Let's Talk Squash - SUSPENDED

th0mascricket · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 8:03 am Post subject: Goshen Open and safety glasses

Just looking through the Goshen tournament photos and I notice all the pros are wearing safety glasses or goggles. Anyone know why this is? Was it a pre-condition of tournament entry?

Also, I noticed while looking through the photos that a number of the ladies were.....erm.....frankly...... huge. Naming no names, but there were players who are full time pros and well ranked who looked in pretty poor shape for pro athletes. The lack of competitiveness in the women's game has always been something of a mystery, but you look at some of these women and you can see why they barely get a point from the likes of David and Grinham.

Adrian19 · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 230

Yep... that's women's "pro" squash for ya... sometimes makes ya wonder. Good work with the glasses though. I think its a USA thing.
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ianball11 · Prolific Contributor Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 53

I prefer the womens game to the mens, I can see the ball more easily and far less vicious shoving when asking for lets.
It's just a bit of a shame that Nicol David seems so dominant, every champion needs to be pushed by their closest rival.
Hinault and Le Mond, Armstrong and Pantani in the early days or Federer and Nadal.

I'm glad that PSAlive wil be picking up womens games too.

Ian B.

manus · Prolific Contributor Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 202

watching womens squash can be good sometimes, especially when watching grinhams and nicol david. the move a bit slower and dont hit the ball as hard so you can really appreciate their technique, movement and their tight shots. not nearly as exciting to watch as the mens, although its fairly exciting to watch a good bitch fight though Very Happy

asdf · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:43 am Post subject:

The eyeguards were a precondition of the tournament. When you register for a WISPA event, there is a box on the registration form to check if eyeguards are required. I suspect that because the organizer is an eye doctor, and the court is in his house, he checked that box.

It's not a USA thing. It is the only pro tournament that I am aware of in the USA, or anywhere for that matter, that requires them.
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Squash Mom · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:25 am Post subject:

One of the best things about our great sport is the variety of body types that can play at the highest level. Shabana is 5'7" and Wilstrop is 6'5". The top three women in the game are tiny, and would wipe the floor with the lot of you. The women that you think are not in shape would beat most of you as well.

There have been some men, equal in rank to the women you denigrate, who played well while carrying a few extra pounds. It is rare, but it happens.

Obviously there are those who prefer the women, because the WISPA tour survives on its own.

Some WISPA players watch this forum.
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Adrian19 · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 230

The USA nationals are eyeguard madatory, aren't they? I remember seeing some of the top ranked players wearing them so I assumed the tournament requires them... maybe they just wear them anyway.

Most of the top ranked women aren't as good as you're making them out to be. Two of the girls in the Goshen tournament play in my town and have lost to B and low A guys in the local league. My old coach played the old Canadian women's #1 a while back and won 27-3 and he's not even a top guy in Canada at all. I know some guys that have beaten Runa Reta easily and she is ranked 30ish.
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fionnmacual · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:13 am Post subject:

I'm with SquashMom on this. Nobody beats up on Wael El Hindi or some of the gifted pakistani male players who have a bigger build. It's a double standard, apply one set of criteria to the men and another to the women. Unfortunately on a forum like this, folk make off-the-cuff comments about the women's appearance without a thought to the whole anorexia/bulimia/size-zero-models problem that the media today has created. Some people are genetically bigger boned and have to make up in skill what they lack in fitness. I'd love to see ThomasWindUpMerchant or Adrian grovelling to pick up Natalie Grainger's volley dropshots.

Squash isn't like basketball or rugby where you have to be born a certain build, the men and the women's games accomodates all body types.

Let's judge the women on their results, same as the men. Not on their appearance. Tennis has a lot deeper playing base and there aren't any David/Grinham types there either, apart from when Henin played. We are lucky to have Nichol David and the Grinhams as exceptional athletes.

Every one of the Goshen photos celebrated fit healthy women, no airbrushing. Have a look in the mirror, then feel free to cast the first stone Very Happy

th0mascricket · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:01 pm Post subject:

Sorry Fionmacual, what's your point? I made an objective comment that some of the women at Goshen were out of shape, look at the photos, they speak for themselves. Women's squash is not competitive enough and won't be if there are players in the top 30 who are 5kg and more overweight. You can have a big frame and not be out of condition. In any other sport this sort of stuff could get openly debated without people resorting to accusations of sexism or body facism.

I also notice you didn't jump to the defence when Zaman was ranked out last week for being fat and out of condition on this forum.

fionnmacual · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject:

Run-away-from-danger Boy · Prolific Contributor Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 140

nyc squash · Prolific Contributor Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

th0mascricket · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject:

For God's sake, get a grip. If I had been talking about male players it would have passed as lively, rough and tumble, blog comment. I'll grant you the word "huge" was perhaps unhelpful, but I stand by the substance of what I said. Too often women's squash is simply not competitive enough and if this is because outside the top 20 some of the women aren't fit enough, that's not a great for the sport.

nyc squash · Prolific Contributor Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

To criticize these women for not being competitive enough doesn't do them justice. First of all, most of the Goshen players are ranked outside the top 30. They can't give a game to Nicol David or the Grinhams, but on the men's side players outside the top 30 are similarly helpless against Shabana and Ashour. And because there's more money in the men's game, lower-ranked players are able to devote more time to competition. I'd be surprised if any woman outside the top 20 is making a living strictly from playing. I don't know the ins and outs of the WISPA tour in detail, but to cite a couple of examples: I read tournament coverage within the past year stating that Lauren Briggs (ranked in the 20s) works as a club pro, and Runa Reta -- one of the Goshen players -- is a graduate student. They're obviously playing for the love of the game. Calling them overweight and lazy (which is the implication of saying they're not fit enough) is both wrong and rude.

You wanted to provoke some dialogue, Tom, so I don't think you've got much to complain about. And I'm sure I'd respond with something similar if you accused men ranked in the 30s of being overweight and lazy....

th0mascricket · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject:

I seem to remember Cameron Pilley giving James Willstrop the game of his life recently at Canary Wharf, in the same tournament that Alistair Walker beat Gaultier, I think. There's very few guys in the top 100 who really struggle fitness wise. There's too many women's games that whizz through in 20-30 mins with game scores of 9-1, 0-9. I've half a mind to examine the results from the last couple of years.

That you make excuses for some players implies you don't think they're fit enough, either. The likes of Steve Coppinger were playing the PSA while studying and I don't think he'd want to make excuses for poor fitness because he studies.

The rudeness "gotcha" is done now, maybe I was a ltittle frank and I apologise for that.

manus · Prolific Contributor Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 202

same in ireland, if one particular girl enters any of the grand prix comps, any girl opponent she meets usually is off the court again in 15 mins. although recently she plays c or b mens.