REVERSE ANGLE Squash Canada’s High Performance Newsletter Published by JAMIE HICKOX Performance Director Squash Canada Email: [email protected] January 2017 Spotlight on our Athletes PSA Success Our athletes clocked up five PSA wins in the final quarter of 2016 along with many other notable performances. In recognition of this unprecedented success and excellent work we are highlighting our athletes, as well as their Primary Coaches. Athlete result event Primary Coach Sam Cornett (ON) winner 5k Sarnia, ON Jessica DiMauro (ON) Hollie Naughton (ON) winner 10k Vancouver, BC David Palmer (AUS/US) Danielle Letourneau (AB) winner 10k London, ON Jonathan Hill (AB) Nick Sachvie (ON) winner 10k Minneapolis, US Chris Sachvie (ON) Nick Sachvie (ON) winner 5k Montreal, QC Sam Cornett (ON) runner-up 15k Toronto, ON Jessica DiMauro (ON) Andrew Schnell (AB) runner-up 10k Cleveland, US Graeme Schnell (AB) Mike McCue (ON) runner-up 5k Niagara on the Lake, ON Andrew McDougall (ON) Mike McCue (ON) runner-up 10k Saskatoon, SK Mike McCue (ON) runner-up 10k Ottawa, ON Nicole Bunyan (BC) runner-up 5k Virginia, US John Musto (US) Shawn De Lierre (QC) and Nikki Todd (SK) had a slow start to the season nursing injuries but both are back and ready for competition. 2016 World Women’s Team Champs Named above, Hollie, Sam, Danielle and Nikki did an excellent job to meet their seeding by finishing 10th. With an 11th two years ago, the girls out performed an ever improving field. The Women’s World Team Champs again showcased how the depth and level continues to grow significantly. More in deeper dialogue. 2016 Pan American Champs Tyler Osborne (ON) scored a huge upset in the men’s individual event beating number one seed and US number one, Todd Harrity (US) in the round of 16 to make the quarter final. Squash Canada’s High Performance Newsletter January 2017 P a g e | 1 Team Canada December, and for some early January, is an intense window for high performance junior players and certainly the time for peak performance. The Canadian Junior Open at White Oaks kicked of the string of four major junior tournaments. The US Junior Open followed the CJO with the British & Scottish Junior Open’s beginning in the New Year. 2016 Canadian Junior Open With 283 entries, including 91 from 21 different nations, five Canadian winners at the 2016 CJO (up from 3 wins last year): Akasham Rajagopaul (ON) boys U-19 winner Andrea Toth (BC) girls U-17 winner Abdelrahman Dweek (AB) boys U-15 winner James Flynn (ON) boys U-17 winner Salma Mounir (ON) girls U-13 winner Other notable performances: Brett Schille (AB) boys U-19 2nd Christian Yuen (BC) boys U-13 3rd Elliot Hunt (ON) boys U-17 2nd Emma Jinks (PEI) girls U-17 4th Lucia Bicknell (BC) girls U-15 2nd Sarah Cao (BC) girls U-15 4th Nikhil Ismail (ON) boys U-15 2nd Alexandra Brown (BC) girls U-13 4th Jacob Lin (BC) boys U-13 2nd Joseph Toth (BC) boys U-13 4th Grace Thomas (BC) girls U-19 3rd Ryan Picken (BC) boys U-19 5th Julien Gosset (ON) boys U-19 3rd Maya Mansoor (ON) girls U-13 5th George Crowne (ON) boys U-17 3rd Mohamad Kamal (AB) boys U-13 5th Jana Dweek (AB) girls U-13 3rd 2016 US Junior Open A significantly tougher level tournament than the CJO, notable Canadian performances at the US Junior Open with 6 quarter final places, best finish was 2nd by Maria Min (BC). Maria Min (BC) girls U-11 2nd Mike Mehl (AB) boys U-19 10th George Crowne (ON) boys U-17 5th James Flynn (ON) boys U-17 10th Salma Mounir (ON) girls U-13 6th Lucia Bicknell (BC) girls U-15 10th Ryan Picken (BC) boys U-19 7/8th Grace Thomas (BC) girls U-19 11/12th Andrea Toth (BC) girls U-17 7/8th Hannah Blatt (MB) girls U-19 11/12th Elliot Hunt (ON) boys U-17 7/8th Nicole Kendall (ON) girls U-19 13/16th Brett Schille (AB) boys U-19 9th Maya Mansoor (ON) girls U-13 13/16th Jacob Marrison (ON) boys U-11 9th 2017 British Junior Open Team Canada had an unprecedented 24 entries for the 2017 BJO. Unprecedented success too with 6 top 16 finishers in a field which is essentially the best in the world. Unfortunately, top 8 contender Mike Mehl (AB) had to withdraw from the event but fellow Albertan/World Health player Abdelrahman Dweek (AB) more than made up the difference by finishing 4th, the only Canadian to reach the semifinals since 2009. Darosham Khan (ON) had an excellent run to finish 7th. The following athletes competed at the 2017 BJO: Abdelrahman Dweek (AB) boys U-15 4th Lucia Bicknell (BC) girls U-15 15th Darosham Khan (ON) boys U-17 7th Alexandra Brown (BC) girls U-13 18th Salaheldin Eltorgmen (ON) boys U-15 11th Brooke Herring (BC) girls U-17 19th Grace Thomas (BC) girls U-19 12th Cynthia Cao (BC) girls U-17 22nd Emma Jinks (PEI) girls U-17 13th Elliot Hunt (ON) boys U-17 22nd Squash Canada’s High Performance Newsletter January 2017 P a g e | 2 Dylan Deverill (ON) boys U-15 23rd Sara Khan (ON) girls U-17 43rd Noel Heaton (AB) boys U-19 26th Amin Khan (ON) boys U-15 44th Sarah Cao (BC) girls U-15 28th Maaz Shah (ON) boys U-13 53rd Liam Jinks (PEI) boys U15 28th Ismael Matti (BC) boys U-19 60th Sydney Maxwell (ON) girls U-17 33rd Michael Greenwood (ON) withdrew 62nd Sam Scivier (BC) boys U-17 42nd James Flynn (ON) withdrew 63rd Full results here: http://bjosquash.tumblr.com/draws2017 If you are planning to commit to the 2018 BJO please let us know. 2017 Scottish Junior Open Squash BC did Canada proud as their athletes featured very well at the Scottish Junior Open with 4 reaching the finals: Grace Thomas (BC) girls U-19 winner Sam Scivier (BC) boys U-17 runner-up Cynthia Cao (BC) girls U-17 runner-up Alexandra Brown (BC) girls U-13 runner-up Full results here: http://www.scottishsquash.org/events/draws/ PanAm Senior Champs US Squash hosted the 2016 Pan American Senior Championships from 18-24 September, 2016 at Trinity College. Team Canada members: Men’s Team Tyler Osborne (ON) Ahad Raza (ON) Blake Reinsen (AB) Full results here: http://www.panamsquash.com/en/2016panams/ PSA in North/South America Recent PSA tournament success outlined on page one has reflected positive movement for our players in the world ranking. National Champ Hollie Naughton (ON) continues her rise on the PSA ladder making a career high of 42. Danielle Letourneau (AB) has also reached a career high of 52. The highest riser goes to Nicole Bunyan (BC) who has jumped 50 places in the last six months. With Sam Cornett (ON) on her way back Team Canada could see 5 girls in the PSA top 60 within six months. Only Egypt, England and Hong Kong can boast 6 or more in the 60’s: as of December 2016; Egypt-16, England-8, HK-6, Malaysia-4, Australia-5, France- 3, US/NZ/India-2. Andrew Schnell (AB) remains our highest PSA ranked male player as of January 2017. Shawn De Lierre was plagued with injury but both Mike McCue (ON) and Nick Sachvie (ON) have firmly placed themselves in the top 100 PSA. Female Male 42 Hollie Naughton (ON) 70 Andrew Schnell (AB) 52 Danielle Letourneau (AB) 81 Shawn De Lierre (QC) 54 Nikki Todd (SK) 89 Nicholas Sachvie (ON) 61 Sam Cornett (ON) 91 Mike McCue (ON) 77 Nicole Bunyan (BC) 139 David Baillargeon (QC) 110 Melina Turk (MB) 193 Albert Shoihet (ON) 158 Micaala Seth (ON) 218 Thomas King (SK) 182 Grace Thomas (BC) 252 Cameron Seth (ON) 200 Pooja Chugh (NWT) 253 Josh Hollings (ON) 202 Hannah Blatt (MB) 316 Brock Janzer (AB) Squash Canada’s High Performance Newsletter January 2017 P a g e | 3 407 Pranav Sharma 407 Owen Butler 430 Corey McCartney 422 Noel Heaton (AB) 362 David Mill (ON) Featured Canadian PSA Events coming this quarter: 26-29 January M 10k Linear Logistics Bankers Hall Club Pro-Am, Calgary, Alberta 2-5 February W 10k Winnipeg Winter Club Women’s Open, Winnipeg, Manitoba 9-12 February M 25k Holtrand Open, Medicine Hat, Alberta 22-25 February M 5k Guilfoyle Financial PSA Squash Classic, Toronto, Ontario 23-26 February M 5k Mount Royal University Open, Calgary, Alberta 9-12 March W 10k Calgary CFO Consulting Services PSA Women’s Squash Week, Calgary, Alberta 23-26 March M 10k Manitoba Open, Winnipeg, Manitoba 28-31 March M 25k Montreal Open, Montreal, Quebec 19-22 April M 10k Northern Ontario Open, Sudbury, Ontario ‘We continue to appreciate those promoters, coaches, club members and volunteers who run PSA (and other) events and therefore contribute greatly to our Canadian HP system.’ If you are interested to host a Team Canada National Series Event for the 2017-2018 season please get in touch with us at [email protected]. You will see below as a part of our 2015 PanAm legacy fund we will be looking to set up a few of these events where Team Canada visits a region to compete, train and promote. Andrew Schnell (AB) Amongst Olympic Medalists in Final Standings of the 2016 Commonwealth Cup A fantastic new initiative from Commonwealth Games Canada, the Canada Commonwealth Cup offers athletes the opportunity to see how they stack up compared to top athletes in other Commonwealth sports, as well as a potential funding boost.