Quick Post,

Just found this video of some pool side frisbee action.  Use the link below to see the video!

Fun around the pool:

2014 Junior Pan Americans

After all the matches were played we had the closing ceremony which included a dinner and dance as well as the medal presentation. This was the perfect way to end our awesome trip because it gave us a chance to say good bye to our new friends and congratulate people on their accomplishments. This event went very late into the night and was worth staying up for but we had a 5:00 am flight we had to get up for. 

The next morning we were all very tired but happy to be heading home. We had a five hour flight back to Toronto which we were all sleeping on and then we split ways. After we landed everyone except for Ben and I parted ways. None of us will ever forget this awesome trip we had together and from their we said our goodbyes. 

Ben and I were not home yet, we had a couple hours at the airport in Toronto then we had another five hour flight to victoria. We landed safely and were happy to be home after a tough and exciting week in San Salvador. 

This trip was one of the best trips I have ever been on and it would have never been posibble without your help so thank you all so very much for all the support! Hopefully in the future I will be able to further represent Canada, BC, and Cedar Hill in even more international and national events. Thank you again for all your help. 

Day 7

Today we started the day with a even earlier match then yesterday. We played Guatamala at 8:15 with David ( our number one) still feeling sick. So Devin started us off also feeling very sick but finished strong with three to one victory. This was a special win for him because it is the very last junior squash game/event he will ever play. Next up we had Matt playing in position one. He was a little nervous again playing in position one but he finished strong with a very close three-two match. To finish us off we had Stefan take down Guatamala's number 2 in a quick, but close match.

After our match this morning Devin starting feeling even worse but David started to feel better which was both good and bad. So for our final game against Paraguay we put David back at number one, myself at number 2, and Stefan at number 3; we gave Devin a well needed rest. Even though David was not feeling to good, he managed to take down Paraguay's number one in three very close games. Stefan won his game in three very quick and not so close games. I finished off winning my last match in four games. It was a very good match with a very respectful opponent.

We are done ! We will have closing ceremonies tonight with all the medals and awards. But before the medal ceremony we will take one last swim in the pool.  This trip has been an amazing experience and tons of fun; so thank you all so much for this amazing opportunity! There will be a couple more posts with more pictures and a summary of the trip as a whole, maybe some behind the scenes excitement. so stay posted. 

Day 6

Our day started off with a early 9:00 am start by playing Brazil. The day brought some unfortunate events as well as some good ones. Our number one, David caught the flu this morning and was feeling it all day. This meant that our order of play would change, we had Matthew at number one, Stefan at number two, and Devin at number three. 

Matthew started it off a little nervous because he was playing position one, but he overcame it and won 3-0. Stefan had a close game with a couple of good come backs but he also finished with a strong 3-0. To finish of the day with Brazil we had Devin also win 3-0. 

After our matches were finished David was feeling very poor and we had to go back to the hotel so he could rest. We decided to go check out the mall that was close by because we had the rest of the day off. David stayed at the hotel but the rest of us went and hope for cheaper prices, but they ended up being very similar except for food. This is when Devin started to feel sick aswell, so we went back to the hotel and everyone had a good rest. 

We will be playing Guatamala tomorrow at 8:15 sharp which will be a very early start. Our starting line up will be the same as today with Brazil, Matt at one, Stefan at two, and Devin at three. Hopefully this flu is only a short term thing and Devin and David will be ready to go for tomorrow. We are still very determined to finished the best we possibly can and that means we must get through Guatamala tomorrow.

Hard Day In El Salvador

This is one of the hardest posts I will have to write.  We have returned to the hotel and we are exhausted from the day’s events.  I am sorry not to give all the detail in Technicolor for your high definition review but I am too disappointed to describe the full days events fairly. 

Our day started off with our encounter against Ecuador.  Due to miscommunication we had to default the first two matches of the day.  This was a heart breaking reality for the whole team as Ecuador was the third strongest in the pool and we started the day with a 2-1 loss to Ecuador.  Through the day there was much discussion as the root of the problem but in the end the decision stood and we lost the encounter.

Not to be deterred we had a second match in the afternoon.  This time we would be playing the #2 team in our round robin pool, Mexico.  We calculated the numbers and we were not out of the running yet, but we needed to pull out a 2-1 win over Mexico. 

