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Annelize Naude, Adventure-seeking
Squasher, steadily striving towards the top.
Profiled by Rob Dinerman, March
2002 copyright © 2002, Squashtalk. Reproduction prohibited.
Photos courtesy Lori Whebell.
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Annelize
Naude . Born: Kempton Park, South Africa
Resides: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Age:
25.
WISPA ranking: 23.
Highest ranking: 23
This 25-year-old native South African currently based in Amsterdam achieved a career breakthrough in early March when she garnered her first WISPA ranking event title in the Danish Open in Sonderborg, where three years earlier she had reached the first of her three prior WISPA finals.
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| Annelize on court |
She had lost to Pamela Nimmo in that match, as well as to Carol Owens in the Chestnut Hill Academy/Springside Open final in 2000 and to Shelley Kitchen in the Singapore Open final last June, which made her victory in Denmark, keyed by a five-game final over Scotland's Senga Macfie all the more satisfying, especially in view of her recent 1-4 record in her immediately previous quintet of five-game matches, the defeat she had suffered to semi-final opponent Margo Green the last time they had met at the DMC Open 12 months earlier and the two-game deficit her fitness and tenacity had enabled her to successfully surmount in the win over Macfie, whom Naude in several previous attempts had never been able to conquer but who tired and eventually buckled under the constant pressure of Naude's unrelenting comeback.
These latter traits have been honed at the Squash Academy run by former WISPA stand-out Liz Irving, who at one time was ranked No. 2 in the world, and who has improved Naude's technique (especially on her volley straight drop, currently her best shot) while overseeing strength and plyometric training, which emphasizes jumping exercises and quickness-building drills. Irving's exceptional stable of players includes WISPA regulars Vanessa Atkinson, Karen Kronemayer, Bea de Dreu Marnie Baizley and American Ivy Pochoda, several of whom are in the WISPA top 20 and all of whom provide excellent drilling and sparring partners for Naude, whose full tournament schedule, augmented by her participation in the Dutch, Swedish and German leagues, have left her without a single weekend off this entire season!
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| Watersports - the adrenaline rush |
The resulting constant travel has led to some amusing extremes, as has her adventurous nature and occasionally madcap personality. A self-described "sucker for challenges and bets," she "celebrated" her victory in the 2000 South African Nationals by bungy-jumping off the highest launching spot in the world, in Bloukrans, Eastern Cape, from which the fall is 220 meters long with a freefall time of about eight seconds, even though it felt several times as long.
Quite an adrenaline rush, according to Naude, who has added skydiving and white river rafting to her "to do" list and who is way ahead in a bet she has with Richard Glanfield, Nicol David's coach, to come up with the all-time best photograph with the local beer, having gotten Grinham to take a picture of her in a bikini on the iced-up beach in Niagara Falls with a Canadian beer.
Her fun-loving nature, "Dennis Rodman" hair antics (which have already included blond, black, brown, purple, orange and red in keeping with her plan to change colors every several months), "sexyanni" email moniker and often hilarious stories about her trips around the world to different tournaments, league matches and exhibitions should not obscure the fact that she is intelligent, generous, gracious in victory or defeat, grounded and an extremely loyal friend.
A solid student at South Africa University, where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Sports Management several years ago, this Kempton Park native discovered squash at age nine with her sister and represented South Africa for the first time at the World Juniors in Malaysia in 1993, where she became close friends with her frequent South African teammate and current WISPA No. 12 Natalie Pohrer.
Having played on the senior side for the first time in the Commonwealth Games and World Open in 1998, Naude is serious about continuing to improve her game and hopeful that she can build on the career-highlight Danish Open crown she just captured, crack the top 20 (she was at a career best No. 23 before Sonderborg), achieve her first-ever win, after several near-misses, over a player ranked in the top ten and continue her steady ascent up the WISPA rankings.
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| At home in Amsterdam |
You can reach Rob Dinerman by email at Email: rob@squashtalk.com
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