This week was meant to be my bye in squash, so this morning I didn’t bother packing my gear to take to work. Of course, the day I don’t do that – I receive a call late in the afternoon from another player who wasn’t able to make it (his wife sprung a surprise on him for his 50th birthday). I asked if he could call around to some other folk first, as I’d need to travel home to get my gear and then head down to the Robina squash courts; bit of a drive. Long story short, we’ve got a bunch of guys out injured at the moment so I said I’d fill in for him on late notice.

I get to squash on time, expecting that I’ll be 2nd or 3rd up to play and I don’t see my opponent anywhere. I ask around and no one has heard anything, which is very strange but figure he is just running late. After waiting there for about two hours, 9 o’clock rolled around and I was just about to go home when one of the B grade players asked if I’d like to have a hit regardless. Given that I’d made the trek home, then down to Robina – it made sense to at least have a hit while I was there.

First game I lost quite convincingly and I thought that it was going to set the tone for the next three; but that didn’t seem quite right. I grabbed a quick drink between the games, regrouped and preceded to take the second and third games in a similar style to what had happened to me in the first – Darren didn’t know what the hell was going on. The fourth game wasn’t quite as good, started hitting the ball a little loser – which he capitalised on. By the end of the four games, we were both working really hard and were sucking in a whole lot of air coming off the court; pleasing to know that he was working just as hard!

The next squash season is soon to start, so I’d be fantastic if there is an opening in a higher grade as the extra challenge presented by the stronger players is great. Playing against stronger players makes personal development a lot faster, it is quite hard to continue to progress if you don’t have opponents that have superior skills to you; I find you tend to plateau at or slightly above the strongest player after a while.

If you’re interested in joining the club for some fun and fitness:

Robina Squash Club
University Drive
Robina QLD, 4226
0427 627 229