(Aside:  for Team Canada to medal a third time in the boys event we needed to finish top 2 in our pool.  The loss against Ecuador, meant we had to play for a 3 way tie in the pool between Ecuador, Mexico, and ourselves.  In the event of the 3 way tie the tie is broken by the team with the most matches won, and our single win over Ecuador would put us ahead of them if we beat Mexico)

The Mexico match-up started at 4:30pm and right from the start there was a different feel to the match.  After the warm-up we took pictures with the opposing team.  All the team members greeted each other and exchange pre-match words in broken English and Spanish. 

Matthew Henderson was our lead off man in #2 position.  He was up against Enfrain Salazar whose two cousins both are top 100 world ranked players.  Matthew battled valiantly against the older Mexican.  Holding even point for point and winner for winner with Salazar, up to 8-8, but lost the first game.  In the second game Matthew lost control of the match mid-game when the crafty Mexican started playing the referee for lets and strokes fishing for calls and disrupting the pace of the match any way he could and eventually sneaking out a lead and closing up 2 games in the lead.  In the third the confidence of the more experienced player controlled the momentum of the match right to the end.  Matt had no chance to get back in this one.

You remember Hector, our Canadian friend who came to visit us earlier this week?  He came back to watch us play again.  Hector was a positive influence on the team.  His presence raised our spirits and it was good to have a hometown supporter. 

Stefan Houbtchev started our second match with Guillermo Cortez.  Cortez is an unbelievably smoother striker of the ball.  His control over the ball and Stefan was great but not complete.  Stefan was able to rally with Cortez and set up the points and rallies.  In the end it was Stefan who’s unforced errors were the deciding factor.  Hitting 3 more tins than your opponent means they play the game to 8 while you have to play to 11. 

Yes we are two down, and yes that puts us out of the top 2 positions in the round robin play, and out of medal contention.  We were not going to stop there, David still had to play and Alejandro Reyes was ready to go.  Mexico was determined to beat us not 2-1 but 3-0.  David had a different idea in mind.  If you have seen this year’s Canadian Junior National Champion play you know his determination and his powerful ball striking are scary.  After many long rallies David lead his opponent using a variety of power, speedy retrieval, gentle touch in the front and lobs to wrong foot his opponent.  David was able to hit dying length, and obtain the elusive “no let” from the referee.  After 30min David won the last match of the encounter 3-0. 

Tomorrow morning we play Brasil and we will continue in the afternoon with draw play to play to our highest possible finish of 7^th place.  There still remains a minimum of 3 matches for us to play.  We still have a job to do tomorrow.

Day 5.1

It's 8:00am in San Salvador and we are waiting for the bus to take us to Maya Country Club for our first round of play in the team competition. Now that the teams are starting things are stepping up a notch. Posts will be small and more frequent. 

This morning we have a 9:00 am encounter with Ecuador. We have decided to play 4,3,1 (Devin Hinchey, Stefan Houbtchev, David Baillargeon). This afternoon we will meet with Mexico and tomorrow morning we finish round robin play against Brasil. 

Buenos Dias

Day 4: Getting ready for Battle

First up!  Matthew Henderson and Devin Hinchey on the courts court against the home crowd favourites El Salvador's, Israel Ernesto Abrego and Juan Pablo Mejía.  So far the loudest audience support has been for El Salvador.  Is it a fair advantage when the audience buys local whistles and horns to cheer for the team?  I don't know but it does make for an exciting match.  Although we did take a little wind out of their sails as they banged the benches BANG-BANG-BANG SAL-VA-DOR, BANG-BANG-BANG SAL-VA-DOR, which we promptly followed up with one loud CA-NA-DA, which in their surprise they laughed then went shhhh! With the atmosphere set Matthew and Devin had a big road ahead of them.

We started our match at 12:45 and played a long tough match with Devin on the forehand side and myself on the backhand side. The home team, El Salvador were a strong and patient team with a loud crowd cheering them on. We tried our best to make it to the finals but they stopped us after two games. The games were close and intense but the tin got the best of us. We were disappointed with the loss but are very happy with a bronze medal!

