DailySquashReport.com

Possible 2020 North American Olympians
by Bob Hanscom


Dylan Murray & Maria Ubina

September 19, 2012 - Will North America's squash-players be competitive IF squash makes it to the Summer Olympic Games in 2020? And what about the American players?

According to John Lather, a renowned sports researcher, the number one variable related to elite performance in most sports is time spent in training. Lather estimates that 20 hours of quality training per week for a period of eight years (approximately 10,000 cumulative hours) appears to be the amount of work required to reach world class level.

Lather emphasizes that it is 20 hours per week of quality training - with great intensity, not just the time spent in training, that is required for elite performance. It has been established that the average world class athlete trains approximately 23 hours a week, reach their peak at age 28 and will retire from his/her sport by the age of 33!

The recently announced retirement of tennis player Andy Roddick substantiates this statistic, being slightly under the average age at 30. Professional squash-players Thierry Lincou of France, announcing his retirement recently, is 36, slightly older than average, although he plans on playing the American PST tour. And then there is Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia recently announcing his retirement at age 30.

For the women, professional squash-player Sharon Wee of Malaysia retired two years ago at age 34, while Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands retired in March of last year at age 35. Perhaps the best-known, naturalized American female squash-player is Natalie Grainger, who retired from the women's pro tour in December of 2010 at 33, exactly the age that the average elite athlete theoretically retires.

Taking these statistics into account, what North American squash-players will be around and be good enough to represent the USA, Canada or Mexico in the year 2020?

Let's look at the current world rankings of the North American male squash-players. Of the top 50 men, there are only three, Shahier Razik of Canada, ranked #27 at age 34, American Julian Illingworth, ranked #32 at age 28 and Shawn Delierre of Canada, ranked #45 at age 30. By 2020, they'll all be well past the average retirement age - respectively at 42, 40 and 38.

Of the top 50 women players in the world, there are only five from North America ranked! First is Samantha Teran of Mexico at #16, age 31. Next is Amanda Sobhy of the U.S. in the #20 spot at age 19, followed by American Latasha Khan, #28 at age 39, Samantha Cornett of Canada, #36 at age 21 and Miranda Ranieri of Canada #49, age 26. With the exception of Sobhy, who'll be 27 - and Cornett who'll be 29, the others will be well past the average retirement age of 33 in 2020.

The WSA keeps under 23 rankings as well, which would make them 30 years of age or younger come 2020. Americans in that category include Amanda Sobhy at #7, Olivia Blatchford at #12 and Kristen Lang at #46 in the world.

Let's look at the current under 19 world-ranked junior players from all of North America. The future looks a bit brighter here!

For the boys, there are two WSF ranked juniors in the top 50, Ryan Todd of Canada at #35 and Dylan Murray of the U.S. at #42. For the girls, there are six, Maria Elena Ubina from the U.S. at #7, Karia Eva Urrutia from Mexico at #22, Sarah Nelson from the U.S. at #23, Holly Naughton of Canada at #27, Michelle Gemmell of Canada at #30 and Emily Jones of the U.S. at #40. As 18 year-olds (or younger) they will be no older than 26 come 2020, certainly within range of successfully competing at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

To see what the World Squash Federation uses as their criteria for ranking junior squash-players, go to: http://www.worldsquash.org/ws/?page_id=4753.

There's no question that within the upcoming eight-year span leading to the 2020 Summer Olympics, the ever-expanding U.S. Squash and National Urban Squash & Education Association junior programs will continue to develop and produce more and more viable American players - resulting in having a "competitive" national squash team in 2020 and beyond.....IF!

Let's hope there will be a good number of young American 14 year-old talented and hard-working boys and girls out there who will (in eight years) blossom and be part of the first United States Olympic Squash Team! We're all routing for them!

Footnote: For a complete list of WSF junior world-ranked squash-players, go to: http://www.worldsquash.org/, hover over "junior circuit" and click on "current ranking." To access the complete list of U.S. Squash (only) junior rankings, go to:
http://www.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/rankings.asp.