By Frank van Loon, WSF
2009—the year squash will be voted to participate in the Olympic Games of 2016. The sport already has an enormous history and it just keeps getting better.
During the first 280 days of this great annum, we have three major milestones and hundreds of details to cover. There will be the ‘Sport Accord’ in the US city of Denver in March; the presentation to the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne in June; and the final presentation of our sport to the IOC members in Copenhagen in October.
Having been given the honor to lead the Task Force, I feel it’s fair to state that the issues are in the hundreds of details. Together with some fine mavens in our sport, we’ll tackle them all and we will do a good job!
It is here where you, the distinguished readers of Squash Magazine, come in. The difference between doing a good job [and be forced to wait for an election in October] and a great job which will secure the sport’s place well before that, is …YOU!
We need your help. All of it. You are, at the very least, a Squash enthusiast! When you are at the edge of your seat in 2016, either at home or in the Olympic venue, giving coaching tips to your squash favorite for free and shouting at the top of your voice when the athlete scores and obviously listens to your knowledgeable advice, this victory will be even sweeter when you lived up to it, together with the 13-year-olds of today, who are picking up a racquet, preparing for the biggest event ever in Squash history.
They need your contribution.
Knowing that the United States of America knows best how to step in when needed, I informed the WSF office that a flood of emails will come in early in 2009 to Olympics@worldsquash.org with pledges, from dimes to dollars!
I promise you they will be well spent—solely on the Olympic Quest, preparing for extra hours of pleasure of the greatest sports at the greatest of all sports events.
Thank you. No—“THANK YOU!”
