Diversity.
I love diversity. I love different.
And that’s why I thought about this column, Kaleidoscope.
Something different, unexpected….
Well, LJ Anjema surprised me alright.
When I asked him to write for us, I didn’t expect what you are going
to read. Because I know LJ as the quiet one, the good guy who reads
books and who goes home whenever there’s a party.
For me, LJ is a professional athlete who I know very rarely drinks
alcohol. By rarely I mean twice a year, and I personally (and don’t
hate me for it) do like people who don’t drink too much.
So, yes, this piece did surprise me, and showed me that, after all,
he is also a normal young man who likes to celebrate a great event.
And God knows his title in Mexico was one of those…
All week long in the Corona Britania Open in Mexico the
circumstances were against him. The altitude, the huge Mexican
crowd, Mexican opponents etc. After a long and hard week he won the
final against the Mexican national champion, Eric Galvez.
After his hot shower, he put on his smart clothes and realised: what
better occasion to have a few of the odd Coronas than after a
tournament win in beautiful Mexico…
Framboise
In the middle of the night
Somewhere in Quaretaro,
Mexico, 14th june 2004 ...
Celebrating my win of the Corona
Britania Open, Eric Galvez, Johnny Abrahamse, Morten Sorensen,
Baltazar and myself decided to go to this night-/salsa kind of club.
Around 4 in the morning, Galvez and I, after having had a beer or
two, go upstairs to the toilet. So there we are, a small 5 foot 3
Mexican and a tall 6 foot 5 Dutch bloke, having a wee. Suddenly the
lights go off. Undisturbed by the sudden darkness we keep on peeing
and laughing about nothing.
The next thing I know I am lying on the bathroom floor, getting
punched in the face several times by a (still unknown) Mexican dude.
Galvez got hit by another guy and ran downstairs to get help from
the squashboys. In the meantime, I’m lying there like a helpless
little baby seal as he obviously caught me quite by surprise and as
I mentioned before, I had had a beer or two. The beating finally
stops. So I stumble to my feet, open the door and I see some Mexican
dude (dressed in a suit) rush off. I want to do something to the guy
I can’t write down; my adrenaline is sky-rocketing…
Galvez, Johnny and Baltazar come running upstairs, “LJ, don’t do
anything man, they’re with more than us, just leave it man, oh man,
are you alright?”. I noticed everybody looking at me so I went back
into the bathroom and looked in the mirror: my originally white
shirt and jeans were now red and so was my face. Nose and
Teeth…check! Still all there and straight. Good. Galvez looks at me
in the mirror, I look at him, blood everywhere…and we just started
laughing.
I ask him: “Why man?! Why did they do this to us? I did absolutely
NOTHING!!”. Galvez was just quiet. I sensed there was something
wrong so I ask: “What man?!”.
He goes: “ On the way to the toilet we stopped on the stairs and
talked to that nice blonde girl, you remember? And then you gave her
a kiss on the cheek...”
To this day, I don’t remember the blonde girl I apparently had a
chat with. What I do remember is the next day, when I entered the
breakfast-cantina in my still red-blooded clothes (I had sent my
bags to Mexico City the day before with a friend so I had no clean
clothes), there was only a silence. The people were obviously
thinking: “WHO IS THIS COWBOY?”.
I approach our table, all the squashboys are laughing and retelling
the adventures from the night before, and Morten Sorensen from
Denmark sits there with this beautiful Mexican girl he picked up the
night before in the salsa-club. He left with her about an hour
before I got beaten up.
Before I sit down, he looks at my red shirt and red jeans as if to
say: “What the hell happened to you man?” I look at him and say in a
soft intriguing Marlon Brando kinda voice: “Yesterday night, when
you were making love to your woman, I was fighting for my life…”.
Ok kids, the moral of the story is:
If you go for a pee, and you’ve had a beer or two, and you’ve talked
to the wrong guys’ girlfriend, AND you’re in Mexico, DO NOT use the
standing lavatories! Better use the cubicles...
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Laurens Jan Anjema
Nickname: LJ
D.O.B: 1st December 1982
P.O.B: Den Haag, Holland
Residence: Chingford, UK
Pro Since: 10th July 2001
PSA Wins:
Rennes, Oklahoma ‘03,
Dutch Open ‘04,
Corona Britania Open ‘04
Scalps:
Paul Johnson, Derek Ryan, Simon Parke, David Evans, Peter Nicol (in practice
after he got back from a 3-week holiday)
Hobbies:
Blindfolded bungy jumping and crossword puzzles |
Favourite quote:
“There’s a time for laughing and
there’s a time for not laughing and this is NOT
one of them!”
Inspector Clouseau
The Pink Panther
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Photos by
Patrick Le Fur, Chartres Open 2004
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