After our match this morning we recovered beside the pool then had the opportunity to go up a near by volcano. This was an awesome sight; this massive volcano took us 20 min to drive up to its steep winding road to an elevation of 1800 m. We got to see the awesome views down 500 m to the bottom of the caldera and also talked to the locals who had little tourist shops set up. All in all the day was awesome! Even with the unfortunate loss to El Salvador we still got a bronze medal in doubles and visited one of the highest points on the island.

DAY 3: Hi's and Lo's

Our day starts off with David Baillargeon on centre court with Andres Felipe Herrera (COL) in the first of the 2 semi-finals in the individual competition.  Hot and bouncy balls fly around the court but to our amazement Andres looks nervous and plays nervous.  Multiple tins from the columbian gave David the first game.  In the second game things were a lot more tight but David came out with the lead and set the tempo for the game, wrong footing his opponent and pressuring the Columbian nicely to the back of the court.  Unfortunately we took a dip for the worst at this point.  Lets not take anything away from the Columbian, who stepped up his game by eliminating the errors in his play.  the first two game took 30 minutes to play and the last 3 games were another 60 minutes of play.  Unfortunately it was the more consistent play of Andres Felipe Herrera who claimed the win in the semi-final over David Baillargeon and continued on to win the final this evening with a 3-0 win over Frederico Cioffi (ARG).

If that was the low, then we are on the up and up for the rest of the day.  Above you see our doubles partners who stepped on court for their first doubles match 10 minutes after David finished his 90min 5 set battle with Andres. 

The doubles competition is played on a soft ball doubles court, not the hard ball doubles courts we are used to in Canada. These courts are the same length as regular single courts but are much wider. Also the scoring is much different, it is best of three games to eleven with a sudden death at ten all. My partner Devin and I started the doubles competition of by playing the number two seeds who were Brasilian. Both of us have had little to no experience on these soft ball doubles courts, but this didn't stop us; it took a while to warm up so they took the first game. We came right back, more confident this time and won the second game. In the third and final game we played we manage to take it with a tight finish. We will be playing the El Salvadorians tomorrow who will have a big crowd cheering them on, but we are determined to take them on!

After getting off court we found out that our next match was 24 hours away.  We had a fellow Canadian Hector come to the club and watch some of the squash today.  He is from Victoria but rode his bike from Canada to El Salvador and is living in a beach house for the time, with his girlfriend.  After the doubles match we decided we had enough time to do something different and get away from the squash courts.  The Beach sounded like a good idea and a nice change of scene.  Hector was willing to show us the way.  Our El Salvadorian friends arranged for a private bus to transport us there and back at our leisure!  Sweet we were off, down the mountain, and on the way beach side to some great El Salvadorian surf 8km north of La Libertad.

Hector and his Girlfriend...Thanks Hector for the great afternoon! 

Hector heading out to teach "da boys" to body surf 

 "Da Boys" posing for the photo

Surf!

After 1.5 hours in the surf we headed back to grab a bite of local food, papusa!  Papusa is a typical El Salvadorian food and comes with pollo, carne, jalapeño or loco (crazy, and meaning a little of everything).  Essentially it is a flat corner based bread stuffed with beans and queso (cheese) with the  choice of filling, then fried on a skillet.  When you receive your papusa you put a salad mix like coleslaw on top with a few squirts of tomato juice, and hot sauce.  It reminded me of awesome spicy pancakes.

Our beach side Papusa dinner at Hectors recommendation 

Tomorrow our day starts at 12:45 with the Semi-Finals of the doubles competition.  Good luck to Matthew Henderson and Devin Hinchey.

Day 2:

Day 2:

It was an early one today. Matthew had the first match of the day with the #1 seed Andres Felipe Herrera and David was up against an El Salvadorian at 9:45am. 

As you can see Matt got to take centre stage with the Columbian #1. A valiant effort by Matthew but he was unable to destabilize the Columbian from his game. Playing on the glass for the first time threw Matt as he was getting used to the pace and the glass walls.  It is tricky when you forget to stay focused on the ball you can see through the wall and lose track if the Ball. Matts run in the individuals ended in the round of 16. David on the other hand moved through to the QF to be played later in the day. 

