I
am proud and honoured to be have been along side David
throughout his career.
To have been through the good times, tough losses, and triumph
wins.
He is rewarded with his amazing career by the dedication, hard work,
determination, character building and sacrifices that had to be
made.
He has had to do it living away from family and friends for the
past 16yrs. Which has been one of the hardest thing to have
done.
We have been fortunate to have travelled and meet some amazing
friends through out the world.
He is any amazing father to his 2 girls and a wonderful husband.
You could not ask for a more kind hearted and family orientated
person.
SHAUN
MOXHAM His Coach
When asked to describe in short the career of David Palmer I
guess it would be easy to start with his 2 World Open and 4
British Open victories, or achieving the World nr 1 ranking.
Countless PSA tournament victories worldwide, twice victorious
at the World Teams Championships representing his beloved
Australia or 100 consecutive months ranked inside the world’s
top ten players. These are the more commonly known things about
the man Robert Edwards nicknamed “The Marine”
Things which people may not immediately know about David Palmer
are his passion for the sport, early in his career he was
President of the PSA, and afterwards on all of his travels he
remained a great ambassador of the game.
The loyalty he has shown to his friends and family, besides his
Mum and Dad who have supported him tremendously throughout his
career, the fact that he has only ever known 3 coaches from his
junior days until today.
He left Australia with his high school sweetheart Mel in 1998 to
chase his squash dreams; they married in 2005 and together have
2 daughters, Mel has played a silent but huge role in his
success.
He has provided us with some spectacular duals over the years,
with Peter Nicol, Jonathon Power, Amr Shabana, Johnny White,
Gregory Gaultier and James Willstrop to name just a few, always
exciting and never a dull moment.
The super series semi-final match against Jonathan Power in 2001
remains a personal favourite. Who could forget the two World
Open final victories, both with multiple match balls against
him, these moments sum up the true character of the man.
It’s been my privilege and honour to have been associated with
David as a friend and coach over the past 12 years. For any
player who wants to understand the true meaning of sacrifice,
discipline, belief and commitment, look no further than David
Palmer.
JOHN WHITE,
Partner in Crime
I
have known David for around 20+ years. I have seen him come out of
juniors to become one of the best players in our time.
We have travelled the world playing squash and doing what we love
for a living.
David has been one of the most consistent players in the last decade
which has kept him at the top of the rankings for so long. He was
one of the strongest players physically and mentally on the court.
He
has given everyone a lot of memories.
He is now getting into coaching in the States which is always great
to see the other to players giving back to the sport.
It is always the toughest decision when it comes to retirement. I
wish Dave and his family all the very best.
I am sure we will meet somewhere on the court again soon.
all the best mate.
(runner up world open 2002!!!)
JOE SHAW,
Former Coach
David was a very shy and introverted boy who trusted people
implicitly. He had no vinegar in his blood and accepted all
actions given against him as a part of his life.
His Father John Palmer still claims that “David was a nice boy
until he met you !!! “
The fact is that the troubles he encountered at the start of his
career with the AIS (don't want to get into details now, it's
history), and also his long stay in Brazil while preparing the
U19 World, where he was continually home sick although
surrounded by lovely people changed him into a true professional
mentally tough player.
While all of the English Team were being paid an Annuity had
Physios and Trainers and Coaches David for all of those years
paid for all assistance from his own earnings, with the
assistance of his friend Pat in particular.
His prime asset is his loyalty not only to me but to all of
those who helped him in his career, including Shaun Moxham of
course, who accompanied him throughout his career, Lollo, Paul
and Eduardo from Brazil are still in touch 18 years later. His
school girl friend Melinda has been a rock for him totally
supporting his goals.
A two time world champion, four times British Open champion, an
entrant in the Guinness Book of Records a Postage Stamp in his
honour, an Order of Australia in his possession he is recognized
as the toughest Marine in world competitive sport and the few
hurdles exposed here are only a small part of the story.
He has now Captained Australia many times in International
competitions and he is a credit to his country. He will now
undoubtedly be confirmed as a Legend of Australian Sport and
installed into the Hall of Fame but everyone should recognize
the hurdles that he had to overcome to achieve those results.
