SYDNEY GIRL EXCELS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 19

SYDNEY GIRL EXCELS

CAME OF SQUASH RACKETS

Squash rackets in England is becoming increasingly popular, and it is now well established as an international sport (states the "Sydney Morning Herald"). In Australia, the facilities for the game are improving, but many who wish to play the game still lack courts to do so.

For many years, only members of the Royal Sydney Golf Club had the opportunity of playing, and, in spite of this, the few women who played reached a high standard. One of the keenest of these pioneers was Miss Betty Ross Gore, who has often visited relatives in Wellington. A few years ago she left Australia and was married in England to the distinguished actor, Mr. Lewis Shaw, who played in Australia in "Journey's End." Since living in England, Mrs. Shaw has played con-j sistently, and, according to recent reports, she is doing well. "Squash Rackets, Fives, and Tennis," the official organ of the game, in its January issue, says of her: "A number of women players have made a considerable advance in their game this season, and apart from the international group, there are several destined for greater things, among these Mrs. Lewis Shaw, of the Hampstead Squash and Rugby Fives Club. Jack Aylott, the professional there, has every confidence in her capacity to do well in any company." Mrs. Shaw is playing No. 1 for the Hampstead team, and has been doing well in the inter-club matches in which she-has won all her matches without losing any games, except when she met Mrs. McKechnie, who is graded second to the, world-champion, Miss Margot Lumb. . Even in .this match, Mrs." Shaw \ played a ' great game. It took Mrs. .-McKechnie twenty-five minutes to beat her, and the score was 9-fl, 9-4, 9-1. > Mrs. McKechnie is the holder of the south, north, and western championships, and was runner-up to Miss Lumb in the British championship; hence the merit of the former Sydney girl's performance is obvious. Mrs. McKechnie is noted for her perfect angles and finishing shots, and her footwork and courtcraft have few equals. She is the British stylist. HUSBANDS AND WIVES. One of the latest competitions in Eng-land-is a husbands and wives event, which was inaugurated at the Hampstead Club recently, when , one of the members presented a cup for annual competition. "It will be interesting to follow the performances of the players;" says the correspondent of "Squash Rackets and Fives," "for at a moment's notice we can think of very few couples who have both distinguished themselves in the court." ' The competition, nevertheless, seems to have met with much enthusiastic support. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw entered the competition, and reached the semifinal. The competition is played under original rules, and is one which might well be followed in Australia, particularly in a club the size of Royal Sydney. It is a competition which would add variety to the ordinary programme of the various clubs. The husband of one partnership plays the husband of the pair against which he has been drawn, and the wives play each other. At the end of the two games, the rubbers are counted, and if a tie still results, the games counted, and if a tie still remains, the decision rests on points. Mr. Shaw has begun to play only recently. The' Hampstead Club is about "two minutes from where they are living, and this has civ?n him a chance to play the game, Mll.er befor,-: or after he sets out for the studio or theatre. Another distinction Mrs. Shaw has j achieved during her short residence in London is that she has been elected a vice-president of the Hampstead Club. She is apparently one of the personalities of the squash rackets world. CASINO DANCING. Mrs. Shaw is keen about her husband's work, and accompanies him on most of his trips when plays and films take him out of London. She finds the theatrical world entertaining, and in between housekeeping, playing squash, buying for some of the Sydney dress firms, and dancing, she is very busy. She has a position at the London Casino for her dancing. Mrs. Shaw was a fine junior lawn tennis player, and showed much promise in that sport before she more or less deserted it for squash. The manner in. which she has progressed at the game' seems to indicate that tennis players become expert at the game more easily than those unaccustomed to the tennis racket. GOOD WAY TO KEEP FIT. The keenest squash rackets players throughout Australia at present are mostly drawn from the ranks of the tennis players. This is particularly true of Victoria, where the women's game began to flourish last season. Led by Mrs. Harry Hopman, whose husband was the Australian champion, Miss Nancye Wynne, who recently won the national tennis championship of Australia, and Miss Dorothy Stevenson took up the game last winter with the idea of keeping fit for their tennis in the summer. Miss Stevenson became an apt pupil, and- at the end of the winter, her first season, she had won the Victorian squash racknts singles championship. ' The time she spent at squash improved her tennis. She has frankly admitted that she felt that squash has improved her tennis. "Squash is very fast." she said, "and I found that I was quicker in my movements on the tennis court after my long frames of squash in the winter." In Sydney; Miss Joan Hartigan and Miss Thelma Coyne played last winter.' There is little doubt that when more facilities are available, and when the game is not quite so expensive as it is now, hundreds of women will play this game. It has the great advantage of being played indoors in any weather, is particularly suited for keeping fit, and only requires about half an hour or less for a game. More | than half an hour of squash is bsyond the endurance of most players. j