Following our matches we decided to eat and relax pool side as we had 7 hours till the next match. The remainder of the afternoon was warm relaxing and we decided to head back to the hotel for a siesta. 6:00 pm was the opening ceremonies for the games. Here we are marched into the gym in our gear carrying our country marker and the visiting dignitaries give speeches about the event. Alphabetically we were between Brasil and Chile. 

After the opening ceremonies the Chilean women's team asked to take pictures with the Canadian boys. Before the photo could be taken the Mexicans, then the Brasilians followed by the other teams who flooded the picture and you get what we have below! (Who's the short guy in the middle of the team Photo?)

At 7:30pm David Baillargeon (Canadian Boys U 19 champion) stepped on court with the Argentinian Francisco Obregón.  It was an fast paced hard hitting match by the Argentinian!  Hot courts make for bouncy balls and long rallies. The secret to this match was patients and ball pace control to allow the match to be lost.  Our Canadian moved to the semifinals with a nail biting 13-11, 11-9, 11-9 win. Tuesday at 10:30am David will play the #1 seed Andres Felipe Herrera to get a birth in the finals. 

Additionally tomorrow is the first day of doubles competition for the Canadians, Matthew Henderson and Devin Hinchey. They will take on the Brasilian's at 12:30.  More excitement to come. 

Day 1

   We made it! The flights and travel have all gone well and we arrived at the hotel at around 9:00. The weather has been all over the place, it was poring rain with thunder and lighting for shorts periods of time, then sunny and hot. My first match was at 6:45 today for the individual tournament. I played Devin Hinchy who is actually my team mate, it was a tough match but I got him in 4. This means I make it to the round of 16 because I started with a bye. I will be playing tomorrow morning at 9:00 and will be playing the top seed from Columbia.

    Here are some pictures of the club below. It is very nice and mostly outdoor. We have had a awesome first day with the four players, one coach, and one ref that came with us aswell. I am super excited for the rest of the week and will keep you updated.

Here is the playing field!

Now that we are 4 days from heading to San Salvador and we are getting a handle on the teams that that will be competing.

For Team Canada we have the following 4 players in order of rankings:

#1 David Baillargeon
#18 Matthew Henderson
#19 Stefan Houbtchev
#24 Devin Hinchey

Two of our players are returning from last years Pan American Junior Squash Championships in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: David Baillargeon, and Devin Hinchey, who won a Team Bronze Medal in 2013.

Our competition we will be facing:

CORREL	CANT.	PAIS	HUSPED(ES)
1	1	CANADA	David Baillargeon
2	2	CANADA	Matthew Scott Henderson
3	3	CANADA	Stefan Houbtchev
4	4	CANADA	Devin Hinchey
5	1	México	Alejandro Reyes Andrade
6	2	México	Guillermo Cortez Ortíz
7	3	México	Efraín Salazar García
8	4	México	Eduardo Graciano Valdivia
9	1	Guatemala	José Ricardo Toscano Mérida
10	2	Guatemala	Junior Alejandro Enríquez Franco
11	3	Guatemala	Qaini Wilfrido Bonilla Sandoval
12	4	Guatemala	Rodrigo Arreaga
13	1	Costa Rica	Carlos Mauricio Platteau
14	2	Costa Rica	Juan Alfredo Alfaro Castro
15	3	Costa Rica	Alejandro Saravia Rodríguez
16	1	Colombia	Andres Felipe Herrera
17	2	Colombia	Dairo Andres Sandoval Carranza
18	3	Colombia	Santiago Orozco Parra
19	4	Colombia	David Bravo Gonzalez
20	1	Ecuador	Alvaro Buenaño
21	2	Ecuador	Jean Mauro Quito
22	3	Ecuador	Daniel Roman
23	4	Ecuador	Martin Sánchez
24	1	Brasil	Pedro Gomes
25	2	Brasil	Vitor Magnani
26	3	Brasil	Gabriel Rossi
27	4	Brasil	Matheus Carbonieri
28	1	Paraguay	Francesco Marcantonio
29	2	Paraguay	Fabrizzio Vargas
30	3	Paraguay	Alvaro Dominguez
31	1	Chile	Sebastian Gallegos Vega
32	2	Chile	Matías Lacroix Nova
33	3	Chile	Felipe Quezada Gutierrez
34	4	Chile	Lucas Pérez Carrillo
35	1	Argentina	Federico Cioffi
36	2	Argentina	Rodrigo Obregón
37	3	Argentina	Francisco Obregón
38	4	Argentina	Gonzalo Gallardo
39	1	El Salvador	Israel Ernesto Abrego
40	2	El Salvador	Juan Pablo Mejía
41	3	El Salvador	Ricardo Machado Schmidt
42	4	El Salvador	Rodrigo Porras

And we are the 11th team at the competition.  I am curious why the USA has not entered a team?

