At 11 years of age, Samuel Ince-Carvalhal was recognised for his outstanding performance in the recent Toucan Kraft Squash tournament held recently at the Georgetown Club. He collected two trophies – winner of his category and most outstanding boy of the tournament. The youngster migrated from England last year to live with his grandparents on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
His granddad Carl Ince’s dream came true having his grandson so close and as hungry for squash as he was. He became a coaching dream.
His recent win is the second in as many tournaments, previously winning his first tournament; the Farfan and Mendes skill level tournament, a few months ago.
Samuel has only been playing squash for eight months and his rapid rise is due to a combination of raw talent, access to squash courts at his home on the highway and having the outstanding national squash coach for a granddad.
However, these things alone could not have propelled him so quickly to the top of his category. It is also hours of solo work both on and off the court before and after school.
There was a recent break in his training programme for Samuel to concentrate on his National Grade Six Assessment examination which proved very challenging, due to his having to learn a whole new curriculum in a few months after his migration.
During this time, study breaks were filled with coach Ince discussing technical and tactical aspects of the game away from the court at home.
Winning the second tournament was much harder than the first after being moved up from category G to D into a very talented group of players.
Of his most difficult matches Samuel lost only one, succumbing to the three years of experience and excellent skills of Demetri DeAbreu.
The level of play displayed in his matches with the Jonas brothers was way above that expected of such a young player, and in the same night he fought hard to defeat the younger brother Ethan 3-0, and made a dramatic comeback with older brother Lucas coming from 6-10 down on match ball, winning 6 straight points to win the 5th and deciding game 12-10.
This has given Samuel much-needed experience and has been great preparation for the upcoming Nationals in which he will fight for a place in the National team.
With squash in Guyana already at such a high level for the junior players, Samuel’s entry into the fold can only serve to heighten competition and help keep Guyana at the top of its game.