OLYMPICS DREAMING

Q

Squash is in the middle of a push to become part of the Olympics. What would that mean to you if your sport received that sort of recognition?

A

It would be huge for our sport. Squash needs that extra funding and support which Olympic recognition would enable. I think squash is still improving. It’s so much more exciting to watch on TV now and it’s such an entertaining sport so I think squash can keep getting more popular without Olympic inclusion. But in Australia, if it did happen, I think it would help with awareness and getting more new centres built and more juniors playing the game. For all of us squash players, the Olympics would then become the pinnacle of my sport and you’d want to win Olympic gold. I don’t think that’s the case in other sports. Like you see the golfers, they don’t really care if they turn up to the Olympics or not because they’d rather win a Masters. I’d love to see it in the Olympics.

Q

Australia’s squash fan base is fanatical though sometimes the sport gets overshadowed in favour of your bigger codes. Do you ever feel like you’re not getting the recognition you deserve?

A

A little bit. You put so much hard work into what you do but also, you don’t do it for the recognition. It would be nice for people to know about it a little bit more like when people achieve things in other sports. I think the more people can see squash on TV, the more they can enjoy watching it but it’s not in the public eye at the moment.