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Have squash racquet, will travel.
That sums up Matthew Henderson鈥檚 months of December and January as the 18-year-old Victoria native, who now lives in Calgary, competes in a trio of international under-19 competitions.
Having trained under club professional Ben Uliana at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, Henderson shifted to Calgary in August to work under Jonathan Hill, a national junior team coach.
This month, Henderson won the prestigious U-19 honours at the Dunlop Canadian Open, claiming five straight matches at The Club at White Oaks at Niagara-on- the-Lake, Ont. He bounced back from 2-5 and 8-10 deficits to win the fourth game 12-10 over Jamie Oakley of New Zealand, taking the match 3-1.
From there, Henderson travelled to New Haven, sa国际传媒icut, for the U.S. Junior Open, where he was eliminated in the round of 32.
On Tuesday, he will venture to Sheffield, England, for the British Junior Open. The three events are all considered as World Squash Federation circuit tournaments in which competitors earn valuable world junior rankings points.
鈥淐anadians was amazing,鈥� Henderson said. 鈥淚 did exceptionally well and in the U.S., I started well, but the competitions just took their toll on my body. I didn鈥檛 perform as well as I would have liked.
鈥淭he biggest one of the three is the British, though. It鈥檚 the most challenging and difficult.鈥�
Heading into the Canadian event, Henderson was seeded in the 3-4 slot.
鈥淏ut that seeding, to me, was high. I was happy not only to achieve it, but go above the seeding and keep the title in sa国际传媒,鈥� he said of the Canadian Open, which is also an international event. Henderson鈥檚 fellow Cedar Hill club member, Gavin Maxwell, also competed there and finished in the 7-8 position.
In New Haven, both were defeated by sa国际传媒icut鈥檚 Harrison Gill, who downed Maxwell in the round of 64s before defeating Henderson in the round of 32s.
鈥淲e both felt like we were capable of doing better,鈥� Henderson said.
鈥淚 think if I was as fresh and played like I did at Canadians, I would have demolished him. I鈥檓 not taking anything away from him, I just think it wasn鈥檛 my day or Gavin鈥檚 day.鈥�
Henderson won a pair of matches against Boden Polikoff of sa国际传媒icut and Amadeo Costa of Switzerland before being eliminated.
Maxwell won his opening match over Yohann Surti of India in the international competition.
鈥淏oth are very good players,鈥� Uliana said of Henderson and Maxwell. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a good core group of kids here at Cedar Hill.
鈥淚 had worked with [Henderson] for seven years. He鈥檚 come a long way,鈥� Uliana said.
鈥淎 year ago, he didn鈥檛 make the sa国际传媒 Games team and Gavin did. He鈥檚 peaked since, gone past and hasn鈥檛 looked back.
鈥淚 always said he could be the best of the bunch. I鈥檓 glad to see him prove I wasn鈥檛 crazy,鈥� Uliana added with a laugh.
Henderson opted to move to Calgary to work under Hill and train against some of the top players in the country in Andrew Schnell, a pro, and Michael Mehl, a top junior.
It has paid off for Henderson, a St. Andrew鈥檚 graduate, who also attended the Canadian Sports School at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence.
鈥淚鈥檓 not saying it鈥檚 better coaching than I had with Ben [Uliana] or Phillip Green, it鈥檚 just a different view and I felt I needed the change after graduating,鈥� said Henderson, who is also coaching part-time in Calgary and teaches once a week in Banff with a friend at an outreach program for First Nations youngsters.
Henderson鈥檚 focus is now on is the British Open.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot different. Each country sends its best two or three in the different age groups,鈥� he said, adding that each national federation elects who to send. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the best of the best.鈥�
The ultimate goal is to make the world junior team that will compete in Poland in August and the Canadian closed competition in April in Toronto.
Henderson, who follows in the footsteps of his older brothers Andrew (a part-time pro coaching in Vancouver) and Neil (a strong open player), would also like to attend university in either the U.S. or sa国际传媒, and continue to compete for his school.
