Guyana’s two-time national squash champion Alexander Arjoon was recently named Athlete of the Week at the Franklin and Marshall (F&M) College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the United States of America (USA).
The 20-year-old left handed squash player returned to school just over a month ago after spending his Christmas vacation in Guyana. Arjoon has managed to stay undefeated in all of his inter-collegiate matches of their squash league in 2013.
Speaking exclusively with Stabroek Sport Arjoon said that he was very honoured to be named Athlete of the Week since he was chosen out of all the athletes of the many sports played at his school. Franklin and Marshall offer 14 men’s sports and 14 women’s sports at the inter-collegiate level and according to Arjoon, his discipline was chosen of all the participating athletes.
“I was voted Athlete of the Week which was not only for squash but a mixture of all of the sports here at F&M,” he said.
Arjoon, who won an individual title at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Caribbean championship at the under 15 level and was the runner up in his final year at the under 19 level, said that it was difficult to adjust to the level of play in the US. According to Arjoon the gameplay is vastly different in the US and it has been a quite a challenge for him to excel there. For this reason he is extremely motivated by his recent accolade.
“It’s definitely a blessing because it’s been so hard to achieve the same level of success here as it was in the Caribbean and Guyana so in a way it has definitely driven me to be more passionate and focused on my training as well as my other personal goals,” Arjoon said.
During his Christmas vacation, Arjoon competed in the Guyana Squash Association’s (GSA) Exhibition of High Level Squash tournament. Arjoon competed against world number 57 ranked player Christopher Gordon, women’s world number 32 Nicolette Fernandes and former US National player and Caribbean Senior Champion Richard Chin.
Arjoon also trained with local fitness expert KezqweyahYisrael at Top End Performance Training Systems over the Christmas break.
“Yisrael has been strongly supportive of my athletic goals, so in a way I guess I would have to attribute a great part of my mind set to him (as he) basically helped me get on track for the new year,” Arjoon said.
Additionally, Arjoon credited his family for challenging and motivating him to keep aiming higher.
“I would have never had the chance to win something like this if my family didn’t push me to go beyond the limits of what my past society had to offer and seek something bigger and debatably better in terms of an athletic and academic life. So I am very grateful to them and owe this achievement to them,” Arjoon said.
