Profile of the Week - Nick Sachvie continues family tradition of squash excellence

They are arguably Canada’s first family of squash.

And the most talented of the bunch could be Nick Sachvie, who’ll be a key figure in Canada’s bid to win a medal in the team event at the world junior championships in Ecuador.

Sachvie’s father, Mark Sachvie, has been the racquets director at the White Oaks Club at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., for more than 20 years. His brother Chris graduated from Cornell University this year where he was a three-time All American and the team’s MVP. His sister Lauren has been named the women’s team captain at Cornell for next season

“I’d be at White Oaks all the time and just loved squash,” said Nick Sachvie, who is also headed to Cornell this fall to start his studies in communications. “I was also into other sport like hockey and soccer but eventually I started to take squash more seriously.”

Sachvie, Andrew Schnell of Calgary and Arjun Gupta of Toronto are returning members of the 2008 squad that placed an impressive seventh in Switzerland. They are joined by promising 16-year-old Tyler Osborne of Kingston, Ont.

“That kind of experience is really going to help us do well,” said Sachvie, 18, the under-17 national junior champion in 2008. “All three of us feel we can be right up there with the top in the world. We don’t have the best rankings simply because we don’t travel to as many tournaments overseas.”

A runner-up to Schnell at the junior nationals in April and ninth at the British Junior Open in January are among the competitive highlights for Schnell this year.

“What’s improved the most in my game this year is my touch,” Sachvie said. “My ability to place the ball where I want and hit it at the strength I want is more controlled than ever. I tended to be the guy that just hit the ball hard.”

As the number-two Canadian, the level of Sachvie’s opponents could be more a mystery than for Schnell, who’ll always face the other team’s star player.

“That’s something I’m not too worried about,” said Sachvie. “Most of the top countries will have very strong second and third players. The order of the matches always changes in the team event so they’ll be pressure on all of us.”

The rooms in the senior Sachvie household are probably filled with medals and trophies from the squash accomplishments of their children. One from the 2010 world juniors would certainly shine brightly.