Squash was not only being played during the Alberta Winter Games, it could also be used as the perfect verb to describe how crammed-in attendees felt as players, coaches, chaperones and family members cheered on participants in the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort’s fitness area over the two-day event, Feb, 8-9.
Johnny de Soto, Neil Philp and Guillermo Perez-escariz represented Canmore and Zone 2 during their mixed-team squash tournament debuts, with all three players placing seventh respectively.
“I got into the sport through my dad (Jason de Soto), who was asked to organize the squash program for the boys category,” Johnny de Soto said. “I was pretty stoked, but a bit nervous, because there’s better players out there and people who have been playing for a bunch of years.
“These are our home courts ... I won my first game and my team didn’t do so well, but it’s because they have to play harder people because they are ranked higher on the team.”
De Soto explained how the tournament format matches the best player for each team against one another.
“I’ve been playing the same amount of time as these guys,” Philp said. “I played a few times a year and a half ago and really liked it and decided to come and try out and ended up making it and been playing two, three months now.
“It was a little bit scary, but I was also happy to get in a tournament. Instead of playing my friends, you have to face different opponents. I’ve only played one game and I lost that game. I played a guy who was really good – I haven’t seen him lose yet, he’s been dominating most players, so I’m hoping I can win this next game to get the confidence back up.”
Perez-escariz, an exchange student hailing from Spain, was able to use his experience and knowledge with tennis towards his recent transition to the world of squash. “I’ve played racket sports before, so I’m not too nervous,” said Perez-escariz. “They both help being racket games with coordination.
All three players had been working with Jason de Soto before the tournament.
“In a format like this, it’s more of an unknown when you step onto the court,” de Soto said. “We’ve had some surprises; some of our better players have lost to club players out of Calgary that you just don’t know. You always assume that Calgary is going to be the strongest, Calgary and Edmonton, but our guys have been playing very well.”
Morley’s Shenissa and Joel Ear also participated in the mixed-teams event, placing eighth. “At first I was excited, but then I got nervous when I saw how many people came here,” said Shenissa after one of her matches. “People should try it out and have fun,” she offered to people not familiar with the sport.
De Soto said he was quite pleased with how the tournament was playing out. “It’s amazing, I’ve been playing here at Rocky Mountain Resort for over 20 years and it’s great seeing squash presented this way. It’s just so well organized and it’s introducing squash to a lot of youth.”
