S PORTS
Squash
Convenor: Sarat Chandran | Article by: Jodee Lee
Some of our participants from the World Squash Day Parent-Child team event; Players in good spirits after the World Squash Day afternoon friendlies
WORLD SQUASH DAY 12 OCTOBER 2019 Squash clubs around the world from Australia to Peru, UK to Egypt, and here in Singapore staged events for this year’s World Squash Day (WSD). Our day started with an Open House in the morning with 3 coaches on hand and then went on to a Parent & Child Team Event which was very popular. We had 11 teams competing, and it was a crazy 2 hours as players were rushing from court to court to play their games. The kids were very serious about it and parents felt under some pressure to perform. It was heart-warming to see our next generation of players. Following that we moved on to the afternoon event with over 30 players divided into 2 teams – red and white shirts playing games of 15-minute continuous squash. We were joined by players from The Chinese Swimming Club and 5 young men from Fairfield Methodist School. There were lots of exciting games and tired players by the end of the afternoon.
too strong on court and achieved a resounding win by the end of the afternoon. Post-match refreshments were held at TAC’s Traders Bar, where new friendships were forged as we bonded over grub and drinks. We headed to the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club (YCAC) on 10 November. It was a good 30min trek up the hill to reach the lovely club and by the time we arrived at the club, we were well warmed-up and ready to play. The players had a fun afternoon of squash and laughter between the teams. There were some hard fought matches with SCC prevailing at the end of the afternoon. We hope both TAC and YCAC will have the opportunity to come out to Singapore so that SCC can reciprocate their warm hospitality. It was a great weekend of squash and exploring Tokyo and Yokohama. It was suggested that the squash section should do Tokyo or other squash tours more regularly. If you are interested in joining a squash tour in 2020, please reach out to Eleanor (helloeleanortan@gmail.com) to indicate your interest.
Next up was a speed gun challenge which measured how fast our players could hit a squash ball. The fastest player got to 199 km/h, which was the upper limit of the speed which the gun could pick up. It was anyone’s guess how fast the speed of the ball actually was. World Squash day meant a full day’s worth of celebrations for SCC Squash, and we couldn’t miss out on a dinner, served with a twist. Dinner was held on the veranda accompanied by a screening of some matches from the US Open projected onto the front wall of Court 2. It was our very own “movie night”, a first for SCC. A special note of thanks goes out to Ken and the Sports Department for all their help. If anyone would like to try out squash or wants to pick it up again, please drop an email to sccsquashers@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you (and in case you didn’t know, we have a group of very keen women players as well). Make it your new year’s resolution to get back on court!!
SCC TOKYO SQUASH TOUR 2019 This was the last trip for our squash tours in 2019. Tokyo autumn day time temperatures were about 15c - much cooler than our 32c in Singapore - it was an interesting contrast to play in cooler courts than we are used to at SCC. It was also wonderful weather to explore the hip Tokyo suburbs, exciting restaurants and bars on foot during the weekend. On 9 November, we played the Tokyo American Club (TAC) with 10 matches. There were some hard fought matches but TAC proved
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THE PADANG JAN / FEB 2020
Our lovely hosts from the Tokyo American Club with SCC and players from The American Club (Singapore); Quentin Tarantino inspired immersion out in Nishi-Azabu. Gonpachi Restaurant - where some scenes in Kill Bill was filmed.
