Martin Watts, left, and Peter Bridgeman are leaving their roles after three and five years respectively. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0611238)
DESPITE all the problems with King’s Club, Peter Bridgeman has said he will look back at his time in the island with fondness.
In the next couple of weeks the 49-year-old is stepping down as the island’s director of squash. The Welshman took up the role in 2003.
In the last year there has been a well-publicised spat between King’s Life, who are the owners of the island’s traditional home of squash, King’s Club, and Bridgeman’s employers the Guernsey Squash Rackets Association.
King’s have been planning to get rid of two of their courts much to the dismay of the GSRA, and there has also been a dispute over unpaid court bills resulting in Bridgeman and the island’s assistant director of squash, Martin Watts, being banned from coaching at the club.
The dispute is still going on.
But Bridgeman is prepared to look past the situation as he remembers his five years in the post.
Frenchman Benjamin Rosel takes over from him next month.
‘I like to think we’ve done a good job,’ said Bridgeman.
‘The aim was to get more juniors playing and having a more solid base.’
Bridgeman is leaving Guernsey for his native Cardiff where he is going to take stock before going travelling.
Watts is also stepping down from the role that he has had for three years.
The 29-year-old is returning to his former club in Essex, Kingswood, where he will become their racket sports manager.
They both said one of their greatest successes while in the island was the Investec Schools Programme.
The scheme sees Bridgeman and Watts go into local schools to introduce the children to squash.
They say that a number of young people have got into the sport this way.
‘The schools programme is topping up our player base all the time,’ said Watts.
‘It introduces the game to kids who would have never got into the sport and that’s what it’s about. It’s not always about having champions.
‘It’s about having numbers playing.’
But on the champions side, there have also been successes.
Bridgeman cites James Brehaut, Katherine Jensen, Issey Norman-Ross and Natalie Dodd who have all broken into the top 10 in the UK.
‘I like to think these players can push on and do the Commonwealth Games if their hearts are into it,’ said Bridgeman.
‘Unfortunately the whole structure of UK squash has changed and it’s now harder to get players ranked. You’ve got to play in at least eight tournaments a year and it’s hard for us to get off the island.
‘So we have players who can beat the top 10 but aren’t ranked.’
Bridgeman has gone on the record before in saying that the island needs a dedicated squash facility and he hopes that one day it will.
There is also one specific area of the sport that he wished was stronger – the senior game.
The adult leagues have come under fire.
‘We’d like to get a better adult system, but the adults have to help and support the system,’ he said.
‘A lot of people criticise it. I’m not affected by that, but they need to support it. I hope they support Ben.
‘What’s happening is that the juniors have not got the adults to play. There’s no point having these juniors if they’ve not got anyone to play.’
Bridgeman also believes that utilising the island’s best players past and present as role models could be benefitial for future generations.
Professional Chris Simpson, for example, was giving local youngsters the benefit of his knowledge last week.
Nowadays, though, he is based in the UK, as are the island’s best ever women’s players Martine Le Moignan and Lisa Opie, meaning those chances are limited.
Article posted on 5th August, 2008 - 2.29pm
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