Young umpire rewarded
Cameron Hooper knows no boundaries when it comes to the squash umpiring realm.
Instead of using his time slouched on the couch, Hooper, 17, is either battling on the squash court or calling the shots from above.
It’s for this commitment he has towards the sport that he was been awarded the Junior Official/Administrator of the Year award at this year’s Counties Manukau Sport Franklin Junior Sports Awards and Volunteer Recognition Ceremony, held in Pukekohe.
‘‘It was really cool [to have received the award]. I didn’t expect it ... it was really surprising,’’ said Cameron.
He has been playing and umpiring squash for five years and was introduced to the sport by a friend who dragged him along to the courts.
‘‘I fell in love with it. I have never been bored with it,’’ said Cameron.
He said squash was as much of a mental game as it was physical.
‘‘The mental side of the sport is very challenging. People just see squash as being physical, but you have to be mentally stable as well.’’
Last year, Cameron refereed at the Oceania Junior Squash Championships held in Tauranga. He was also a finalist in the New Zealand Squash National Awards for Referee of the Year and was the winner of the Squash Auckland Referee of the Year Award for 2017.
The avid squash player and umpire is also completing his testing for becoming a district referee for squash. If he completes it before his 18th birthday, which he has set a goal for, he will be the youngest to complete the testings.
He said the individual aspect of the sport was appealing over team sports - if he made errors in squash, he had no one else to let down other than himself. But with team sports, there was entire squad of people that would be disappointed if he made errors.