Isle of Man Minnows
aim to Improve on 2003
For those of you who don’t know, in the middle of the Irish Sea lies a
small island, 12 miles by 33 miles by the name of the Isle of Man. Most
famous for the TT races and its favourable tax benefits, sport is also a
major part of the Manx people’s life.
With an approximate population of only 75 thousand people and many sports
to choose from, squash is fortunate enough to have a good following from
junior through to senior level.
Next year the island’s squash team will be competing in the Island Games.
This event is made up of 24 islands from around the World that meet every
two years to compete in friendly competition in 15 different sporting
disciplines. The last Games were held on Guernsey in 2003 with the next
Games being held in Shetland in 2005, and Rhodes in 2007.
2005 sees squash for the first time being one of the 15 sports (…at last).
The Island team will be out for a medal of some kind but will need to
train hard for this event, as they will be competing against such
countries as Jersey, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Guernsey, Greenland etc etc. Due
to the amount of competitors and lack of accommodation in Shetland a
cruise liner has been chartered for the event, something a little bit
different!
Last year the island team took a huge step forward and entered a men’s
team into the European Team Championships (ETC) held at Nottingham. Though
out classed by all but one country (the largest….Russia) the Isle of Man
team gained much experience and was not put off from competing again.
So, nine months on the Island team started the hard training regime to
compete once again in the ETC, this year held at Rennes, France.
The team of six, which consists of Dave Norman, John Knight,
Richard Corlett, Kevin Watterson, Steve Morley and
Lyndon Cheetham will be competing against 23 other nations in what is
Europe’s most prestigious team tournament.
Inevitably there will be major battles at the top end of the tournament
between the likes of England, France and the Netherlands, but equally
there will there be fierce battles at the bottom for the coveted ‘Wooden
Spoon’.
In this years tournament Gibraltar and Poland are new entries both of
which the Island team defeated in the Developing Nations tournament held
last November in Slovakia.
To help with travel costs etc, the Island team is fortunate enough to have
the sole sponsorship of a prestigious company, MeesPierson Intertrust.
MeesPierson have a long association with Isle of Man Squash and this
latest substantial sponsorship deal is a very welcome continuation of that
relationship, not only in helping the team actually attend the tournament
but also in raising the profile of Manx squash on the world scene.
Richard Corlett, Team Member.
Isle
of Man
crush mighty
Russia ...
2003 report
The Isle of Man team
receive their sponsorship cheque
from MeesPierson Intertrust
(back row, left to right) Richard Corlett, Lyndon Cheetham, Meespierson Intertrust marketing director Alan Hollingsworth, Steve Morley, Kevin Watterson, (front l-r) John Knight, Dave Norman and ???