During our 7 days in El Salvador we will be part of three different events:

1. Individual Competition
2. Team Competition
3. Doubles Competition

Current conditions in San Salvador
Temp:  30 Deg Cel
Humidity: 82 %
Wind: SE 5 km/hr
Hours of Day light:  13
Sunrise: 5:30am
Sunset: 6:30pm
Elevation: 658m or 2159 ft

The Club:
We will be playing squash at the Maya Country Club.  They have 6 singles courts, one of which is a 3 glass wall stadium court.

  Accommodations:
Hotel INDE (National Sports Institute).  This accommodation is where all athletes visiting San Salvador stay and can train.

7 days till we go!!!

Hi Everyone,

We are off to San Salvador in 7 days.  Yesterday we were lucky enough to be interviewed by Khalil Akhtar on CBC Radio One's program All Points West.  If you missed the interview and would like to hear it, we have the mp3 below for you to listen to.




Thank you
Benjamin Uliana

Traveling the World, Racket in Hand

Goal Reached!

Thank you everyone, who donated to help me achieve my goal to get to the Pan American Jr. Championships!  You can follow my travels on this blog!

My name is Matthew Henderson; I am 16 years old and currently attending St Andrew's Regional High School as well as the Canadian Sport School (a program for high performance athletes). I am a dedicated, motivated, and hard-working squash player coached by Ben Uliana at Cedar Hill Squash Club. This year I achieved a career high 3rd in the provincials and 5th in the Boys U17 age category at the 2014 National Championships in Toronto. Currently I am ranked 2nd in the Province and 9th in the country. I am eligible to make the Canadian Jr. National team in 2016 to go to the worlds.  To reach the international stage I need to start getting international competition.

I have been fortunate enough to make the Canadian Junior Team going to the Pan American Jr. Team Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador. I am very excited for this event and am working hard to prepare myself.  This event is the opportunity I need to take my squash to the next level, it will allow me to get challenging competition as well as great experiences for future events.  Maintaining my level of play requires lots of courts time and physical training on top of keeping my grades in the high 80's.  The demands of an athletes' schedule leave little opportunity to maintain steady employment.  I  help Benjamin Uliana and Phil Green with group programming at Cedar Hill which helps cover some costs.  This summer I will be working full time to earn money to cover my expenses to tournaments next season and the remainder of my expenses to El Salvador.

The only problem is the financial constraints while in school and training. I am asking if you will help support my expenses for this event.  I will be able to represent Canada and keep improving as a young athlete to represent Cedar Hill at this event and future events.  With your help this can be achieved.  Please use the link below to share.  

I need to raise $2,500 by June 12th, 2014

I will take you with me to San Salvador, and this competition by keeping this blog updated during the event, with photos and descriptions of the matches we are playing.

Thank you very much for your support.

Matthew Henderson

$2500 donated : $0 to go

(if you are unable to see the graph below it is because you may be using safari web browser on an iPhone or iPad.  using a different web browser will change this, we searching for a solution)

Thanks you to our donors:

Henderson Parents
John Roche
Gord Sloan
Brian Skilling 
Al Vandenberg
Anonymous
Schafer Family
Paula & Michael Gaube
Trevor Maryka
Anonymous
Neil Henderson
Maira Aurucci
John and Marg Uliana
Cedar Hill Women's Round Robin
Shawn McQuitty
Maxx Yuen
Christian Yuen
Rachel Yuen
Yuen Family
Jack Vereecken
Dave Wheaton
Marco Pimintell

Koji Shum
Judith Elkins
Urmas Anniko
Jim Hopkins