He is now back with the A.I.S in a guidance role after a career
forged by himself with amazing tenacity and wonderful family
support.
He is an example of how a true champion can overcome
overwhelming obstacles to achieve his dreams and goals. He can
forgive the A.I.S and has and that is something that I cannot
do.
David should be back in Australia where his talents and coaching
experiences should be used for Australia's benefit as there is
no doubt that he is far more experienced in modern technological
educational training programs than any of our other coaches.
PAT HERMANS
Physio
The first word that pops up in my head when I think about Dave is
"respect".
What he achieved in his match here against Thierry Lincou is
amazing. Being sick all night and day, coughing, taking antibiotics
and still playing for 2 long hours. This is not the first time that
I said to myself "this guy is not human"...
But also what he achieved throughout his career is amazing. I
started to work with Dave and Shaun at the worlds in Antwerp and it
started quiet well: first world open for Dave!
Immediately I felt that there was a sort of chemistry between the 3
of us! Almost every tournament where the 3 of us were together, a
victory was at the end... I never worked with or met a guy who was
so disciplined, trustful and loyal like Dave.
Several weeks ago, he told me that he would stop playing squash. I
knew this once would happen. For me this was quiet emotional.
The world of squash will loose one of its best players. For me he is
and still will be! But at the end, I still got him as my best
friend.
Thanks Dave!!
Physio and friend...
ROBERT EDWARDS The Voice of Squash
Where
have the years gone?
It seems like yesterday that Joe Shaw contacted me from
Australia, to ask if I would keep an eye out for a young Aussie
who was taking the well worn path to the northern hemisphere to
ply his trade on the PSA Tour.
His name was David Palmer from Lithgow in NSW. That was 1995 and
since then this raw talent has developed and grown to make him
one of the highest achievers that the game has ever seen.
Slowly David and I became close friends. I saw him develop both
as a player and as a man. He formed a tremendous relationship
with the coach that he and Joe had selected to take him to
another level – Shaun Moxham. It was a marriage made in Heaven
as was his real marriage to his lifelong girlfriend, Mel.
It was in this comfort zone of working with Shaun and having Mel
join him in Europe, that David developed and grew. The results
started to come and with them he was to rise in the PSA
rankings.
Our friendship also became closer as I watched and shared most
of his biggest achievements. With financial stability, he and
Mel returned to Australia to marry in front of both of their
families. With the arrival of Kayla & Miley, David & Mel have
chosen to make their home in Florida. Here the family will
continue to grow and David will start a new career, post PSA.
Together with his mum and dad, John & Sylvia, family Palmer came
to visit Sandy & I at our home in France during 2007. On meeting
his parents it became obvious where David had got his sports
talent from. His mother had been a good enough tennis and squash
player to have played professionally on either circuit. As for
John, he is an example for all of us with his no nonsense
attitude towards keeping fit in later life.
I have lost count of the number of times that I have introduced
“The Marine” (the monocle that I dubbed him with) to squash
audiences around the world.
In the latter years I have felt that his achievements allowed me
to add – “With Geoff Hunt the best squash player ever to have
come out of Australia”. Now with two World Open Titles – four
British Open titles and nearly 30 PSA Tour Event titles –
Commonwealth Games medals besides being in the PSA world top 10
for a continuous 10 years - a former World number 1. David has
left an indelible footprint on the history of squash.
My favourite all time match was when he won the World Open for
the first time in Antwerp 2002, beating his great friend John
White in the final.
It had everything – a magnificent setting – both families had
come from Australia (and showed great dignity in the way that
they supported their own) - the biggest title in the world, the
winner to be crowned WORLD CHAMPION – drama as The Marine saved
match ball after match ball, with the spectacle going down to
the wire in the fifth game – a crowd that were enthralled and
vocal.
Finally
the humility of two exceptional athletes as they publicly dealt
with the exultation of victory and the horror of defeat. What an
advert they both were that day for squash. This match could be
held up as a defining example of why squash should be an Olympic
sport.
