The Mexican Lion
by Juan Carlos Santacruz,
adapted by Steve Cubbins
 She's
an honest, dedicated and intrepid woman. She obtains
what she wishes, she has everything planned and calculated in her
mind, nothing is left to luck. She has a clarity of mind, and a
clear purpose.
The Mexican Samantha Teran, in
her 24th year, is a Taurus full of life, anecdotes, emotions,
victories of great joy but also tough moments that she has solved, thanks to her mental strength.
A late starter ...
Born in Mexico City, she's an only daughter, with parents, Javier and
Sandra, who have been supportive in her sports career, especially
her father, who started her love for the world of squash.
"My father played tournaments, and I wasn't that interested when I
was little," she says, "but I was very sporty so I always followed
my dad to the tournaments."
It was he who encouraged her to play squash at the age of 14. She entered the court, and it was there that
she found her passion, never imagining that after that
first game there would be no return.
... but a born winner
Her brown eyes are profoundly expressive and they fill with emotion
when she talks about her squash and her life, and the desire that is
within her, making her a lion on the court, is obvious.
Five months after she started playing she entered her first tournament. It was
the National Olympics in Mexico in 1996, where she reached the final
and lost by only one point. She had just turned 15 years old.
That day she decided
she didn’t want to lose ever again, that she was a winner. This
thought triggered her new life. It was then that she started her
preparation, with discipline and consistency, always next to her
father. He taught her every secret and detail, the ways of facing
victory and failure, the mechanisms to strengthen her mind and body.
Everything she did, she did with conviction and with a strong mind.
"I am very determined" she explains, and emphasises that "I obtain
what I propose to myself, nothing gets in my way."
In 1997 she went to the Junior Opens in the United States and
Canada. Nobody knew her. She entered the US qualifying and reached
the final, where she lost against the American Louisa Hall. In the
Canadian she again reached the final, where she lost to Carla Khan
from Pakistan. It was her first appearance before the international
public,
and many thought she would be the future of the continent.
After that first experience, Samantha began her preparation with
specific plans on the physical, nutrition and tactical demands of
the game. Again, her father
Javier was her guide, the mastermind that managed to polish her
like a diamond.
"You have to fight for what you want," he told me. "In
order to win, you need to have a winner’s conviction. Fight,
sacrifice and learn," he repeated. "My dad seemed a gendarme," she
says smiling, but maintains that it was a good method of
education because it gave her discipline.
Turning Professional
In 2001, at the beginning of the new century and at
the age of 20 she became a professional. She trained in Canada with
Stuart Dixon in Victoria. She remembers him like a parent, who
polished her technique and closed the teachings of her father.
She joined WISPA, entered her first competition and defeated the
world no 36, then lost to the world number
one Sarah Fitz-Gerald.
That same year one of her dreams became a reality
when she became Pan-American champion in Quito, Ecuador. She was a
continental star.
 Afterwards
she competed in New Zealand, New York
and Brazil. "I played very tough matches, but I learned," she says.
When she returned she had
another dream and it was to become the
Pan-American Games Champion.
The goal was for Santo Domingo in 2003. Yet, she lost the semi final
to the Canadian Melanie Jans losing 10-9 in the fifth game. "It was
very frustrating," she confesses, also because in that competition
her knee began to cause her problems.
A forced Absence
A few weeks later, in October, she had to face the toughest moment
of her life. Her knee couldn’t hold out any longer. She was playing
in Ottawa against New Zealander Lara Petera. At
that moment she was no 20 in the world, winning 2-0, and she fell
and broke her knee.
"Torn her crossed ligament," the doctors said afterwards. The
score was 7-3, and she was in
deep pain. But she wanted to finish the match. "I wanted
to win," she emphasizes. Almost jumping, on one foot, she won the
final two points, playing against the
pain.
She underwent a harsh operation, was in a wheelchair and the rumours
were that she wasn’t going to be able to play again, that the injury
would never be healed.
She stopped for one
year. One long year, silent and grey. However, she always had an
inner force, and she listened to her doctor. She listened to his recommendations,
followed instructions, with the same discipline of her training,
and against all odds made her rehabilitation and returned.
Triumphant return
So it was in her
land of Mexico, in the city of Tepic, in the state of Nayarit where
the Pan-American tournament was held in June 2004. She had only been
training for three weeks. And she won.
It was one of her greatest
joys. Squash had regained a star, and the Mexicans sang her name in
the glass court when she was
Pan-American Champion for a second time. She recovered her confidence, her faith, and
played professional tournaments again. She had fallen to no. 130 in the rankings, but by the end of 2004 she was in the top 50.
Since then, she has lost only against players in the top ten, and
days after her Pan American triumph she would
have the chance of revenge against Melanie Jans in
Vancouver.
She had already beaten Jans at the beginning of the
year, but this match was the final of a WISPA tournament in
Melanie's own club. It was an exciting match, that was only resolved
10-8 in
the fifth. "I played the last ball, and I left the
court, because the pressure was so great that I thought somebody was
going to burst," she remembers with laughs full of satisfaction.
The new Samantha
This is the new Samantha. Made out of sacrifice and strength. With 4 WISPA titles, in Pittsburg, Florida,
Vancouver and Bogota, two Pan-American titles in Quito and Tepic, 5
continentals finals, bronze in the Pan-American Games in Santo
Domingo and 7 years in a row Mexican Champion. She is by far the
best player in the continent, and this should be the year
when she enters the top world top 20.
When asked if she thinks of herself as an attractive woman,
she maintains that it is a secondary thing, that the inside is most
important. She jokes that when she met a cousin he
told his father, "Wow, I thought athletes were ugly."
Marriage is not in her plans just yet. She wants to keep playing for
now, but eventually she wants to
have children. She dreams of sharing her adventures, albums and
pictures. It will become a hobby telling her sons what she was when
she was younger, and the immense meaning of being champion.
For now ... and for the
future
She confesses that at 24 she is obsessed on living the moment,
now. Life has no insurance. "It can end, or change at any time," she
says, and maintains that she doesn’t live in dreams, she lives her
present, her reality, the moments that she is capable of making to
become a happy woman, for which she is very grateful.
But for the future, everything is
planned. It’s in her head, in a methodical and clear way. She wants
to build a club with squash courts, with yoga, swimming pool, gym and
a rehab centre for athletes.
Her injury made her understand the
importance of allowing a space for the adequate development of
athletes in competition, to continue being a champion, to overcome
adversity as she was able to.
www.squashglobal.com |
Last weekend saw the
conclusion of the
La Hacienda Open in Bogota,
with South Americans taking both titles.
Tournament director Juan Carlos Santacruz grabbed some time
with the champions ... Rafael Alarcon and Samantha Teran ...
 Also
see:
Rafael Alarcon
|
Part One:
