Squash Team Ready to Win on the Courts in Birmingham
Squash made its debut at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur. As a core sport, it has appeared at every edition since.
The team of strong athletes will be competing in their first Commonwealth Games, although some are no strangers to large multi-sport Games. Squash Canada is proud to announce Hollie Naughton (Oakville, ON), Nicole Bunyan (Victoria, BC), David Baillargeon (Lévis, QC), and Nick Sachvie (St. Catharines, ON) as the Canadian Commonwealth Team. See Team Canada 2022 media guide for complete bios.
The team is fortunate to be led by an excellent and experienced coach, Graeme Williams, who has coached the Canadian squash team at many international multi-sport events, including at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the 2015 and 2019 Pan Am Games, where the Canadian squash teams took home numerous medals.
The four Squash Canada athletes have some high goals for the Games, aiming for a total of eight medals to be earned in women’s and men’s singles, women’s, men’s, and mixed doubles.
Hollie Naughton has had an impressive season and will be heading to the Games with those goals.
“My hopes for Birmingham are to play how I know I'm capable of,” says Naughton. “Enjoy the experience and hopefully by doing that, I will put myself in a good position to medal!”
Nick Sachvie has had a strong season as well, winning the 2021 Gatineau PSA challenger against teammate Baillargeon, and making the final of two other events. The fast-paced and high level of thinking required in squash is one of the reasons why he loves this sport.
“The thrill of competition, the adrenaline, training hard to push the body to new limits, the excitement of being able to travel the world to excel at something I’ve played my whole life is worth it,” says Sachvie. “Squash is more than a sport for me, it’s put me in places and given me opportunities I appreciate beyond words.”
With sport being a major part of these athletes’ lives it comes with their rewards and challenges.
“No athlete has made it to a high level without having to overcome lots of challenges,” says Nicole Bunyan who just recently earned a second-place finish at the 2022 Oxford Properties Canadian Squash Championships in Vancouver. “My biggest challenges have been mental (self-belief), and physical (injuries). To play at an elite level- especially in an individual sport- you must push the physical boundaries to get the most out of yourself and set yourself apart from the competition. Pushing these boundaries comes at a cost, as sometimes you go too far and find yourself overtrained or injured. It's a fine balance!”
David Baillargeon has had a breakthrough season, winning three PSA events in 2021 and making the final of four other PSA events. He capped off his season with a career-high world ranking of 61 and is now working towards multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games and beyond.
“I’m working towards improving my consistency and reaching the Platinum size tournament on the regular basis,” says Baillargeon. “Those are the biggest tournaments in the world and that’s where I want to be with my squash.”
The squash competition for the 2022 Commonwealth Games begins Friday July 29th at the University of Birmingham. The singles events will run from Friday, July 29th through to Wednesday, August 3rd followed by the doubles events running from the third to the end of the Games on Monday, August 8th.
CBC Sports will feature daily feeds of the sport competitions available on CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. Check out https://www.cbc.ca/sports/commonwealthgames for details.
