After all the trials and tribulations that Luton & Dunstable Squash Club have endured over the past few years the overriding emotion for many was relief at some semblance of “normality” when squash legend Peter Nicol MBE visited the club last weekend (21 April).
Club Chairman Paul Main said, “It was great to be able to welcome such a legend of British sport to the club. The sad thing is that many people will not have heard of Peter, despite achieving things that Andy Murray and Tim Henman can only dream of. The club is very grateful for his visit and the sponsors, Duncannon, Akira, Pact, First4Squash, Practical Hire and of course Active Luton. It’s certainly been a great way to enthuse members to get playing again and hopefully it will be the launchpad to the future success of both the sport and the club in the town. There is a really positive feeling about the future.”
Nicol, arguably the best player Britain has ever produced having held the World’s top spot for 5 years, came along to mark the club’s official relaunch at the newly redeveloped Lewsey Sports Park. Nicol spent time coaching all the juniors in the morning passing on many invaluable pieces of advice, before taking on several club members including one member of the County Championship winning side, Dean Pike, before finishing with a match against 1st team captain and former County Champion Steve Davies.
Davies said after his creditable 3-1 defeat, “What an experience that was. Peter is just a different class, the speed of his racket is awesome, goodness knows what it would have been like playing at his peak, say when he took double Commonwealth Gold in Melbourne 2006! It was a fabulous experience and something I will treasure.”
Nicol took time to answer questions from the packed galleries after the match and said, “There is a great feel to this club, a real community atmosphere and everyone involved should take credit for that from the Committee to the landlords, Active Luton. The facilities are great and there is real potential here for success. I was impressed by how well the youngsters have been coached.
“Hopefully squash can get into the Olympics in 2020 having narrowly missed out for inclusion in London this year and that would undoubtedly transform the sport’s profile.”
For further information contact Paul Main on pauljmain@ldsquash.com, or on 07787 920451