|
Edwards golden at Nationals |
|
|
|
Written by Dale Woodard
|
|
Tuesday, May 12 2009, 10:46 PM |
Win a national gold medal in squash in the over-70 age category.
Golf his age.
Gavin Edwards can cross one of those objectives off his to-do list.
The 72-year-old Lethbridge resident swatted his way to the Canadian squash title in the 70-and-over age category at the National championship last weekend in Calgary.
His next objective? Card a golf score that matches his age.
And if Edwards has his way, nothing is going to — pun intended — squash that goal.
But last weekend Edwards was holding court rather than hitting the links, earning his second national gold medal after winning the Canadian title in the 65-plus division five years ago.
“I still have the competitive juices flowing. I said while I can I might as well keep going,” said Edwards.
And go he did, battling Ottawa’s Vincent Taylor in the gold medal game.
“He’s a fairly intense player,” said Edwards. “He’s maybe two months older than me, but he has a coach he plays with twice a week and I’ve never had a coach at any point. But he’s a nice guy and we’ve always had close matches.”
For all but the second set of their gold medal game, that trend continued as Edwards won the first game 11-9 before dropping the second set 11-5.
“In the second game he won fairly comfortably. That was kind of neat for me because it was sort of a wakeup call,” said Edwards.
However, the local product rebounded with 14-12 and 13-11 wins in the third and fourth sets to capture the gold.
“After we got off the court he said we had the same number of points in that match, but I won,” said Edwards.
Like golf, the sport of squash calls for focus.
“They call it physical chess,” said Edwards. “Like so many other sports it’s very subtle, the mind games you play with yourself. You have to keep all the extraneous thoughts from coming in and try to just play the game. I just played golf (Friday) afternoon with a guy and we were talking about it afterwards. We were saying about how when you play your best round of golf it’s mindless. You don’t think about the shots. You just hit them. It’s kind of like that in squash. When you begin to think about what you’re doing that’s when you screw up. That’s why, in some ways, it’s not good to come off the court and have somebody outside coaching saying ‘You should be hitting more of this or doing more of that.’ You play your game the way you know you can play it, in a relaxed format.”
Born and raised in England, Edwards began his athletic years as a tennis player before taking up squash 40 years ago when he moved to Calgary.
“As soon as I got to Calgary tennis didn’t really seem like a really good option,” said Edwards. “Plus, I was playing rugby in the summer, whereas in England you play it in the winter.”
But with leg injuries brought on by rugby and skiing, Edwards was forced to focus on a different sport.
“I couldn’t do much of that with my legs being the way they were. So I thought I’d try squash. I got into it more and more and really enjoyed it,” said Edwards. “The big thing I find — and I’m sure it’s the same with most sports — is it’s the people you meet. At Nationals there were people from all over Canada and you know them from before. Even though they have that competitive edge when they’re on the court. I tend to be a little more relaxed than some.
I’ll say ‘Good shot.’ if somebody hits a good shot. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Still playing three times a week locally, Edwards said he used to hit a tournament every month throughout the winter before deciding to scale back his competitive schedule.
“Now I maybe play in the local tournament and maybe in Medicine Hat,” he said. ”The frustrating part is that at 70 I’ll play someone who’s 40 and even though I know what I’m supposed to be doing I just can’t do. My body just doesn’t allow it. Plus in tournaments you have to play four or five games in two days and I just don’t recover. At Nationals it was a little different in that it was a round-robin with five othe guys. You play a game each day and two on Friday.”
While he has intentions of returning to the squash nationals in three years to compete in the 75-and-over division, Edwards now focused on his next athletic goal.
That being carding a 72 over 18 holes.
“I’ve been close, but not close enough,” said Edwards, who shot 73 when he was 68. “The guy I played in the final was a keen golfer, too, and he hasn’t shot his age, either. But he’s shot in the 60s when was he was in his 60s. I would be interested to know how many people shot their age other than pros and on a full-length course.”
In the meantime, Edwards continues to take part in both sports.
If fact, he has started a “Squalf” tournament, combining both squash and golf.
“You have teams of four and you have to play three matches in squash in the morning and then you go out and play a scramble in the afternoon,” said Edwards.
And as long as he can swing a racket or a three-wood, Edwards has no plans to slow down.
“As long as I can,” he said. ”If you can do it, do it.”
|