Now as David walks away from the PSA tour, he will leave a void
that will challenge the young Australian products of today to
fill.
For my part David has been a mixture of friend and son over the
years. I have shared many of his highlights and also the bad
times with him. During all of those years he has proven to be a
deeply honest & loyal friend and colleague.
Bonne chance with your new life David – I know that you will
rise to new challenges with the same professionalism and
endeavour that that you adopted all of those years ago in 1995.
Bravo pour la
Carriere de David pour ses nombreux titres.
Il a marqué l'histoire du squash et je suis fier d'avoir
traversé avec lui plus d'une décennie dans le top.
Je garderai en mémoire de belles batailles, de belles victoires
comme de marquantes défaites
C 'est un véritable compétiteur et il sait comment gagner.
De plus comme pour moi il a toujours eu le soutien de sa femme
et de ses deux filles.
Et ses coachs de toujours me font penser aussi au miens : Joe
shaw/Paul Sciberras, les têtes pensantes et Shawn Moxham/ Franck
Carlino, le vécu d'anciens joueurs.
Bonne continuation
All my respect to David Palmer, he is one of the greatest and
the best example for everyone, he will be missed by all the
player and all his fans on court ..
David Palmer good luck in you life I wish you all the best..
Marwan El Shorbagy Junior World Champion 2011
I'm
feeling sad about the retirement of this guy ,, he is such a
legend and a great image to the sport of squash ,, I've been
watching him since I was 9 I remember in the world open in Egypt
when he won the final, I just ran down the seats to take his
wrist and take a picture with him.
He will be greatly missed by everyone ,, the sport will lose one
of the greatest of all time ,, he inspired everyone with his
determination and consistency I have a lot of respect to this
man.
I want to wish him luck for his new career whatever it is.
Runner-up Junior World Champion 2011
It was my honour to play the last
match of David's career..
He's one of the legends of the game.. I wish him the best of
luck in his life
David has been a top player for so
many years and obviously very successful, with his 2 World
titles and, is it 4 British Opens?!
I along with many of my fellow pros from all nationalities have
looked up to him, and tried to mirror his game and the way he
plays.
I am similar in that we wear our heart on our sleeve and will
not accept giving anything less than 100% as soon as we step on
a squash court.
I think when Thierry and David eventually stop it will be the
end of an era. They have given so much to the game and I'm sure
everyone involved in squash is extremely thankful and privileged
to have been able to watch them or play against them.
I would like to play David one last time as we have had some
extremely tough matches, and give myself just 1 win against
him?!!
I wish him all the best for the future and praise him for what
he has given to the world of squash.
FAN OF...
Saw him play at the Invitational Doubles in Manchester before
the CWG in Delhi. The man is truly inspiring!
Just wanted to say that his drive, determination and fairness
makes him a true great of the game. Above all though, one of the
nicest people I've ever met.
If you look in the dictionary for 'gentleman' it has a picture
of David Palmer next to it.
Many thanks
Assoc CIPD
Un homme m'a fait pleurer aujourd'hui à Rotterdam.
C'était un de mes joueurs préférés par son style de jeu. C'était
très émouvant à rotterdam aujourd'hui et sa sortie par la grande
porte fût un moment très spécial.
Seul le sport peut procurer des émotions pareilles,
incompréhensibles mais cette sortie m'a d'abord donné des
frissons puis la chair de poule et enfin les larmes aux yeux à
la grande surprise de mes copains de voyage.
Un autre joueur me procurera les mêmes émotions quand il partira
et j'espère être présent pour sa dernière (le plus tard
possible).
Une génération continue à s'en aller. Après Power, Nicol,
Ricketts, Palmer, reste encore notre Titi national puis
viendront Shabana et Nick qui laisseront définitivement place
aux nouveaux. Un géant s'en va.
Good bye the marine and thanks for everything you gave us.
« A Great Player ..A Fighter ..Squash world will miss him dearly
! »
Send your
memories or farewell to David to gommendy@aol.com
EN BREF
#3 Fram tells you
Everything you never knew
you needed to know about the Worlds ...
