SquashTalk> Features >Player Profiles >WISPA Players > Natalie Grinham (Australia)

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Natalie Grinham: Charged-up competitor.
profile by Ron Beck (5/2000) text and photos © Ron Beck, 2000

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At 22, Natalie Grinham has already accomplished a lot in squash and she's still moving upward. Natalie, the younger by 14 months of the two Grinham sisters, is a refreshing, wonderfully competitive athlete. Extremely fit, and well coached at the Australian Institute of Sport, Natalie is definitely into squash, full time at full speed.

In San Francisco, on May 19th 2000, Grinham scored the best win of her young career, scoring a stirring come-from-behind win over world-number-5 Natalie Grainger. That match showed what Grinham can accomplish when she combines all of her skills and keeps her attacking game under control.

Natalie Grinham first took to the squash court at age four. "I was born into a squash playing family - both of my parents played," says Grinham. "They would take us down to the squash courts and put us on court while they played. Of course I couldn't even lift up the racket then, so we sort of pushed the ball around the court."

Grinham was good at squash without really concentrating on it at first. "In school, I always played other sports - like netball, softball, things like that. I didn't really want to stand out with my squash. At age12, I won the Australian under thirteen title, but I didn't really think about it.

"I suppose the first time I really understood how to be competitive about squash was when I lost the under 15 title (at age 14) to Kate Major. When I saw how happy she was to have won, and realized that could have been me, all of a sudden I thought about squash a different way and realized I wanted to take the competition seriously."

Grinham is from Toowoomba, a small town about 90 km from Brisbane. "They are always interested in the news about how Rachael and I are doing in squash in Toowoomba," says Grinham. "Beyond that, the lack of television coverage for squash limits the publicity the sport gets in Australia."

Grinham was selected to play at the Australia Institute of Sport (AIS). The AIS provides here with a lot of support as an athlete, in all aspects - nutrition, health, fitness training, stretching, sports medecine, sports psychology, and squash training from a team led by eight-time British Open Champion Geoff Hunt.

As an AIS member, Grinham is definitely a full-time squash professional, literally living squash. The AIS is in Brisbane, and there, Grinham spent the past year as room-mates with fellow AIS player, Melissa Vacca. They get along really well and are often found on tour together.

During the down-time between training sessions, Grinham enjoys restoring old furniture. Together with roommate Vacca, she rehabilitated some furniture they had been issued by the AIS, and really enjoyed it.

Grinham's goals are pretty specific. She would like to earn a spot on the Australian National Women's team for the next World Championships and then for the Commonwealth Games in 2002. To do that, she's going to have to displace one of the established Australian top WISPA pros.

Grinham's style mixed up power with touch and she has an effective and exciting attacking game that can take her far. Grinham's clearly got the skills, drive, and temperament to do accomplish her goals. She just needs to consistently put them together all at the same time.

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