Have racket, will travel

Press, 17 June 1983, Page 15

Have racket, will travel

Tony Brettkelly, a young squash player from Hamilton, has become the rackets equivalent of a “ski bum” in a concentrated effort to improve his game. The Adidas national squash circuit now consists of 12 qualifying tournaments — from Whangarei to Invercargill — and Brettkelly is playing the lot. He has been on the circuit for the last seven weeks, getting around the country by hitching rides or taking buses, and has been staying with billets. He has been unemployed since the start of last week when he resigned from his job as a fitness instructor at the Y.M.C.A. in Hamilton. “I’m on the bones of my backside at the moment,” admitted Brettkelly in Christchurch this week. Unlike most of the leading players the Hamilton man has no sponsorship, and even has to provide his own rackets. “Nobody really knows me, I only got my A grading at the end of last year,” Brettkelly said. “I have only come on the scene.” At present, he is trying to get people to sponsor him for each point he accumulates on the circuit which reached the half-way stage with the Canterbury championships last week-end. Brettkelly, aged 22, is also seeking to raise money through a $lOO raffle for an unofficial New Zealand team of emerging squash players who have decided to call themselves the “Young Kiwis.” The team of Brettkelly, Anthony McMurtrie, Tony Griffin (all Hamilton), John

Mills (Wellington), Danny McQueen and Phil Wallace (both Rotorua) — all ranked in New Zealand’s top 20 — will leave the country on November 12 for a tour of Britain, Ireland and Europe. Brettkelly said that the trip will cost him about $5OOO and he hopes to make a sufficient impression on the national circuit to “get some sort of grant” from the New Zealand association. The team is also banking on a sponsorship and, if necessary, Brettkelly will get a loan. His aim is to make the last eight on the circuit and thus qualify for the Adidas grand finals at the Khandallah club from August 12 to 14 for which $5OOO ($3OOO men, $2OOO women) is at stake. Even though he is playing every tournament, something that will be matched only by the South African, Carl Koenig, it is still possible that Brettkelly will miss out. At present he is seventh. Brettkelly says that he has been training very hard for the last 18 months, ever since he left university. “I’ve got myself very fit and am now trying to improve my technique as I get the games. I’m hoping to get two or three good wins,” he said. So far, his best results were in the North Island championships at Napier two weeks ago, when he finished ninth from a big draw of 32. In that event, he beat both David Oakley (Wellington) and a former New Zealand representative, Trevor Colyer (Auckland). TIM DUNBAR