Freddie Jameson was learning to walk again this time last year - now the teenager is competing in the 2023 World Junior Squash Championships.
The 17-year-old is in Tauranga for this weekend’s New Zealand Squash Championships, with more than 60 of the country’s top athletes welcomed with a mihi whakatau at the Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre on Friday.
Jameson, who was competing in this weekend’s event, was born with hemihypertrophy, a rare condition in which the right side of his body grew significantly more than his left.
The condition meant he was unable to trial for the World Junior Squash Championships in 2022 after his leg reduction surgery put him in a wheelchair for six weeks.
“I used to be the top player in New Zealand and one of the top players in the world for my age, but I had to take about three years on and off,” he said.
After his operation, it took a month for Freddie to put weight on his leg and four months to get back on the court, although he wasn’t playing properly until 10 months after. Determined to get back on the court, Freddie started going to the gym only two weeks after his first operation. “I couldn’t do anything with my legs, so I just went to the gym and worked on my upper body.”
Freddie was first diagnosed at 7 years old, but it wasn’t until his 13th birthday that he had his first surgery after his offset pelvis meant he needed a leg extension.
After that, he was in and out of hospital for seven more surgeries, including leg extensions on the right tibia and fibula, his femur shortened on his left leg and an ear surgery.
“Mentally and physically, it’s been very challenging, but I’ve tried my hardest to overcome this,” he said.
Now, after competing in this weekend’s New Zealand Squash Championships, he will fly to Melbourne with 11 other athletes for the World Junior Squash Championships in July.
“I never thought I would get to this point in squash,” he said. “My condition still affects me, especially my movement, but I do think I’m very strong now.”
During his first surgery, Freddie was sent a video from world’s men’s number five Paul Coll telling him to “stay strong and that one day we would be playing in the New Zealand Championships together”.
“It got me really emotional, and I started crying,” Freddie said. “It made a huge impact on me, and it meant a lot to me in that time”.
His mother, Nicky Jameson, said it was “his determination to turn things around and make them positive that led him to his ultimate goal”.
“I would push him around in his wheelchair to get some fresh air and he would get out and do some press-ups and then get back in.”
Jameson said her son had to learn not only how to walk again but how to move in squash “and squash is the quickest game in terms of how much movement is involved”.
“His brain couldn’t control his leg and it was starting to get very difficult for him to walk without pain. He didn’t feel he would be able to come back from his operation. But being on the court was a way for him to get away from everything, it empowered him.”
This weekend’s championships will also feature a host of rising stars and emerging pros, with the event doubling as the New Zealand Racketball Invitational which will be contested by eight men and eight women. It is the first time the event has been run in conjunction with the Squash Championships, recognising the growing popularity of racketball.
Six-time national champion Paul Coll, who was also competing this weekend, said Freddie’s story was “an incredible story”.
“I am super proud of him and what he has done to get where he is and being selected for the junior team. It is really truly inspiring and I can take some inspiration from it myself because it is a really incredible story and such an amazing thing that he has done.
“Everyone in squash should see what he has done and the work he has put in to get where he is.”
Nine-time champion Joelle King said, in a media statement, the event was always one of the highlights of her year.
“The New Zealand Champs is always so much fun and I’m really excited to get home and hopefully put on a show for everyone while I’m there.”
The championships is free entry and Squash New Zealand Poipātū Aotearoa chief executive Martin Dowson encouraged the community to come down and enjoy some quality squash.
“This is a chance to see some of the best squash players in the world for free, in your own backyard,” he said.
“We’re expecting fantastic competition and we have a great programme running around the squash so it will be a really fun event for the whole family.”
Harriet Laughton is a journalism student at the Auckland University of Technology.