Players Cup: The Momentum Builds

John Nimick, promoter of the Tournament of Champions and Pace Canadian Classic (and until last fall the US Open), can always be counted on to run a successful tournament that (a) draws a great audience, (b) pulls in the best players and (c) makes one proud to be a squash fan by the event's overall professionalism.

PACE CLASSIC: ALL THE EGYPTIANS      [The Toronto Draw]
The upcoming PACE Classic which begins mid-week in Toronto, will be in that same mold with an excellent field and well-subscribed seats.

The Toronto event will run concurrently with the British Nationals. But this is not a problem for the quality of the field at the PACE Classic, since the event has drawn almost every top Egyptian player, as well as world #3, David Palmer always dangerous Stewart Bowsell and the top Canadian contenders, Shahier Razik and Matt Giuffre.

As a bonus, it will be first-of-the-year meeting between Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana, should they both advance to the finals. And the event will be televised on the Canadian TSN network.

A COHERENT SERIES    [Series Standings]
But Toronto is only a single event. What Nimick has created beyond that, running from January through mid-March, is a series of events (New York, Dayton, Toronto, Portland, Richmond and Boston) which create a mini-US pro tour over a coherent space of time, enabling the top players to play most or all of the American events mentioned without suffering from bouncing around the globe from continent to continent. (The currently haphazard PSA pro schedule, which bounces from Asia to Mid East to Europe to America almost randomly is wearing on the pros both travel-cost-wise and jet-lag-wise and makes garnering sustained media attention more difficult.)

The six-event series culminates with a playoff-style event in Boston in March, the Player's cup, which will boast a winner's check higher than even the richest of events in the Middle East.

This will make for exciting stuff, both in the three remaining PSA events and the final showdown in Boston, with such a big paycheck at stake.

Creation of this six-event series does a few more important things for US audiences. First, it gives a serious introduction in many parts of the USA to the new mens squash superstars: Shabana, Ramy Ashour, Gaultier and Willstrop, and to their exciting, attacking style of play. Many of these audiences are still suffering aftershock from loss of their two favorite sons, rivals Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol, both of whom retired from the tour in the past two years after keeping audience interest in the US high for most of the past decade.

"Players like Shabana, Ashour and Willstrop bring so much excitement," Nimick says. "We'd like the people who haven't watched pro squash for some time to come out and see how much more high speed and high powered it is now." And there's an added bonus. "They are great, really nice people too, and we want to give the fans a chance to get to know them." adds Nimick. Nimick's events are structure with a range of meet-the-pros opportunities, from post-match interviews to kids autograph sessions.

Second, it gives US audience a closer look at David Palmer and John White, both of whom are now resident in the US and still able to give any of those top four a serious run for their money.

And third, it provides some structure and stability to a group of events that have been steadily built up by determined promoters in cities like Richmond, Virginia (Gus Cook), Dayton, Ohio (Charlie Johnson) and Portland, Oregon.

SOME LESSONS
Nimick, who served several effective years as the PSA Chief Executive, before settling down in Boston, said, "What I've done in the USA is what the PSA should do in each region of the world... Three months in the US, Three months in Asia and the Mid East. It will provide some structure and focus to the tour for the benefit of the players, the promoters and the fans"

DON'T LOOK BACK
So with the success and energy around the Players Cup, Nimick doesn't look back. He doesn't even need to talk about the US Open that US Squash decided to run on its own in New York this year. He's got a bigger success train he's riding.

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