Cayman finished the Senior Caribbean Squash Championships with third place in both the Women’s and Men’s singles and third overall in the team section.

Barbados finished first overall with 25 points, and although Jamaica came second with 22 points, Cayman came close behind the other two with a respectable 20 points. The OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) team came fourth with 13 points.

The team section of the championships was divided into three events: Men’s Women’s and Veterans, and the Overall Championship category is decided by each country’s performance in each of these.

Barbados won the Veterans section, and Jamaica came second, Cayman Third and Trinidad and Tobago, fourth.

Barbados also came first in the women’s team section, with Cayman coming second and Jamaica, third.

OECS came first in the men’s team event, Jamaica came second, Cayman came third and Barbados came fourth.

Commenting on Cayman’s performance in the CASA Championships Glenn Stark Cayman’s National Squash Coach, said: “It’s a big improvement over last year. Dean Watson and Marlene West both finished third in the individual event, and Cayman finished third overall in the team event. Last year the men’s team finished 7th and the Women’s, 4th. This year for sure we did extremely well based on last year’s performance.

Mr. Stark added that if the relative populations of different countries are taken into consideration, Cayman’s achievement is even more impressive. “We only have 50,000 people, but countries like Guyana have about 750,000, and Trinidad and Tobago has over a million people,” he said.

Mr. Stark says he has seen a consistent improvement in the standard of Cayman’s squash playing over a period of several years, and is hopeful for an even better performance during next year’s CASA in Trinidad and Tobago.

The reason for the improvement is largely due to increased exposure of the sport to school students, Mr. Stark believes, and it is one of the Cayman Islands National Squash Association’s priorities to introduce as many kids as possible to the sport.

“To give an example, we had 750 kids came through the schools squash programme last year,” he said. We are hoping that Kids can come to the squash club and receive instruction- that’s the catalyst – that’s what starts growth in the game. If we keep doing that, that will certainly grow the sport and we will start seeing the benefits in two to three years.”

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