How did your TC journey start?
It’s funny because for years I never got involved in tournaments. I was never asked to do TC, but always wanted to try. Eventually I put my hand up and really enjoyed it. I was lucky to have a club with loads of experienced players and they eased new people into the jobs pretty well. I don’t remember the exact event, but after that first experience it was just a matter of feeling more and more comfortable in the role. I progressed to helping out with draws, back in the day when we used to hand-write them on a big piece of paper. It was a very manual process, and pretty time consuming.
How did your TC journey progress to/through the district, national and international level?
The more events I ran the more I enjoyed the challenge and process. I have always been a bit of a stats geek, so draws and seedings came pretty naturally. In my role at Squash BOP I was able to support TC's with the district events and large tournaments. After running a few BOP Opens, we decided to have a crack at a PSA $5K in 2016. We set up the all-glass court in the school gym next door and managed to attract several players in the top 100. That was a really cool experience. I looked after the squash side, and we had a huge team of people adding some really cool features to the event, including court kids, welcome packs and functions. It was a big learning curve, but it gave me the confidence I could run more high-profile events. The big one came when we hosted World Juniors in 2017. After my experience with the PSA event I was named Championship Director. That was the hardest, coolest, most challenging, most rewarding event I had done to that point. The first day was really stressful wondering how it was going to go. After all, I had never even attended a World event before, and here I was running one! After day 1 was in the can, I absolutely loved it, and I didn’t want it to end. There were times I felt out of my depth, but I had a really strong team around me which made me look good! It was a real growth experience for me, and I gained a huge amount of confidence as well as making some great friends around the world.
Have you TC events overseas?
Following on from the World Juniors I was offered the role of ‘WSF Technical Delegate’ for the next World Juniors in Chennai in 2018. This was a slightly different role which involved a lot more technical knowledge and a fair bit of troubleshooting. Basically, I became the one who ensured the rules were followed and supported the hosts with the details of the squash event. The next year I performed the same role in Kuala Lumpur. I was being lined up for the World Juniors the following year, plus the World Doubles, and even the Commonwealth Games. COVID put an end to all that unfortunately.
What’s your biggest highlight/best memory/biggest achievement as a TC?
The first World Juniors at my home club in Tauranga was clearly the highlight so far for me. To see our local community come together to run such an amazing event when none of us had any real experience was pretty cool. I even got to work alongside my wife for that event, which was pretty neat. As an event team I feel like we nailed it and that was a proud time for all of us.
What’s coming up for you as a TC?
We have a big couple of years coming up in Tauranga. The NZ Open is in November, combined with a new event – The Nations Cup. This time we are working with PSA instead of WSF, so that will be a cool experience. The NZ Open is a Bronze PSA, so the players coming out will be of the highest quality we have seen here for many years, including our superstar NZ players Paul Coll & Joelle King. Next year we have the World Men’s Teams. That’s the one we have been working towards for a couple of years and will be another incredible spectacle for our sport.
Photo - Marcus with 2017 World Junior Champion Marwan Tarek of Egypt
