In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport, Chan-A-Sue said “exposure is really important, look you got a girls and boys team that won junior Caribbean titles and three girls who won titles and a few others who placed third and fourth, they are pretty much a team of the highest level in the Caribbean, they now have to go and test themselves out side and it’s just a matter of money, money talks again, but they have to if we have any aspirations.”

Asked to compare the locals with their Canadian counterparts, Chan-A-Sue who started playing the sport at age 10 said:”They (Guyanese) have potential, if you put all the ones that won Caribbean titles, but they need to go out to the Canadian and US juniors open and really test their skills, see where they are. I’ve seen some of them, they do have the natural raw talent, but the unfortunate part is they don’t have the group to really pull them around. The group that won all the titles here is a very good group of kids and its very rare that you get a group of 12 people pulling together in the same direction, and that’s what I noticed; but in Canada there are so many good players that when one player makes a jump up, you got so many more coming to catch them, but here you got one player that puts in the work and they go ahead, but you don’t have the quantity to chase them down. There may be two or three, but in Canada you have 10 or 12 trying to chase you down, especially in the boys side; on the female side it’s kind of weak, because you don’t have a lot of females playing squash as a whole, but the group factor comes in. But from what I’ve seen, there is definitely potential on the female side.”

The professional squash coach, who has just been offered a new coaching job in calgary, Canada, said the local boys are not too bad, but they are not quite on the level of the under-17 and under-19’s in Canada. “I think our Caribbean under-19 level is very weak, other than James Stout (Bermuda), I don’t think any of those guys will make it past the first round in a US or Canadian Juniors, but I definitely think the under-17 grouping in the boys category is the next good batch, but time will tell with that.”Chan -A-Sue stated, adding “of the girls, I’m very impressed with our under-17 and under-13 girls (Kristina and Daina King), they have the natural talent, but its going to take a lot of hard work to get to the next level. When I say natural talent, if they do not go out and do the road work, it’s not going to make a difference. That’s what make the difference, if you are to get to the higher level...the fitness level, the commitment to go out there and do the work on your own for technical stuff.”

Chan-A-Sue said he is very impressed with Daina “you just got to look at the court demeanour of her and you got to like what you see.” the VP said.

Of the boys, Chan-A-Sue said Kristian Jeffrey is just as talented “There is natural talent and athletic ability there, but he does not have the push around him, he has the pressure of all these expectations that has been set for him, but there is no real push, like there is no one saying look, I want your spot.” The coach stated.

Asked whether the standard of the locals have improved since he left Guyana, Chan-A-Sue said “there is definitely improvement in local squash, its higher than when I used to play at home. The 19’s are lower, but the girls side have really improved and most of this is because the girls are now going over to the states and the Canadian Junior Opens and some are going to camps, so some are getting that exposure that’s so important for them.

I always say though, the end result of any good junior programme is, how many of them make the senior team and stay there for a long period of time. Right now they are good junior players and half decent senior players at the female level, but not so for the boys though.

Asked for his comment on the organisation of the recently concluded Caribbean Junior tournament, Chan-A-Sue said “it was excellent, it was very inclusive and very surprising that we got eight countries coming to Guyana after a crime spree, that was an excellent thing for Caribbean squash.”

Asked for his thoughts on the performance of the locals Chan-A-Sue had this to say “i don’t think they realise what they have achieved, because not very often you win the boys and girls titles together; it’s a tough thing with so many teams, but I think they will realise it in the future, because this is only the third time that it has been done in 21 years and 20 years since the Guyanese team has done it...I think it was good, Guyana need some success somehow.”

Over the years Chan-A-Sue has been returning to represent Guyana at the Caribbean level, and though he has never won an individual title, he has been a member of several winning teams.

Asked what brought him home, Chan-A-Sue proudly stated “When I left Guyana, I used to return home when school closes to represent my country. It used to be to come home and represent Guyana because not too often you get a chance to represent your country at sports, that was like until 2001, but now it’s mostly to see my parents, but most of it used to be the love of representing Guyana, I didn’t want to forget where I came from and what got me into this.”