PAN AM NOTEBOOK

Shabana Khan's Littlest Big Fan

For immediate release to SquashTalk, reporting from Winnipeg, By Kimberly Tunney.

August 8 1999

When nine-year-old Chelsea Clark and her father Rob attended the finals of the individual squash events on August 4th, little did they realize they'd be invited back to watch Canada play USA the next day. USA women's team member Shabana Kahn arranged for her new littlest big fan and father to be given tickets for the match after meeting the outgoing, budding future squash player.

Looking for autographs.

It all started when the star struck Chelsea got up her nerve and asked USA team member Shabana Kahn for an autograph. Shabana struck up a conversation and learned that little Chelsea has been playing squash since she was four. Enamored by her enthusiasm, Kahn had tournament organizers leave tickets for them.

Squash in Frobisher Bay.

Chelsea first learned to play squash from her dad. Five years ago he managed a fitness center with squash courts in Eskimo Territory. The facility is in Iqaluit, Nunavut's capital city, ( formerly known as Frobisher Bay) in an Arctic climate that keeps the Hudson Bay frozen for ten months of the year and is spread across four time zones. Nunavut means "our land" in the Inuktitut language of the 41,000 Eskimos that inhabit Canada. So Chelsea has grown up in and around squash (and very cold weather) for "half of my life". Why does Chelsea like squash so much? After thinking about it a bit, she responds, "Squash is good exercise and it's fun."

Touching gold.

Busy collecting Pan Am Game pins and autographs between matches, the red headed, freckle faced fan even had her forehead painted with the Winnipeg logo to show her support. Chelsea says the coolest thing that happened to her other than being given free tickets to watch the team squash matches was "I got to touch Melanie's (Jans) gold medal."