There are some persons who will seek to engage the President, or the Council, of the Barbados Squash Rackets Association (BSRA) on some topic or other and will initiate the discussion with some factual statement or argument. There are others who prefer to denigrate and berate unfairly some members of the BSRA Council, including the undersigned. With the former group the BSRA will seek a dialogue. The latter group of persons will find themselves engaged in a monologue, since it takes two to argue, and the current Council and I have decided not stoop to their level.
However, when the arguments advanced by critics contain faulty logic and incorrect statements ? purporting to be factual, then the BSRA will respond with a press release to set the record straight. Facts are irrefutable and can be easily seen by reasonable people to be such. Just because shrill voices loudly pronounce that two plus two makes five, no matter how often or how stridently this is stated, it still does not make it true.
The recent discussion about the quality of some of our junior players is a case in point. At this time the BSRA wishes to acknowledge by name the following group of
seven outstanding junior girls and seven outstanding junior boys ? all previous winners of the local under-19 title at least once in their careers, viz: Natalie Webber; Tessa Newsam; Andrea Goodridge; Lilianna Seale; Nadia McCarthy; Bo Harris and Cheri-Ann Parris. The outstanding group of boys includes: Michael Fields; Tony Brackin; Shane Johnson; Ryan Truss and the brothers Gavin, Rhett and Bryant Cumberbatch.
For the record the youngest Barbados Girl?s Under-19 (GU-19) National Champion is Natalie Webber (d.o.b. 1968/07/19) who would have been only 13 years old when she won her first of four GU-19 titles in 1982. [Natalie also holds the record as the youngest ever GU-19 finalist. She would have been only ten years old when she contested the inaugural Junior National U-19 final in 1979]. The second youngest local GU-19 champion is Tessa Newsam (d.o.b. 1969/03/25) who would have just turned 14 in 1983 when she won her first of two GU-19 titles. Andrea Goodridge?s record of six successive GU-19 finals and five GU-19 titles (from 1989-93) will take some beating. Nadia McCarthy actually shares the current record for most Girl?s National Junior titles won (8) even though she only won a single GU-19 title. Bo Harris was the best local junior female player in 2004, when she won both the local U-15 and U-19 titles at the age of 14. However, from 2005 to the present day, Cheri-Ann Parris has played unbeaten in the Junior National Championships and has won seven Junior National titles in that time (and 8 in all, to date), including the last four GU-19 titles. Why anyone would seek to belittle this achievement is beyond me. In my view, praising the recent accomplishments of Cheri-Ann Parris does not in any way make any less impressive the achievements of others in the past.
The fact is that right now the best female junior squash player in the Caribbean is a Barbadian: Cheri-Ann Parris. She has proven that by winning the Caribbean GU-19 title last year in Tortola, BVI at the age of 16 years 11 months. In my opinion, in Barbados we should all be celebrating this feat, and not have critics churlishly questioning the quality of her opponents. To suggest that Cheri-Ann?s outstanding junior performances are in some way less worthy of mention because of weak opposition is also disingenuous because her recent performances at the senior level have been even more impressive! She has been a valuable member of the senior National Ladies Squash team for the past four years and has won every match she has played for the senior Ladies team in the Caribbean since her debut in 2004. In July 2006 she was also a member of the Senior Ladies Squash team that won a bronze medal for Barbados at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Cartagena, Colombia. In 2007 she reached the Ladies final in the Barbados Senior National Squash Championships at the age of 16 years and 9 months, and three months later placed third in the Ladies Individuals at the Senior Caribbean Squash Championships in Kingston, Jamaica.
On the boy?s side the most outstanding junior Barbados has produced to date has been Gavin Cumberbatch with 11 National titles and four Caribbean age group titles as well. Eventually a better local player will emerge to break this great record. But when that happens, and Gavin?s record is finally consigned to history, that fact will not make him any less an outstanding figure in the annals of local squash.
Perhaps the critics need reminding that when they are singing the praises of one group of junior players and commenting on their good performances there is no need for them to belittle the performances of someone else?s child.
Craig Archer
President
B’dos Squash Rackets Association
2008/04/30
