Olympic Squash a dream ?

Squash is my favorite racquet sport. I love squash for its agility, speed, skills, fitness and tactics. My first exposure to squash was through my father. During his days, Squash was a national sport and passion. It was easy to spot squash courts around Singapore at that time. As I can recall, most of my dad's friends was in the Police squash club, thus my dad join for socializing and fitness. I believe he got hooked too. During the early 80's, Singapore was among the top 10 world contenders in Squash competitions. National players like Zainal Abidin, Peter Hill, Mah Li Lian inspire many singaporeans to take up the sports and play competitively in clubs. But surprisingly as time goes by, the popularity of tennis took over and squash took a hard fall till today. Gone are the days when Singapore was a force in Asian squash. I first took up a racquet seriously when I was in my first year of poly. It was during the poly orientation that I came upon the squash courts and knew immediately it was a game I wanted to learn. Without hesitating, I signed up as a beginner and already eager for my first lesson.

To my wonderful surprise, the coach of the team was actually Zainal! What a coincidence. A respectable coach and an ex-national player very well known in the Squash scene locally and regionally. The beginning was very tough, as I have to learn basics like not hitting the ball with a badminton stroke, half bending (like a squat position) to hit the ball and the worse of all, running and positioning in the court. After 3 years of going through the squash school of hard knocks, I can say that now I play decent squash games. I still loved a spar with other players that I never encounter before. The only problem is that it is difficult to find sparing partners to play and train with these days. Most of my kakis now have either lost interest in the sport (as squash requires skills and physical maintenance) or too busy with their work. That was the case for my dad. When he left the police force, there was no one he could play with, because not everybody can play the game, and he had to work to provide for the family.

By the time I catch up in time and could play decent games, his age was catching up too and had problems running in the court when I play with him. We have to stop because squash is a vigorous sports, and could easily cause cardiac problems in older people. Every now and then, we still play but less vigorously. We will stroke the ball around the court and fine tune our skills. In retrospect, he took up another exercise for compensation - walking. Everyday without fail, rain or shine, he will walk through the nature trail in MacRitchie Reservoir after work. A true fitness buff by heart. I salute him.

Recently, there was a summit in Singapore for the Olympic committee to choose the sports participating in the up coming Beijing Olympic 2008. Squash communities around the world wrote in and lobby for squash to be included in the 2008 Olympic games, but it was a lost cause due to the low amount of votes from the panels. I'm sure squash fan around the world was disappointed by the outcome.

During my final year in Poly, I was very fortunate to represent SP to play in the IVP. It was exhilarating and challenging. Till today, my hand will still itch, whenever I pass through the courts in Kallang, eager and ready for a challenger. I could still see Zainal there, teaching, training and mentoring the next generation of squash players. I sincerely hope that all this effort of grooming the sports and talents will not be wasted (Malaysia have successfully groom many players, over taking Singapore and a force to reckon with in the region). In the next few years to the Beijing Olympic and after, I'm crossing my fingers hard that squash would once again rise up in the sporting arena and relive its glorious days.