Get To Know the 2016 NASH Cup Local Entries Featuring The Region’s Top Talent
When the NASH Cup was launched in 2008, a primary objective was to enhance the opportunities for top local players. London is blessed with a vibrant squash community, supporting 9 facilities and over 27 international singles courts. We have junior programs that are the envy of the province, and the strongest university program in the country. Helping our local athletes make the jump from amateur to professional status is a critical piece in leveraging these strengths.
The 2016 NASH Cup is fast approaching, and the professional entries are once again looking strong. The entries closed August the 2nd and a complete list of entries can be found at www.nashcup.com
2016 will feature and exceptional line up of local players:
Holly Delavigne
Stefan Houbtchev
Paula Jenkins
Arden McKillop
David Mill
Laura Savage
Elliot Selby
Cameron Seth (WC)
Micaala Seth (WC)
Kale Wilson
(WC = Wildcard)
Holly Delavigne – Western Alumni – London Squash & Fitness – 2013-16 Local Entry
Holly Delavigne has just graduated from her Master’s Degree in Speech & Language Pathology at the University of Western Ontario. She graduated as the captain and MVP of the bronze-medal winning Western Mustangs team. She was also named to the OUA All-Star Team.
Her time at Western was marked by many other achievements, including 3 OUA team gold medals, an OUA individual bronze medal and a CIS silver medal. She was awarded the prestigious “Purple Blanket” award in 2015. Holly was also the Women’s A champion at both provincial and national levels in the 2013-14 season.
Many of Holly’s most memorable squash moments come from picking on the guys in local tournaments or coaching juniors both at London Squash and through the Gary Waite Junior Tour which runs throughout South Western Ontario. She is excited to play in the qualifier draw again this year in front of her London Squash family!
Stefan Houbtchev – Western Men’s Squash Team 2016 – London Squash & Fitness
Stefan hales from Windsor Ontario and is the captain of this year’s Western men’s squash team.
His recent experience and accomplishments include finishing 4th in the 2014 Junior Nationals; being a member of Canada’s 2014 Pan Am Team; Western’s MVP for the 2015/16 season; 2016 London Squash Club Champion and 2016 OUA/CSA Champion. Stefan played in his first PSA Event at 17 years old (The 2015 Guilfoyle Financial $5K)
Paula Jenkins– Western Alumni – London Squash & Fitness – 2015-16 Local Entry
Paula Jenkins has enjoyed competing in squash for over 30 years. Her passion for the game was ignited when she played for the Western Squash Team.
Career highlights include:
Ontario Closed Champion, member of the Ontario Team competing in the Inter-Provincial National Championships, Finalist in the 35 + Canadian Championships, Finalist in the 40+ Canadian Championships, Bronze medallist in the World Ladies Doubles Championships, member of the Lapham-Grant Canadian Squash Team, Club Champion in Singles, Ladies Doubles, and Mixed Doubles with her husband Bill.
Paula looks forward to competing in her 2nd Nash Cup!
Arden McKillop – London Squash & Fitness – 2013-16 Local Entry
Arden currently attends Blyth Academy London completing her high school studies. This year, she was selected to participate in the Western University WISE Program, taking an undergraduate business course.
Arden started to play squash at the age of 7 and began competing at the Ontario Gold Level as well as Canadian & US Jr Open Championships at the age of 12.
She trains almost every day and strives to improve with the help of her coach, Jay Francis. She loves all aspects of the game and hopes to play Women’s University Varsity Squash. She considers squash as a lifelong sport.
David Mill – Western Men’s Squash Team – PSA Rank 462
David is from Windsor Ontario and is the #1 recruit to the 2016/17 Western men’s team – a team that is rumoured to be the strongest in many years. Western University has dominated OUA squash for 33 years, a dynasty unmatched by any other university team in OUA history. The NASH Cup is an ideal was to start the year –
“I feel something amazing is upon us”.
Laura Savage – Western Alumni – London Squash & Fitness – 2013-16 Local Entry
Laura began her squash career in Calgary at age 9. She played for Western from 2005-2009 making the all-star team twice and OUA team gold three times. Within London Squash and Fitness she has amassed a long list of achievements including Singles Club Champion or Finalist from 2011-16; Ladies Doubles Winner or Finalist from 2011-2016; and Mixed Winner or Finalist from 2013-2016. She was the Ontario Ladies ‘A’ Singles Champion in 2014.
This will be Laura’s 4th time competing in the NASH Cup.
Elliot Selby – 2015 Qualifier – PSA Rank 208
Elliot began playing squash at the age of 4, following in the footsteps of his older brother and sister (PSA top 20 star Daryl Selby & former world no.34 Lauren Selby) at Bishops Stortford Squash Club in England, where his father Paul was the head coach.
After leaving school, Elliot joined the PSA tour in 2007 but after 12 months decided to step away from squash to travel and pursue other jobs. During the following years, he continued to play high level league squash in the UK and focused more on racketball, where he reached no.3 in the rankings and won National Doubles titles. In 2011, he began working for the WSA and during this time, built great working partnerships with tournaments, including the Nash Cup. With the PSA/WSA Merger at the start of 2015, Elliot decided to step away from the office role and return to playing professionally, while continuing to work for PSA as a consultant. He based his training in Toronto for 6 months of the past year while working closely with Canadian tournaments and promoters.
”I am so thrilled to be back for the Nash Cup this year. Canada is my second home and the people are so warm and welcoming, especially here in London. It is truly one of the best events on the PSA tour and the level of professionalism from Jay and the team, as well as the effort they go to for the players, is why the tournament is so popular and keeps bringing players back.”
Cameron Seth – Waterloo Alumni – 2015 Qualifier – PSA Rank 348
Cameron was the top Canadian junior in 2012 (participating in world juniors and BJO) but took a few years off competitive squash to get his university education. He just graduated from the University of Waterloo with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematical Physics. Cameron is now ready to pursue the professional circuit. To date he has only participated in four PSA events, but he will be playing in a number of 5K events this fall (BDO Northfield Cup, Alliance Fabricating Limited Simon Warder Memorial Prostate Cancer Tournament). As a member of the Squash Canada Transition Squad he has received the wildcard for this years NASH cup – “I am really looking forward to playing in this event.”
Micaala Seth – 2013-16 Local Entry – PSA Rank 198
After graduating from the University of Waterloo in 2013 Micaala started working at Suncor at the Sarnia Refinery in Engineering and joined the squash community in South Western Ontario. Currently she is in pursuit of professional squash while balancing engineering.
“I’m excited to return to London Squash Nash Cup again this year!”
Kale Wilson – 2014/15 Western Team – 2014 Local Entry – PSA Rank 192
Kale first picked up a squash racquet at age 10; won his first U13 national title at 11, and his first Caribbean U13 title at 12. At 15 he made the Trinidad men’s national team. At 16 he was accepted to Wycliffe College in England which is renowned for its squash program. He competed for the men’s squash team at Western University until the spring of 2015. The program has now won 33 consecutive OUA championships…a record for any sport in OUA history.
Kale wasted no time following graduation. He joined the PSA in 2014 and went straight to Australia to complete in a series of $5K purses. His ranking cracked the top 200 in November 2015 and he has been ranked as high as 175.
This in an exceptional line-up of local talent. But they will be facing some stiff competition. The men’s purse remains at $15,000, and the women’s purse has been raised to $10,000 for 2016 which will result in the strongest overall field of professionals London has ever seen. We will be cheering on our local players as they push to prove themselves against the world’s best.