GUYANA Squash Association vice- president Ronald Burch-Smith was recently unanimously elected to succeed Barbadian Craig Archer as president of the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA).

After serving as the association’s secretary for the past four years, Burch-Smith switched positions with Archer, who emerged as the body’s secretary when the elections took place following the Annual General Meeting held two Fridays ago in Guyana at the Georgetown Club.
The AGM was held concurrently with the CASA Senior Championships which played out across the week. Archer was ineligible for re-election having served the maximum two terms provided for in the Association’s constitution and so Burch-Smith was nominated for the position.
Cayman Islands’ Ian Patrick retained his position as the organisation’s treasurer while Jamaica’s Douglas Beckford replaced Karen Anderson as the vice-president. Other directors on the CASA executive include Bermuda’s Patrick Foster, Francisco Paradisi from Venezuela, Adrian Burrowes from the Bahamas and David Piper from the OECS, and Roger Salandy from Trinidad and Tobago.
Burch-Smith will serve for a period of two years, until the next elections in 2015, during which time the Guyanese has high hopes for the development of squash across the Caribbean.
Burch-Smith, who also serves as the president of the Guyana  Bar Association, says expanding the sport is one of the top plans in the coming years and also expanding the CASA membership; The former squash player also says he hopes to have other Caribbean countries mirror Guyana’s recent developments.
In addition he mentioned an after-school programme to teach squash to students. The Guyana Squash Association also recently upgraded the courts at the sport’s main facility, the Georgetown Club.
“Like Guyana, encouraging countries to expand facilities to make the sport available to more people; bringing 3 new countries into CASA by August 2015, continuing the work of my predecessor on the refereeing certification (COPS) programme,  implementing the plans for a CASA Hall of Fame and having an annual CASA camp for high-performance players will be items on the agenda.
“If Squash is elected on September 8 to be a sport at the 2020 Olympics, we must make sure that CASA is given every chance to be medal contenders,” Burch-Smith said.
Burch-Smith said that the expansion of the sport plays a crucial role in advancing the standard of squash within the Caribbean – a task he says is a worrying one for the association.
“Our geography poses challenges for our players’ interaction, especially top players who usually have to travel for high level competition either with each other or, internationally.
“As matters stand, only The Cayman Islands has been able to support a professional tournament as it can be expensive thus requiring large sponsorship. Closing the gap in competitive standards with Latin American counties requires a larger playing base than currently exists,” Burch-Smith noted.