The Mile High Factor

By Brett Erasmus

Are you enjoying watching the Soccer World Cup? I certainly am, irrespective of the fact that the hosts bombed out.

Did you know that there are five South American teams in the Soccer World Cup and they lead every group they are in (five out of eight groups in the competition)? So far they have played thirteen matches, having not lost once (won ten and drawn three). Between them, they have scored twenty-one times and only conceded four goals in the tournament thus far. I think that is very interesting indeed. And, besides for the fact that they are very good at soccer (!), there must be other reasons for it. Allow me to speculate (further than I previously have)..

Squash and Soccer

By Brett Erasmus
The Soccer World Cup started today and I watched the first ever match played in my country of birth. Was very excited about it, more because it will be a great spectacle for South Africa, less because I fancy my team’s chances. But we held Mexico to a draw, so you never know..

The home team normally fares very well actually. I looked it up. Did you know that in 8 out of 18 previous World Cups the home team has reached the finals? And in 6 out of 8 finals, the home team has won the World Cup. So if a miracle happens and South Africa makes it to the final then we will be favorites to win (!). We'll see what happens.

Time for a Break?

By Tracy Gates

A few weeks ago, a friend told me he was taking the summer off from squash. I thought he was crazy.

A week later, I walked into my gym at prime time and no one was playing. I thought, where is everybody?

And then a week after that I competed in the Hyder—four matches in two days. I played squash, scored squash, and watched squash. At the end of the weekend, I was tired of squash. Not to mention that my elbow sorely needed a break. I thought, time to do something else for a while. . . . But that brought me to the big question: What??

For Queen and Country

By Brett Erasmus

Just imagine you play a sport that your country pretty much invented and the pinnacle of achievement in that sport is the national championship. And your homeland has the most depth out of any nation worldwide and boasts more of the top professionals than any other. But, for some reason, your players struggle to win the national championship. In fact nobody on the home team has won it since before the Second World War. Then, by sheer grit and determination you get to the finals of the event and play the man who was world number one for all of the previous year. He is not from your country. You are not favored to win. But you do.