Chris Walker
enjoyed the weekend, and enjoyed the party ...
England, Men and Women's
European Team Champions ....... again!
Everyone assumes that, because the strongest
team on paper is the number one seed, they
will win!
|
It
must be
the
Green Magic |
I have had the privilege of playing
for England more times than I can remember (in
fact I have played in the 1980's, 1990's and the 2000's! 3
decades!!) and it always amazes me that we have won as many
trophy's as we have for it is not always as
easy as it seems.
In fact this year the men met with one of our strongest challenges for a
few years, battling the French in the final
and only winning on games countback! Exciting
stuff.
The England Women may as well own their trophy considering the way
things have been going in recent years. I
don't remember them losing at all!! Once again
the venue was excellent. A squash club called 'Pink Power' in
Stuttgart (obviously a German thing -
no offence intended) hosted the majority of
the matches and then the final's setting was a venue just down the road
which seated 1200 people around the ASB Glass Court, brand new
and looking a million dollars.
The
only complaint from the professional men players was that we played on
the conventional 19 inch tin. Because of the history of the event
and the fact that many of the lower ranked
teams are amateurs there has not been a need
to lower the tin as has been done for every pro event that happens
these days. However, now the strength of the Europe surely
justifies the introduction of the lower tin
(17 inches) for the Group A and B, who are the
1-8 seed teams. All of the players in these teams
are from the full or part-time
professional side of the game and would usually be playing competitively
on the lower tin. The final justification to
me is that the 4 matches the men played in the
final lasted a total of 7 hours! That's a lot of squash, even
for you squashaholics of the world.
I
could say that it's just another European Team Championship and another
Gold medal, but it's so much more than
that. I was reflecting on the week just gone
and the ones over the past 3 decades for me, and I can tell you it
doesn't get much better than that! Playing for your country,
against the best professionals in your sport,
in a team environment, pulling together and
living every point that your team mates play as well has to be the
pinnacle of anyone's career.
It really doesn't get any better than
this!
And the after party's are legendary
...
Happy
squashing,
Chris.
www.chris.walker.net
get some Green Magic