LifeTime Achievement
Squash Award
In Paris, trying
to promote a WISPA tournament, bless him...
Rescuing my sunglasses in a
Qatar Swimming Pool
"That's my mic, Nicol"...
Tough job, working with so
many stunning girls, but hey, somebody's got to do it...
With Sheila (PSA) and Ingrid
(WISPA) in London Queens
MEET WSF PEOPLE
ANDREW SHELLEY Chief Executive,
Age: Undertermined...
And now, the Man himself, the Who is who of Squash Management.
He wrote the book, filmed the remake, and he's working on the
Hollywood version right now...
I'm told he's got faults, well, apart from me, don't know many
perfect people, true passionate about squash he is, true friend
he is, true pain in the butt he is too... A gem of an organiser,
who never got over his not so successful career as body
builder... A
bit about where you are coming from?
Many years ago the SRA (now England Squash) temporarily
initiated a policy of employing people totally unsuited to the
job. Just one emerged from the scheme – me.
Eighteen years later I left, and a further fifteen years on it
became time to move on from WISPA.
Fortunately, WSF offered me a position as I am way too short to
fill shelves at a supermarket and I have been Chief Executive
for a smidgen over a year now.
If you don't mind, how old are you.
No, I don’t mind at all. Please ask.
A typical day?
My day has a good deal of variety (not least with so many
biscuits to choose from).
For the first time in my working life I am based at home, having
taken over a son’s bedroom as my office; in part to ensure that
he cannot return.
But I travel down to the WSF office in Hastings on the south
coast of England once a week; often travel into London or
elsewhere for meetings and regularly get into jet propelled tin
cans to travel internationally (hoping to get upgraded to
economy).
In terms of work it does cover the gamut of responsibility on
behalf of the Management Committee and my colleagues in
Hastings, who, incidentally, do a fabulous job for WSF.
Included are all the areas in which we are involved; and while
the Olympic bid is a major focus at present it is just one of
the strands of activity and liaison that WSF undertakes daily.
Busiest times?
The busiest days are ones with a Y in their name. There is no
quiet time – as might be expected from a super slow single
finger typist.
It would be nice to hear a bit of the person(s) in charge
of the refs....
I agree.
Do you play squash?
I play regularly as I move towards a peak of performance. At
present I admit that I am an undiscovered talent, but my time
will come.
Three words to describe squash?
Joyful. My life.
Best memory on the job. And worst.
Too, too many superb memories, of events, of settings but mainly
of people.
Somehow, the shining light of squash attracts wonderful
personalities to it. Players, administrators, volunteers etc,
etc. I have been very fortunate to meet so many of them.
But if you want the best and worst combined it was the day in
2005 when baseball and softball were dropped from the Olympics.
We were top of the shortlist and were in. The exhilaration was
short lived though as 45 minutes later we didn’t receive the
votes required to be approved.
Nearly an hour of intense pleasure before the other end of the
scale was plumbed.
Anything else you would like to say?
I think the phrase, when you are in a hole stop digging, is
where I am at now!
MEET WSF PEOPLE
JASMINE GIBSON Operations Assistant, 33
Explain to us what you do
I have been with the WSF for 2½ years as Operations Assistant,
and I have to say I love my job and I couldn’t wish to work for
two better colleagues than Andrew and Lorraine (they will
probably think I’m after a company car, holiday home in Antigua
and huge pay rise after that comment!).
What did you do before
Previous to joining WSF I spent two years travelling and working
in Australia doing jobs that were totally new and out of my
comfort zone; worked in an abattoir, farming, drove a JCB and
helped build fences! Before that I worked as a Primary Care
Development Co-ordinator, Event Manager and PA.
What
is a typical day for you
No day is ever really typical which is probably why I enjoy my
role so much. Functions range from undertaking all the pre and
post event preparation, compiling the WSF calendar, credit
control, assigning referees to events, updating the website,
unless it is far too complicated and then I pester Steve
Cubbins, (sorry Steve!)
What are the busiest moments?
All the time, Lorraine and Andrew are demanding bosses!
