Yarrawonga squash legend Brian Lyons will play in the Australian Masters Championship in Adelaide starting next Monday.
Lyons, who turned 80-years-of-age last March, will compete in the 80 to 84 age group, so will be one of the young ones this year in the expected total of nine.
“While I only know a couple of the entrants, I feel confident that I should go okay at the tournament,” he told the Yarrawonga Chronicle.
Players usually have a match every second day for the first half of the draw. Upon reaching the finals, it’s a match every day.
In the lead up to a tournament, Lyons plays two or three times a week.
“I get very good competition from one of my grandchildren ‘Zara Shaw’ and another young player from Yarrawonga, ‘Xander Smith’, as well as a number of other members from the local Yarrawonga Squash Club,” he said.
Lyons was 30-years-of-age when introduced to squash whilst doing a seed cleaning job at Melton.
“A young fellow took me for a hit. That is when I got hooked on the game,” he explained.
“Within two years we had built the squash courts here in Yarrawonga. We opened them in November 1972.
“The squash club was formed in January 1973 by John Easedown, Bert Washington, John Stuart, my wife Margaret and myself. Margaret used to run the day-time programs.
“I was the only one of my family (four brothers and five sisters) who played squash. My four daughters all played at different times.
“Rochelle, the youngest, got to play overseas and got to 55 in the world. Now we have 10 grandchildren and six of them are playing squash, as well as two of our sons-in-law.”
Yarrawonga Squash Club thrived in the 1970s. Juniors played on Monday night, ladies on Tuesday nights, B grade men’s on Wednesday night and A grade men on Thursday nights, with around 140-150 players competing in competitions.
Lyons has been a committee member of four district squash clubs: Yarrawonga, Benalla, Wangaratta and Corowa.
In 1984, Brian and Margaret were made Life Members of the Yarrawonga Squash Club. Margaret was a star player in her own right, being a lady club champion and a Murray Valley champion.
Brian is also a past local club champion. “I only ever won the local club championships once. I was runner up a few times against past local players Joe Dixon and Trevor Essex,” he said.
“My toughest matches over recent times have been with Mick McDonald from Sydney and Tom Slattery from Melbourne.
“One of the greatest players who played here in Yarrawonga was Sarah Fitzgerald, five-times world champion.”
Lyons played in the World Masters Squash in Hong Kong in 2014, Johannesburg in 2016 and Charlottesville, Virginia USA in 2018, achieving the excellent world ranking for his age group of eight.
“My best win in the Australian Masters was at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat where I won the 75-79 age group,” he fondly recalled.
“The most exciting thing I did was in the year 2000, when I ran with the Olympic Torch in Echuca. I also ran with the Queen’s Baton here in Yarrawonga in 2018.”
Then his greatest award followed – receiving the Australian Sports Award in 2000 on behalf of Prime Minister John Howard.
“Squash has been in my life for over 50 years and at 80 I am still enjoying every match I play,” Brian said.
Brian is wished all the best for next week’s national championships at the South Adelaide Squash Centre in Edwardstown.