FERGUS – Ranked 199th in the world, local squash player Cameron Seth is set to compete this week in one of the first major squash tournaments in Canada since the pandemic began.
The Fergus-born squash player, who got his start playing at the Centre-Wellington Racquets and Fitness club, will be competing at the 2021 Oxford Properties Canadian Squash Championships from Oct. 20 to 24.
After a hiatus in tournaments across the country, the event will see players compete in the Canadian Men’s and Women’s Open Championships and Canadian Junior Championships.
“They’re really trying to get some hype for this event because really for us this is the first big tournament coming back since the pandemic,” Seth, who is ranked fifth among 23 of Canada’s top male players, explained.
“So from that point of view, I am super excited. I’ve been training really hard and I’ve had a few smaller tournaments leading into this but definitely super excited to play in a tournament like this,” he said, adding the venue for the tournament is exciting in itself.
The four-day tournament will be held at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto on an all-glass court.
“So instead of having these concrete walls that are permanent … they bring in these giant plates of glass and then they can build a squash court pretty much anywhere,” Seth explained, adding it will allow for a lot more viewing.
“Basically, all the people in the mall who are walking by are going to see it which is really exciting because usually it’s just the local club players wherever you’re holding a tournament that are watching but this time there’s going to be really the whole public that’ll be able to watch.
“So it’s kind of nerve wracking to be honest but also I’m really excited.”
Playing with glass
Although the 27-year-old four-time Ontario University Athletics MVP has practiced on glass courts before, Seth admitted he’s nervous about the transparent set up.
He said not only is it difficult to see the ball on the court, it also plays slightly different in comparison to concrete courts.
“I haven’t played on a glass court in a while so it’s definitely going to be a little bit different but we’re going to be able to get on it to practice on Wednesday and so that will help a little bit of just sort of getting the feel of the court, getting your eye in to really see the ball well and then hopefully come surface day, I’ll be a little more used to it.
“It’s going to be interesting because they play so much different, so I think it’s really going to be a toss-up for everyone.”
Seth, who has been playing since the age of five, noted there wasn’t any one thing that triggered it right away for him, adding the transition into competing happened gradually.
His father was a member at the club and would bring Seth and his four siblings.
This is where they were first introduced to the sport.
“Squash was just one of the sports we played on weekends and evenings and as we got older, we became more and more serious with the sport,” he explained.
“I think because there was the five siblings … we all pushed each other to become better athletes and better squash players.”
Seth said with a smaller pool of players, he eventually found himself competing as one of the best at the sport in the province.
“I think that’s really where it kicked in where ‘oh we can really make a mark on this sport’ and then we just got more and more serious as the time went on and then by the time I was 16, I was training 2 to 3 hours a day every day year round.
“There was no forcing us, our parents never forced us … we always enjoyed it and we always played because it was fun. Really that’s where it all started.”
He noted squash is unlike bigger sports like hockey or basketball where, if you want to be a really good top player, you need to be playing AA hockey, AAA hockey from a young age.
Returning to the court
Players weren’t able to access courts throughout the pandemic and with gyms only recently reopening in July, he said it didn’t give them a lot of time to get up to speed.
“It was tough at first,” Seth said on returning to competing since the pandemic, adding his first tournament back was in August.
He said while he trained during the pandemic by running and biking, it “just doesn’t prepare you for the actual game itself.”
It’s been a few months since courts reopened and Seth said he’s just starting to feel like himself again on the court.
“It’s just something new, nobody’s ever experienced something like this before.
“But I’m feeling good now and that competitive drive is as high as ever, can’t wait to get on court and do some tough matches,” he said, adding “it’s like a lot of pent-up energy over two years.”
Achieving Olympic status
This event is also looking to bring the sport’s best Canadian competitors together with the hopes of advancing the sport’s bid for Olympic inclusion at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Seth said it will be past his time, but he hopes the sport will make it.
“It’s a bit of a soft spot for us players because we’ve been so close,” he explained.
He said although they meet all the criteria to be an Olympic sport, in past Olympics they were always just on the short list of sports to be added.
“We’re played across the world, we’re not played in one country or one continent,” he explained of the sport’s diversity. “There’s lot of players. We’ve got a very healthy, professional circuit and for whatever reason we just haven’t quite made it in.
“It’s a little bit disappointing at times … I think we’re never going to be tennis or golf, but I think there’s a lot of really cool things about our sport,” he continued, noting the glass court format can be put anywhere.
“I think it’s tournaments like this that just get it on the map and hopefully that will get it into the Olympics,” he said, adding he’s not trying to speculate too much because they’ve been disappointed so many times in the past.
“I think when most people see it for the first time, they think wow this is really fast and exciting,” Seth said of the sport.
“There’s a lot less downtime … with squash it’s just continuous, the rallies go quite long and then there’s very little changeover in between rallies. It’s definitely a very physical sport.”
“I’m certainly thankful to the organizers of this tournament,” he said of competing in the event.
“It took a lot of work just coming out of the pandemic to make something like this happen so certainly grateful and excited to get going.”
