T&T's national squash coach, American Richard Glanfield, is still walking on cloud nine, after his team claimed the Mens, Women's and overall titles at the just concluded senior Caribbean Squash Championships, staged in the Cayman Islands.
Glanfield told the T&T Guardian that despite not claiming any individual titles, he was proud of his charges. "They played perfect squash, I cannot single out any one player, since it was an all-round team effort. All the players came up big when they had to." He noted even though Ryan Abraham tore his calf muscle in the final, he wanted to continue. "Paul (Deverteuil) had to fight from two sets down to give us the men's title, as well as Joanna in the women's," said the coach.
He said in his 25 years of coaching, nothing had brought him more joy than what the players did in the Cayman Islands. "I have coached teams in the World juniors, the Asian juniors and seniors, the South American and European seniors, but as a team performance, this is by far the best I've ever seen. I have never been so proud of a team in my life. They were absolutely unbelievable", said Glanfield. He said seven months ago the T&T Squash Federation brought him to the country with the aim of winning the Caribbean titles, and he is proud that within that short space of time, they have been able to achieve their goal.
"We were the most fit, the strongest, the most disciplined and it really paid off with the titles" said the coach. "These titles have evaded T&T for the past 29 years, and I have realised how big this achievement means to the players and people of the twin island." Asked if he was disappointed by national champion Colin Ramasra's defeat in the men's singles final, Glanfield said it was just one of those days, and his opponent Binnie of Jamaica had a fantastic day. "I told Colin after he did his best, but his work was not over, since our main objective was to win the teams and overall titles," said Glanfield.
