Fram reports
One of the perks of my job is getting to chat with people who are part of squash history. Jonathan Power (French Canadian spelling, sue me) is definitely one of those.
A flamboyant personality, JP was. Whoever saw his battles with Peter Nicol — I remember one in the Broadgate Super Series, London, ending 15/14 to JP, to the great disappointment of a logically Peter-supporting crowd. I remember his “antics,” his injuries, his wit, and, of course, his talent.
However, one thing very few people realise is Jonathan’s nurturing nature.
I remember that, years ago, Greg Gaultier, who was very young at the time, was making a fuss because the hotel didn’t have the food he had expected for his match preparation. Ranting, throwing a bit of a tantrum, while JP was quietly at his side, like a dad with a nagging child. I remember looking at him with a “he is not easy, now, is he?” And JP smiled the most beautiful smile, making it obvious he absolutely adored the boy—probably looking and acting like himself when he was the same age…
“If I have a connection to somebody,” comments JP, “I definitely put my best effort into my relationships and into the people that I want to help.
“Obviously, we’re very close with Greg. When he was 18 years old and I was number one, he came to stay with me in Canada. I invited him and trained with him for some time. He was very young, so I helped him. Told him, maybe come on to the PSA Tour. I spent a lot of time with him when he was coming up. I wanted to help him achieve his goals and find his way to where he wanted to get to.”
Not everybody warmed to young Greg. I for one was not his biggest fan at the time. I learned to appreciate the boy when he actually met Veronica, and started his own family, when he realised squash was not the only thing in his life…
But JP “clicked with Greg” from the start.
“It’s a character thing. It’s a personality. We were friends. The intensity, the desire, the hunger and, and you rare friends. Greg is also a very caring guy , and a good guy. Like deep down you have to know Greg he has a very complex complex, and he is good. We’re just good friends.
You might have spotted the Canadian Legend at the side of Diego Elias. It’s not by chance.
“So I spent a lot of time and helped Greg a lot. And then, Diego came along. When he was 14, I was helping and giving them some advice and teaching them a few things.
And I told Greg, I’d like you to take a look, keep a lookout for Diego, you know, just like passing it down. And Greg, without thinking, took on that role and looked after Diego and helped him. And Greg’s a different character than me ! He is far more professional in a lot of ways as a player than I was!
So I thought it was a good relationship for Greg to help Diego achieve what I tried to do when I was helping Greg. I guess I helped in some small way.
But I think that that the three of us together is a nice story, you know, because it gets passed down, and then, Diego will do it with somebody else and then it goes. That’s how it goes. That’s that’s what you do. And you help somebody, you know, people help you. Lots of people help me in my career, and I pass it on.
And then came retirement.
And that, my friends, in itself would define Jon if needed…
We were in Saudi, Al Kobar, at a time where having tourists in Saudi was NOT in fashion. What Ziad Al-Turki had to do to get us there – and me in particular – is nobody’s business. The final of that event was quite extraordinary, with the winner taking not only the title, but also the World number One ranking.
And the finalists were Anthony Ricketts and Jonathan Power.
I will never forget the madness around Jon after the final! The crowd took him hostage – in a nice way – and we couldn’t approach him for hours! Bless…. If I’d known it would have been the last time I was to see Power in a PSA match….
“So when I was back at number one, I was with Shabana, he was number two. We just came back after after Saudi, we went to the airport, did 13 exhibitions in 12 days together, Ridiculous, like flying plane, exhibition, flying plane, exhibition.
“I woke up in that morning in Montreal, after that trip the Middle East and those exhibitions with him. We were at my house and we’re flying to New York for the TOC. I woke up and I’m like, that’s it, I told him. I’m just going to call a few people and then I’m going to stop because it was time. Shabs was the first person that found out that that he was that I was retiring.
It was time, time to start a family for the Canadian.
“I couldn’t start a family being on the Tour. My wife didn’t want to start a family with me travelling. So that was I need a new chapter. So that was the end of the squash chapter and and the beginning of family and I now have a daughter, Parker. That was right after I retired, she is 18 now, and lives with me and my wife in Qatar.
Qatar…
That was a new door opening for the Canadian. For a few years, Jonathan had taken a step back from squash.
“I liked squash, but I just didn’t want to work in it. I wanted to learn about what that world was about” he smiles. ” I had a good break, and I think, learned a lot of stuff. I was always involved with squash through Diego and his family, through Greg, helping them both, and I was lucky enough to sort of get back into squash thanks to the Qatar/Aspire opportunity. ,
It all started when Geoff Hunt took on the development of Squash in Qatar with Aspire. I was lucky enough to meet Geoff on-site in 2011, and I did a pretty comprehensive report about the training ground in my En Brefs (you’ll have to scroll down a bit on the page, though).
“I think that as as far as squash jobs go, that was Geoff created this beautiful opportunity” explains Jonathan ” and it was really in its inception. Like when Jeff got there, it was at the beginning. He did all the heavy lifting and had to create something out of nothing and did a fantastic job. And the country grew and Aspire grew.
“And I was lucky, I had my eye on it from the beginning, like from when I was still playing and Geoff took that job. That part of the world was developing, hosting tournaments, I was going there every year, so I was watching the City and the Country grow. What Geoff was doing in that part of the world really interested me, and he did a good job.
“Then the opportunity came up….”
And that’s when the Legend started working with the first ever Qatari to make his mark on the PSA Tour, the cheeky so gifted clever and talented Abdulla Al-Tamimi.
“It’s exciting to play like to have a player that from the Middle East, truly from Qatar. Once you get there and you understand the culture there, what he’s achieved is really remarkable.
Given the odds were against him, for him to have ambition to succeed at the highest level,.. He’s done a great job.
“It’s nice to be able to work with somebody who’s so talented, on a professional level, and travel around to these big tournaments, understand what the level is and who’s doing what is needed and work with a player who’s intelligent and talented, trying to get better.”
Jonathan is unstoppable about Abdulla’s qualities.
“He’s very adaptable. And he had been very hard working, so it’s been enjoyable. It’s been one year and a year now. I think the relationship’s going well. He’s got a lot of potential. It’s exciting because I think when you’re learning something new and you see yourself improving and getting better, then it’s exciting for me, and it’s exciting for him.
The future is looking bright for the Qatari, the former world number One thinks.
“On a day-to-day basis, you can see light bulbs going on different things that he’s trying, that are working. And then putting all those pieces together is the, the thing, right? And that’s the exercise.
“Squash is a game. So you have to learn how to play the game, you know, and he’s good at it. So it’s fun.”
As we were closing down the tape, I asked Jon what was his best/worst memory of his career. The answer was quick to come.
“There was only really one moment like that mattered: getting to number one and being world champion. That sort of was for me pretty much the end of the journey.
“The rest I didn’t care about really, to be honest, good or bad. That was just part of life. There was a goal, I set a goal, I achieved the goal. It was a big weight off my shoulders because I put it on myself to achieve it.
“And then I kept playing. Obviously, it’s what I knew. And I was only 23, 24 years old, so I was young. So I kept playing for a number of years, but you know, just bare minimum, like not really not doing what I what I should do to to get better.
I didn’t face too many challenges with my body and keep it in shape. I played lots of great players against whom I played. I played all those styles. But I didn’t see anything new anymore.
Like if there was somebody was beating me every time. I didn’t get a chance to play with Ramy, that would have been nice. I really think he’s such a nice, nice and new player, just a new style. If I got the chance to play like a new challenge, I might have where I had to rework my game or improve my game or do something…
“But I didn’t.”