Following the success of the most recent Senior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) championships, in Jamaica; there was a call for regional integration of all nations, in an effort to bring an international Caribbean tournament in order to make the sport more popular and showcase talent.
Mr Chris Samuda is the current president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and has suggested that more needs to be done by the guardians of Squash within the region to do more for the development of the game through a pooling of resources. (1)
Chris Samuda (credit: Jamaican Observer)
Now, this looks feasible given the excellent squash provision across the major Caribbean nations when it comes to grassroots, venues and most importantly the Caribbean has talented players, who are ranked in the top 300 of the PSA world player rankings.
Back the bid campaign Squash 2020 (credit: CASA)
Let’s look at why the Caribbean is a sound place to host an international squash tournament, by analysing how the sport is received and the potential venues to host three globally recognised, sanctioned by the PSA tournaments in the next year (hopefully come 2023) or few years (early 2024).
WISPA tour of the Caribbean and South America
Back in June 2000, the Women’s International Squash Players’ Association (WISPA) went on a nine-day promotional tour of the Caribbean and South America. (2).
The trip was hosted by the Jamaica Squash Association (JSA), which organised a full programme for the two leading WISPA stars, England’s then-world No5 Natalie Grainger and Germany’s No1 Sabine Schoene. The tour included meetings with local players, the media, coaches and event organisers at Kingston’s prestigious Liguanea Club, the country’s leading members’ club.
On the tour, both Grainger and Schoene put on coaching and training sessions for the local junior players to take part in.
Image credit: Squash PlayerThe climax of the Jamaican jamboree was the ultimate battle of the sexes, in which more than 200 Kingston squash enthusiasts witnessed Sabine taking on Jamaica’s men’s No2 Steve Smith and Natalie facing the new No1 Wayne Prescod.
Playing in searing temperatures of more than 90 degrees, with humidity to match, the men’s local honour on their favourite open-air court was upheld – with Smith coming back from two down to win in five, and Prescod clinching his clash in four.
Following the tour, there were plans to stage the first professional women’s squash tournament in Jamaica were also discussed in Kingston, but back then the JSA’s priorities were to develop the junior squash programme.
Then Douglas Beckford, president of the JSA, acknowledged that the Association would need to find sponsorship in order for Jamaica to stage a WISPA Tour event, in doing so would attract international squash talent to the island.
It’s a shame nothing came about, but nevertheless, it was good to see that Jamaica was focusing their efforts on grassroots programmes.
Local talent with international credentials
The suggestion of the Caribbean becoming a host of an international squash tournament was made at the 2022 CASA Senior tournament, from which he sent a message to all those involved in Squash not only in Jamaica but in other Caribbean nations to come together to pitch to the Professional Squash Association that the islands can host a major tier 1 or tier 2 international squash tournament.
If you are a keen observer when it comes to Squash players who have taken part in international tournaments sanctioned by the PSA, you need not look no further than Karen Anderson and Marlene West – both of whom raised the Jamaican flag back in the late 1990s through to early 2000s at major tournaments, including the Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games.
Let’s forget Jamaica’s leading men’s Squash players -Wayne Prescod and Steven Smith, both of whom competed in regional tournaments such as the Cayman Open. Ironically, the other Senior CASA Champions from Jamaica include James Bullock (2005 winner) and Orville Haslam (1977, 1979 winner) are two of Jamaica’s most accomplished Squash players.
Lewis Walters and Chris Binnie (credit: NTU)
Bringing to modern times, this honour has fallen to Chris Binnie and Lewis Walters – both of whom are ranked in the top 100 men’s world squash players.
Meagan Best with Shawn Simpson of Barbados
Compared to the other Caribbean nations, notably Barbados and Guyana – each one of the islands has seen its squash players compete internationally, Megan Best (Barbados) is the most notable Squash player, who made a name for herself, having won the US Junior Open squash championship title; an accomplishment that made her the first Caribbean to do this.
Nicolette Fernandes (Image credit Squashsite via Squash Mad)
With Guyana, Nicolette Fernandes is the most successful player having won the Greek Open back in 2009. Currently, Ashley Khali is a squash star whose credentials (notably the 2022 CASA Seniors women’s individuals and double title success) will help propel Guyana onto the world stage.
Ashley Khalil – 2022 Ladies CASA Champions (credit Newsroom Guyana)
Let’s not forget, that the Cayman Islands Squash are one of the most successful teams in the Island Games and won 6 gold medals in the 2019 tournament, making the country the first Caribbean nation to achieve this.
Overall, Squash players from the Caribbean have taken part and fared well (won) in tournaments on a global stage; so there are no concerns about their credentials.
Both Chris Binnie and Megan Best have a strong following overseas, hence seeing them take part in a Squash tournament in either Jamaica or Barbados against one of the current crop of Squash talent would make serious headlines and bring a lot of interest in the sport amongst the grassroots programmes.
Venues like no other
When it comes to venues, each Caribbean has a network of great Squash clubs that could host tier 1 or tier 2 tournaments.
Liguanea Club, Kingston (credit: Facebook)
Whether it be Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, the Cayman Islands or Bermuda; each one of these wonderful Caribbean boasts venues, which are worthy of championship-level standards and have received excellent reviews on Google and other customer review sites.
However, when it comes to which ones make the shortlist for PSA-sanctioned tournaments, our favourites are:
- Liguanea Club, Kingston – Founded in 1910, the venue houses the largest inventory of squash courts on the island, with a total of six courts, three of which are competition-ready glass courts. Dubbed the home of Jamaican squash, this venue would be ideal to host a Jamaican Squash Open.
- National Racquet Centre, Guyana – not much is said about the venue but has the potential to become a feasible venue for the Guyana Squash Open tournament. Nevertheless, the Guyanese junior squash team won the 2022 Junior CASA team title.
- South Sound Squash Club, Cayman Islands – marketed as the Caribbean’s premier squash facility with 6 air-conditioned international courts and a Fitness Area.
- Court House Squash & Wellness, Bermuda – one of two venues with decent squash courts, which could host a tier 2 tournament.
Other Caribbean islands such as Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago each have their own squash clubs but need to boost their profile more and highlight these more in order for PSA to see their potential of hosting an international squash tournament.
Despite this, both could still host an invitational squash tournament with an open invitation to international squash players; as a means to measure the interest and lay the foundations for potential big-prize money tournaments to boost sports tourism in the country.
Final Thoughts
Echoing the thoughts of Mr. Samuda on the Caribbean becoming a host nation for the international Squash tournaments, personally, it looks feasible and needs to happen in order to grow the sport more.
If you look at Squash in Africa, they look to growing their sport more with their Squash players taking part in a number of tournaments – take, for instance, Zambia won the Commonwealth Games Squash plate.
This accomplishment is going to make a serious difference in Zambia, showing young people how good squash is and parents should consider allowing their children to take it up as a sporting activity. Even the Democratic Republic of Congo is looking to make their presence known on the global squash circuit by hosting an international squash tournament.
To sum up, the Caribbean is a part of the Commonwealth hence it needs to be a part of its fellow Squash playing nations when it comes to Squash tournaments as a means to enhance the participation of the sport for future generations whose grandparents, and parents are decedents of, thus it needs to happen in order to boost chances of Olympic inclusion and sustainability of the sport from a business perspective too.
