Canada 2010

Pete & Rob on Vancouver Island

The final report from the Sports Academy Tour to Canada

Rob Dadds & Peter Dickinson return to England after 3 weeks of excellent Squash in Canada.

With The Sun & Surf Vancouver Open Squash Championships beh ind them and with a feeling of a job well done, Robert Dadds and Peter Dickinson made their way to Victoria on Vancouver Island for the final stop on their three week Squash Tour of Canada. Here they were met by one of the major sponsors of the tour, Harrow Sport, who as well as congratulating them on the results they had achieved across Western Canada, presented them with some special loggo'd clothing for their return to the UK. Stuart Dixon, owner and Professional at The Victoria Squash Club, the centre for junior squash on the Island, is an old playing buddy of travellingTour Professional David Morgan: arriving on Vancouver Island in 1978 from New Zealand - via a couple of years in Calgary where he met Morgan - Stuart has turned out to be one of the best squash teaching Pros in N America and continues to turn out top young players year after year. On his 2010 Summer Camp Coaching Team were Ashley Clackson, winner of five National titles - including The Canadian Nationals which she won at 15! Ashley and David Morgan also have a history going back to the early 1990s. Also on the Team was World Squash Doubles champion Victor Berg, still a very useful singles player, who used to be in Stuart Dixon's squad when David Morgan toured through with British juniors in the 1980/90s. two other top players helped out - including Morgan! "I'm fine for a couple of hours - but only every other day, these days" Morgan says! The four days which Pete and Rob had at The Summer Camp were busy and quite tiring, but a great way to finish off a long three week tour. Morgan's summing up - "Rob has come of age in his squash and now has learned the difference between junior and senior squash: he is starting to attack the ball more and realises that he cannot sit back and rely on just his fitness, but has to actually win points when he has created the opportunity: I shall sit down and chat with his coach about my observations - and those of coaches along the way! - when I get home". "Pete needs to understand that a good level of fitness will not be enough if he wants to improve further, especially as he moves into senior squash at University! His shot making is excellent - although he was inclined to make a few too many unforced errors! - but time and time gain his lack of aerobic fitness let him down and that in many cases was the cause of the errors. Training can be the least fun bit of any sport, but without a top level of fitness, you cannot expect to play a top level of sport". David Morgan returns on Friday after a few days 'chilling out' and will help in a presentation to made by the two players in the near future, showing other aspiring young squash players what a fantastic reward can be achieved by hard work - and some dedication. Sports Academy juniors can expect to look forward to the opportunity to a 2012 Canada Tour as well as a number of UK and European Tours through 2010 and 2011.

Report from week 2 in Canada

Leaving Calgary on Sunday of last week, The Sports Academy junior squash players touring Canada arrived in Vancouver ready to continue their run of good results. Playing first at The Evergreen Squash Club - one of Vancouver's oldest racket clubs - both Robert Dadds and Peter Dickinson continued their good form with wins over two of the top U19 players from the city. Then it was on to The Jericho Club where they had the opportunity to play on the courts where the upcoming Sun & Surf Open was to be played. Robert and Peter played a round robin against a group of young players, including National U17 champion Michael Thompson, where both enjoyed short game wins against tough opponents. Matches against The Arbutus Club {where the Women's Worlds was played a few years back} and then against The Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Rackets Club resulted in three wins and one loss. This was followed by a rest day before first round matches in the main event - The Honda Sun and Surf Squash Classic - 2010.

Peter Dickinson played the second seed in the first round and found his older more experienced opponent too hot to handle going down 5-11, 9-11, 11-13; a really good effort and coach David Morgan commented "one to be proud of"! Peter went on to make the final of the consolation event where he went out to Tyler Olson, the number one seed in the main event.Tyler had been surprisingly unseated by Robert Dadds the day before in the first round. In this match Robert played one of his best games in Canada, unsettling the number one seed by taking the ball early and building pressure from early on. To the discomfort of the partisan crowd, Tyler is a local player from Victoria, Robert made a difficult match seem easy by winning 11-5, 11-4. 11- 9. Unfortunately winning a major open tournament means winning three/ four matches on the trot. Although Robert had beaten his next round opponent in their encounter at The Evergreen Club, three days earlier, this time the task was more difficult and Robert went down 5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11. All in all good results against players with far more experience at this level. "I know when I lived in Canada from 1975 to 1985" said Morgan, " I was amazed by the number of tournaments played in the major cities in Canada and the willingness of top players to travel vast distances to compete. Consequently UK players are usually slightly disadvantaged and end up being a couple of years behind players from countries where more top competition is available at junior levels. Robert and Peter have performed excellently and will return to the UK on Thursday much improved for the experience!"

On Sunday the players moved to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, for four days of training with NZ Squash Professional Stuart Dixon, who is running a camp for players from the US and S America. "Getting the chance to get on court with so many players from different countries is another fantastic experience" said Morgan, "hopefully we can bring another group of players in 2012, which just happens to be the 50th Anniversary of the Sports Academy"!

The Photo also shows Alex Norman she is from England now living in Montreal and playing on the ladies Pro circuit WISPA and also part of the Harrow Sport Squash Team.

Rob & Pete in Canada UPDATE

Young squash hopefuls Rob Dadds and Pete Dickinson are in Canada for a three week match playing and training tour. Both players are eighteen and belong to the Sports Academy which is based at Hunts County Squash Club in the Hemingfords, Cambridgeshire. The journey from home to Calgary, Alberta was some fifteen hours in total, with a time change of seven hours: add to that the altitude change of some 1100m above sea level, different playing conditions and being so far away from home and the first match against The World Health Club at Edgemont was a tough starter, which they came through with some difficulty, playing two top 'A' players and splitting the result: since then, they have played four more matches in Calgary against the top clubs, winning against them all - with some style. Travelling on to Vancouver on Friday - another time change! - the two players have had two more matches, winning both games at the well known Jericho Club on the Friday and again splitting the two matches on Saturday at The Evergreen Rackets Club, but getting a result by winning a doubles challenge (on the real doubles court!) by two games to one. With more matches in Vancouver this week and a visit to Whistler on Tuesday/Wednesday for a match there and a visit to many of the Winter Olympic sites, they should be in decent shape for the Sun & Surf Open Tournament starting Thursday: both players are expected to have tough games in the first round. Travelling with Sports Academy coach David Morgan, the experience gained by the players on this sort of tour is outstanding and further N American tours are already being planned, in addition to The Sports Academy tours around the UK and into Europe.