Squash: Opponents left right behind Jamieson

Hawke’s Bay squash player Cameron Jamieson has set tongues wagging playing with both hands. Photo / Duncan Brown

When it comes to understatements, Hawke's Bay Squash Club player Cameron Jamieson has to be labelled a master.

The A2-graded Jamieson gives himself a "social player" tag these days. That's despite the fact he won the A grade men's title at this month's national Champion of Champions tournament in Wellington to become the first player from the Eastern district to win the title in the three-year history of the Squash New Zealand tournament.

After beating his clubmate and fellow former New Zealand junior representative, Bryce Redman, to qualify for the event Jamieson, 24, won all three of his round-robin matches to capture the silverware. He beat fellow Eastern representative Chapman Kutia, who was representing host club Tawa, Wellingtonian James Smith and Bay of Plenty's Luke Jones.

While this is a tremendous achievement, the left-handed Jamieson - who has been in the Bay for two years after transferring from Auckland's Titirangi club - is better known for his feats while playing right-handed in Squash Eastern's interclub competition.

"I thought I would do it for a bit of competition. I started off in C grade and after just two losses, both against B graders, I have a B2 grading as a right-hander," Jamieson explained.

When quizzed on the possibility of him using both hands in his A grade fixtures, Jamieson replied: "I'm not stylely enough as a right-hander."

Jamieson, finished 10th at this year's North Shore-hosted nationals. He boasts a national ranking of nine, one spot below his previous best of eight Jamieson had as an 18-year-old.

In addition to his individual matches at North Shore, Jamieson also played for Eastern who finished last in the teams event. He is predicting Eastern to perform better next year.

"We should have Chapman [Kutia] so it will be a good team."

Earlier this year Jamieson, who won 30 of his 40 national ranking list matches this season (his only losses were against A1 graded players), played for Cambridge in the Cousins Shield interclub event, the country's premier club tournament. Cambridge were seeded last and finished third to last.

Just as he tagged himself a "social player", Jamieson labelled himself a "fun coach" despite earning a reputation as one of the better mentors of the code in the Bay.

"I've still got a bit of work to do on the coaching front. I just teach players what I have been taught," he said.

"I tell newcomers to the sport it takes a while to learn the basics. I tell them to have an attitude of striving to be the best they can and never give up."

Jamieson ranked former New Zealand and Bay of Plenty rep Robbie Wyatt and Anthony Ricketts, who coached him when he went to the 2008 junior world championships, as the best mentors he has had.

A former premier interclub tennis player, Jamieson, is again playing third division cricket for Napier Pirates this summer. He is well above the "social" ranks in a variety of codes and future A grade squash opponents should look out for some right hand-left hand switch moves ... when they least expect them.