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TODAY IN BERMUDA
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01-April:
Getting The Venue Ready
It's all very well turning up to watch the world's best players on a
glass court on the paradise island of Bermuda - 'adrenaline in a box'
they call it here, and that won't be far wrong - but there's a lot of
work gone into it before the first spectator arrives.
 Take
the venue, for example, Tournament Director Ross Triffitt's team
are already into their second week at Bermuda High School for Girls'
Jessie Vesey Sports Centre.
"It's the school holidays, which obviously makes it easier," says
Ross, "but we have a team of around 200 working over the two weeks
leading up to the event.
"We moved in last Friday, putting down the protective floor and
staging, then the court came in, and now we're finishing off with the
electronics, spectator support and all the other things that need
doing."
With just 20 hours to go to the start, Ross was looking cool and
collected. After all this is the third time the event has been held
here, so, as wife Julia says, “We know what we’re doing now.
Everything has been much smoother this year, the court and seating
went up really quickly and we’ve been ahead of schedule all the way.
 ”The
scary thing was that when we walked into here last Friday it felt as
though we’d been away for a week, but of course it’s been a year.”
There’s a core team of twenty people, all of whom have a connection
with the Bermuda SRA.
"The whole event hinges on the fact that we have such fantastic
support from the volunteers," says Ross. "They're not just drafted in,
they all have an interest, they're really keen skilled professionals,
everyone pays attention to detail, and it shows in the end result
which is always first class."
During the actual event around 100 volunteers will be used, 30 per
session, and when finished the venue provides 558 seats plus another
60/70 people dotted about the place.
 The
best and worst bits of the preparation side of things? "The best is
definitely when the first ball is hit. The worst is the 18-20 hour day
we have to put in the day after the last ball is hit so that the girls
can go back to playing basketball on Monday morning!"
Of course if Ross could convince all the girls that squash is really
the only game to play, he could just leave the court here until next
year and save all the trouble !
Ok, maybe not ...
Steve Cubbins |
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31-Mar:
The Calm before the Storm
Well, after, in one sense. On arrival in Bermuda the lovely Karen, who is in charge of the
transport for the tournament and was organising getting everyone to their
hotels (you remember her from last year - see En Bref), was singing the praises of today's weather after a few days of rain
and wind.
No, it's in squash terms that there's a bit of a lull before the action commences
on Sunday. Most of the players are here, and with this being the PSA
Masters, open by invitation to the world's top 32, it's a select
bunch.
Tomorrow will see the final preparations at the two venues - half of
the first round matches are on the
traditional courts at the BSRA, with the others and all matches from the
second round onward on the glass court in the Jessie Vesey Centre in
Bermuda High School.
After three years in Qatar, this is Bermuda's second staging of the
Masters, and following on from the Bermuda Open in 2004 the event is
getting bigger and better every year. In fact, the biggest multi-event
deal in PSA history will culminate in 2007 when Bermuda hosts the
World Open.
But for this week it's the top 32 - minus the now-retired defending
champion Jonathon Power, of course - who will be slugging it out for
as big a share of the $120,000 prize money as possible.
And with title sponsor Virtual Spectator already here setting up their
might impressive equipment, you really don't want to miss this one.
But don't worry, you won't, and there's not long to wait now ...
Steve Cubbins |
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