From Zambia to Birmingham for Kiwi brothers
It should have been no surprise the Chileshe children turned out to be squash players. After all, it was at the squash courts back in Zambia where their mother and father first laid eyes on one another.
Fast forward some quarter of a century or so, and two proud parents will watch on as not one, but both their sons, make their debut on the sport’s big stage – the Commonwealth Games.
Lwamba, 23, and Temwa, who turns 22 during the event, are in Birmingham as part of a sevenstrong New Zealand squash selection, with the brothers to form a special pairing as the country’s men’s doubles representatives.
As an added bonus, because they are there for doubles – which start late next week – the Chileshes will also play in the singles despite their world rankings of 92 and 139, respectively, not otherwise allowing for it.
Mum Helen will be on hand in the crowd, along with her mother, who is originally from the UK, while Dad, Evans, will be all over the coverage back home after not getting time off work.
It was clearly the parents’ love of the sport which has rubbed off on their boys.
Helen was born in Kenya, grew up in Tokoroa then moved to Zambia for teaching work, and played squash socially there, where she met Evans.
While Lwamba was born in Zambia, the family moved to Christchurch when he was about nine months old.
After Evans pushed on to become Canterbury No 1, and reach
a world ranking of 262, the boys then took up the sport around the age of 10, and had dad coach them for seven years until they made the A1 grade he was just short of reaching himself.
Mixing athletics with their squash pursuits, they attended Christchurch Boys’ High School – the very one Kiwi star Paul Coll went through, too – before a sudden shift to Hamilton in 2014.
SHAKY FOUNDATIONS
Three years earlier the Chileshes’ house had been badly damaged by the earthquake, so much so the family moved into Helen’s parents’ place for about a year.
‘‘It was a bit nerve-wracking,’’ recalls Temwa, who, along with Lwamba, were relocated to the small rural primary school Windwhistle.
The family did end up returning to their house, but a couple of years later, enough was enough.
‘‘We just didn’t like the city anymore after the earthquake, everything was under construction,’’ Temwa says.
So, with Helen asking what they’d think of a move north, it was to St Paul’s Collegiate School in Hamilton, for both her, as well as the boys.
In the Waikato they were regularly rubbing shoulders with the country’s top women’s player, Joelle King, who, along with Coll, are alongside the young pups in Birmingham.
‘‘She’s had a bit of an influence on us, she was quite a big inspiration, obviously we were able to talk to her quite a lot back in the day,’’ Lwamba says.
‘‘She’s really nice, and so is Paul, they’ve both got great personalities.
‘‘They’re both so experienced and they’ve both been to multiple Games, both won medals at multiple Games.
‘‘To have that experience behind
us, we’re really lucky, because a lot of teams don’t have that.’’
After finishing school, the brothers each spent time in Auckland at SquashXL – the brainchild of their now manager John Duggan, who leased a warehouse and had glass courts built for a group of prospective PSA players to train fulltime.
The Chileshes indeed duly joined the PSA circuit, playing on the challenger series – the one down from the top-tier world tour.
Lwamba now has five challenger titles to his name, and while Temwa has four satellite titles, he hasn’t yet been able to convert from six challenger finals.
And just who has he happened to stumble against in four of those deciders?
Yep, older bro, who holds a 5-2 advantage against younger bro on the tour.
‘‘It’s kind of a toss of a coin, really,’’ Lwamba concedes.
MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
Having grown up idolising Egyptian great Ramy Ashour (who retired three years ago) for the way he revolutionised the game with his attacking play, the Chileshes have developed their own styles.
‘‘I’m definitely faster, and Lui’s just got that endurance over me, unfortunately,’’ Temwa quips.
‘‘Temwa has more power, goes for more shots, plays a higher riskhigher reward kind of game, likes short, sharp rallies,’’ Lwamba explains.
‘‘I volley a little bit more, and am probably a little bit more patient.’’
Sounds like a match made in heaven for doubles then, right?
‘‘Yeah I’m just on the back-hand, and I just have to make sure I make no mistakes, and then Temwa’s job is to just a hit a winner, put it away. I’m not allowed to,’’ Lwamba laughs.
In saying that, this doubles thing is something of a rarity for the siblings.
With the PSA tour limited to singles, it’s really only the world champs and Commonwealth Games where doubles gets put in the international spotlight.
March last year was the first time the brothers had actually played together. And certainly no shortage of importance – the national champs, a selection event for the Games.
‘‘We managed to win that, and we’ve never really looked back from there,’’ Temwa says.
A few camps followed early this year, then in April came the world doubles in Glasgow. Faced with a tough pool, the 10-12 seeds in the 18-team event lost in straight games to the Hong Kong 13-15 seeds, but then pushed the top-seeded English duo to three games, before eventually placing 14th.