Andrew Schnell isn’t keeping any secrets as he prepares for the world junior squash championships in Ecuador. He wants to win the gold medal in individual singles and help Canada to the podium to the team event.
“My goal is to win it,” said Schnell, one of three returning members from Canada’s 2008 world junior team that placed an impressive seventh.
“I guess that’s a dream right now, but let’s hope it comes true. I’ve learned a lot from the international game the last few years. You need patience and you have to play the game within the game by revealing your tactics slowly to your opponent. You need to be able to keep adding new dimensions to your game to keep your opponent off balance.”
At the junior level this season, Schnell has been dominant. He’s won five major tournaments, including the Scottish Open, the Canadian Open and a second consecutive Canadian junior title.
“I couldn’t be better prepared and my season has been perfect,” said Schnell. “I’ve only lost one junior match all season so I couldn’t ask for anything better at this point. It’s been amazing.”
Schnell, who started the sport at age seven at the Glencoe Club where he still trains, says his dedication to squash this season has paid off with the strong results.
“I took the year off school which helped me focus solely on squash,” said Schnell a business and law student at the University of Calgary. “But the main thing is the hard work and training and the desire to be the best. I’m fitter than I’ve ever been.”
In addition to his junior matches, Schnell dipped his racquet onto the pro circuit this year, playing in six events this season.
“The best way of training is definitely match play,” he said. “To gain that experience and win some matches at the pro level is definitely a different sort of feeling and achievement than junior squash.”
Schnell’s career has been influenced by his older brother Graeme Schnell, a Canadian university champion. Ever since the pair were youngsters, just playing squash as an afterschool activity, they have helped each other reach a high level of excellence in the sport.
“He is three years older than me and he’s always been pulling me up to the next level,” said Andrew Schnell. “I was always trying to keep up with him. Even though he has less time these days, he still comes down to the club with me at night just so I can that extra bit of training in.”
Schnell hopes that extra work in the end will be worth its weight in gold.
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