Let's talk about the refs?
My other role is International Referee Co-ordinator which
basically means I assign the WSF referees to events, trying to
keep the Promoters, the Professional Bodies and the Referees
happy. The referees play a vital role in our sport, one that I
think should be acknowledged.
Do you like the game of squash?
Yes of course and I play as well! Well sporadically, so much so
that England Squash won’t be calling me up to be the next Jenny
Duncalf.....in fact I could probably win the prize of THE worst
squash player in the World.
Three words to describe squash
Fast, fun and athletic.
What is your best and worst memory on the job?
Best memory was when Andrew and Lorraine had enough faith
in me to ask me to be the Technical Director at the Men’s World
Junior’s in Belgium (crazy fools!). I was incredibly pleased to
be given the opportunity.
Worst day was finding out we were not in the 2016
Olympics.....but I am pinning our hopes on 2020!
Last words?....
I would like to thank all the volunteers in Squash who give up a
lot of their time and effort, which is very much appreciated.
These people are invaluable to the WSF.
EN BREF
#1 Fram tells you
Everything you never knew
you needed to know about the Worlds ...
MEET THE WSF PEOPLE... Not sure how it all works to be honest, who is in charge of which
tournaments - some are ruled by WSF, some by PSA/WISPA, but I'm pretty
certain this one is a joint effort between the three of them, which is nice
to see!
But who is WSF in fact? Have you ever asked yourself, who the heck is
running the house? Of course, we hear about Mr Ramachandran, our
President, who is spending so much energy and time to try and get us in the
Olympics, and of the immense work he has accomplished in Asia for squash
already.
But, who is the team behind him?
You may have heard of Andrew Shelley. Who shouldn't need introduction, he's
been in the squash world before squash existed, he is the one that actually
wrote down the first book of rules (only joking...).... In the recent years,
he nurtured WISPA, the ladies association, and is now helping running the
WSF Ship.
But on the emails, you may have read the names Lorraine Harding - no
relation with our Press Guru Howard Harding - or Jasmine Gibson. And thought,
wonder what they look like, who are they...
Well, look no further, good people. You are about to discover the "WSF
People".... First, Lorraine....
LORRAINE HARDING Operations Manager, 52
Since when are you at WSF, and where do you come
from...
I’ve been at the WSF since 1996 but I took 2 years out
(07-08) to be Assistant Project Director building a new
College in Hastings - hard hat, boots and Hi-Vis gear were a
bit of a change to say the least. Prior to that the Royal
Navy, a solicitors and the Chess Federation.
What is your job in fact?
I’m the Operations Manager, so I guess my role is to keep
things running smoothly, the Member Nations happy, support
the Chief Executive and ManCom where necessary,
anti-doping…. just about anything that’s needed.
A typical day?
Mayhem, madness, organised chaos; never typical.
Where are you the busiest?
We’re always busy, no matter what time of year, and what I
plan to do is often bumped because of something that comes
in on email. I love that though; it’s never boring.
Let's
talk
about the referees...
Ah referees…. an interesting part of the job! Jazz [Jasmine]
assigns referees to events and I process the annual review.
We really need more referees and we’d love to see some of
the players going down that route; there’s even a fast-track
process in place for getting them to WSF Referee level
quickly.
Do you like playing squash?
I have to confess that I’ve never played squash, I rowed
back in the day, but I enjoy watching squash and have been
privileged to be at some amazing matches over the years.
Please describe squash in three words....
Olympic, Olympic, Olympic!
I’ve been involved in bids to get squash included since the
2008 Games; 2020 will be our year!
Best and Worst memory on the job?
Worst memory is dancing around the office with Ted
Wallbutton in 2005, after we’d been advised by a reporter
from The Times that squash had got in the 2012 Games, only
to find out that we hadn’t….
Best part of the job is the people; it’s like having a
global family.
Anything else you would like to add?....
I’d like to acknowledge the incredible amount of time put
into squash by all the volunteers at all levels; they
deserve a huge “thank you”, we couldn’t manage without them.
EN BREF
#4
