Ottawa (ON) – The 11th Annual Battle of the Borders will be managed by Squash Canada at the White Oaks Resort and Spa from the 6th to 9th of August, 2015.
10 years ago, a man by the name of Mark Sachvie created the ‘Battle’ to add another competitive layer to Squash Ontario’s junior competitive continuum. The Battle of the Border is a 3 day camp where juniors from the US and Canada come together to share court time and friendship.
Ottawa (ON) – The 11th Annual Battle of the Borders will be managed by Squash Canada at the White Oaks Resort and Spa from the 6th to 9th of August, 2015.
10 years ago, a man by the name of Mark Sachvie created the ‘Battle’ to add another competitive layer to Squash Ontario’s junior competitive continuum. The Battle of the Border is a 3 day camp where juniors from the US and Canada come together to share court time and friendship.
The Battle consists of 4 athletes in each of the U-13, U-15, U-17 age groups for girls and boys with, 24 athletes per country totaling 48 overall. Each group of 4 athletes has a coach assigned to their group to guide them through the activities. Over the 3 days, the participants enjoy a camp style atmosphere with the actual battle taking place on the Sunday where the Canadian athletes match up against their US counter parts. When the Battle began the Ontario players were the comfortable favorites and always beat the US team. US junior squash has exploded in the past couple of years, giving them a much wider pool of talent to draw from. As a result, Squash Ontario reached out to Squash Canada to give this event national status and as a consequence, we also will have a much larger pool of athletes too.
“Squash Ontario is very proud of its role in creating and developing the Battle of the Border over the past decade and we know Mark would be extremely pleased to see the event take on a national flavor”, said Andrew Mount, President of Squash Ontario. “Many national athletes got their first exposure to international squash through their Battle experience and its progression to a Canadian event is a welcome one. We are confident that it will continue to provide a testing competitive experience for young Canadian squash athletes”. Affording these athletes the opportunity to represent their country at such a young age is the stuff that dreams are made” said Squash Canada President Lolly Gillen. “What a marvelous forum to develop squash stars of the future while building lifelong friendships.”
“US Squash are delighted to further strengthen the relationship between ourselves and Squash Canada. The Battle of the Border has been a highlight for our junior players over the last ten years, and the transition to competing against Canada and not just Ontario will only serve to increase its importance to our community”, said Kevin Klipstein, Executive Director of US Squash. “We look forward to continuing to grow the event and US Squash sees this as a key step in both countries player development with exposure to international squash at a young age being a vital learning experience and also inspiring players to reach their goals”.
For more information contact:
Danny Da Costa
Executive Director, Squash Canada
ddacosta@squash.ca