Wiltshire, Alphonso and Ince-Carvalhal set for PanAm Games

Oct 24, 2021 Sports

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– Confident of giving their best despite age gap

By Sean Devers

The Guyana Junior Boys Squash team qualified for the Junior PanAm Games because of their win at CASA in 2019 since the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) were unable to participate in the qualifiers due to covid-19 Pandemic.

The Junior PanAm Games will be held in Colombia from November 25th December 5th 2021.
The GCA was extended an invitation due to being the best Boys team in the Caribbean and after a mini tournament at the Georgetown Club last weekend, Shomari Wiltshire, Samuel Ince-Carvalhal and Michael Alphonso were selected to represent Guyana in Columbia.
“Usually the youth tournament would be under-19’s but it has been altered to under-23’s and so with such a young team going from Guyana we have realistic expectations that this will be a trip where our boys gain valuable exposure rather than looking for big wins,” explained GSA’s Secretary, Lorraine Ince. Wilshire is 18, Ince-Carvalhal is 17 and Alphonso is 15.
“We are confident that our boys will go and give it their all and represent Guyana well, however, the competition will be of the highest international standards with much older, experienced players,” said Ince.
Michael Alphonso said that during the pandemic, he spent a lot less time on training and more time focused on studies with CXC right around the corner. “My biggest challenge has been finding the motivation to train during the pandemic due to all the risks involved and the protocols put in place while training.
I have to work really hard on my long distance fitness and my psychology in relation to the sport,” Alphonso disclosed. “I feel that for the time that I was given to prepare for this tournament, I have trained extremely hard to do my best and I have positive expectations for how I will be performing.
It feels great and I am very grateful to be getting back out there in the International world of Squash. I know I will be able to experience new things, meet new people and work hard for my Country,” Alphonso concluded.
Shomari Wiltshire, Guyana’s best hope for a medal, said the standard of Caribbean junior squash is pretty good adding that he feels he is at a good level right now.

“I need many matches as I can and to experience playing squash in a different environment. Colombia is a country with altitude, and playing in tough conditions and adapting will be a great benefit to my game. Also, my goal is to make it to at least the quarters in the US Open” said the Caribbean Junior Champion when asked is needed for him to be successful.
The U.S. Junior Open Squash Championships is scheduled for December 18-21, 2021. Shomari disclosed that he intends to play in College, but he is not interested in playing professional squash.
“My academics are fine right now and I am looking at Colleges to apply to while the pandemic has not affected me as I was doing school in person in the U.S and I have a squash court near me on campus.” posited Shomari.
“I am going there to try my best as it is a U23 tournament and I’m only 18. Also, my finish in the U.S Open will be determined by what seed I am ranked and the drawI am put in.
For squash to improve locally, the players coming up need to train more and we should have more match play to spark competition.” stated Shomari. Samuel Ince-Carvalhal said the last tournament he played was in November 2019 before the pandemic shut everything down.
“During the pandemic I had only been training by myself doing solo work. Whenever I went up to the highway on weekends my grandfather (National Coach Carl Ince) would help me with my solo work programs and sharpening up my game. It was strange not going to training because it was such a big part of my life before.
I also completed a PanAm High Performance Coaching Certification over the last 9 months. It actually finished last Wednesday.” Said Samuel. “The area I would like to work on is starting my matches with more aggression and getting into a groove immediately instead of later in the match.
We definitely needed more preparation but the situation with the covid-19 pandemic put a lot of restrictions on us. We need a lot of exposure, match practice and the time lost which would have made me better equipped for this tournament however, coach/granddad has had us on an intense programme for the past few months and a lot of progress has been made.
He’s been able to bring us up to a pretty good standard. I may sound biased but he’s such a great coach and he sees what we need. I know he wishes he had longer with us though,” added Samuel.
“This is an Under-23 tournament and I am only 17, I have not set myself high goals. Instead I am confident that I will do my best and try to perform as best I can. I think the experience and exposure will be really good for us because it’s something we don’t always have an opportunity to do.” Samuel said.

 

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