, but also the easiest place to spend extended periods of time, away from home. I mean I love visiting new cultures, attempting to speak foreign languages and trying local foods, but when your on your own, long journeys, lack of communication and hotels are sometimes daunting.  This is why the billeting (members of the squash club allow you to stay at theirs during the tournament) is so appealing, as you get to meet new people, costs are kept to a minimum and you get a better feel for the city, state and country. 

My trip consisted of an 8 weeks stint around the east coast of America. I would play two tournaments in Canada, before flying into U.S.A to play a further 4 - 5 competitions. The prize money varied between $6000 - $10000 dollars..  With a breakdown, depending on the round you proceeded to, before failing to win.  I was slightly anxious, but very excited for the trip. I knew my preparation in the gym had been going really well until 7 days before departure. That was when i was hit by the dreaded illness, that seemed to knock me harder than first thought. I spent the next week, bed bound, unable to train or play.  In an attempt to regain full fitness, I knew staying off court, would be crucial to boost my immune system before flying. 

Well.. the flight seemed fine, three seats to myself and a 5 hour sleep out of the 7 boded me well for my jet-lag. How wrong was I?  First my bags didn't get to the states, and second was that the following morning my body hit rock bottom. I was effected by the traveling worse than ever. Fever struck, no energy and tooth ache. I took some medication, and the turn around in 24 hours was somewhat better than I thought possible.

I continued my search for my bags with air Canada, and for the next 6 days I was bag-less, with only a one piece jumpsuit to my rescue. I needed to buy clothes, a tooth brush, vitamins, and many other essentials, which included star sport boxers from Walmart that later were binned due to poor performance. 4 phone calls a day, and I was told, "sorry sir we are unable to locate your bag, please can you give us more time" how my anger grew i tell thee. On to Niagara for my first tournament, with lent squash kit, racket (singular), socks, head bands and newly purchased casual clothing.  Not the best start to my trip I thought!?