For professional sportsmen and women, there can be no greater glory than the chance to represent your country. Shirley Whitmore, a senior administrator in the School of Languages and Literatures, will represent South Africa in the 2016 WSF World Masters Squash Championships taking place in Johannesburg later this year. She is one of three to make the cut from the Western Cape and, the only women from the province to join the national team.

The WSF World Masters Championships are held for mature squash players. Although Veterans and Vintage competitions have formed part of some World Championship events since 1976, it was only in 1991 that the first distinct World Masters Championship event was held in New Zealand. Since then, an international tournament is held every two years. This is the third such event to be held on South African soil. As with most sporting codes, candidates must compete and excel in various regional tournaments in order to be considered for a place on the national squad. Only those with a realistic chance of winning a medal are selected to represent the country.

Whitmore has been playing competitive sports from a young age. Outside of her nine to five job at the University of Cape Town, she enjoys a busy and successful squash career. Few colleagues would guess that she has earned her Springbok colours four times or, that she received a gold medal at the South African National Squash Championships held on 13 March 2016. Initially a keen ice-skater, she turned to tennis in her teens, competing in local tournaments and later joining the national Springbok Training Squad from 1968 to 1972. It was in her twenties that she decided to make the switch to competitive squash.  Whitmore has been a member of the Bergvliet Squash Club for 30 years and has the distinction of winning the annual Bergvliet Ladies Championships 20 times. In addition to playing in both the ladies and men’s leagues, she was a member of the University of Cape Town squash teams that won the coveted Clive Cordier Trophy for two years in a row. This is the highest award for squash in the Western Province league. In 1997, she came second in the World Championships securing a silver medal for South Africa, in her age category.

UCT School of Languages and Literatures administrator Shirley Whitmore, pictured above (far left) with the winning UCT team of the Clive Cordier Trophy. She will represent South Africa in the 2016 WSF World Masters Squash Championships taking place in Johannesburg later this year.

Whitmore says that she became interested in playing competitively almost as soon as she could hold a racquet. “I suppose I’ve always been a sporty person. I have travelled to places like Australia; Wales; toured the United Kingdom and Hong Kong where I participated in both the British Open Masters as well as the World Masters events. The thing about sport is that the personal drive and motivation to succeed rubs off on all other aspects of your life. I will continue to play sport for as long as I can,” she says.

The 2016 WSF World Masters Championship event will be held in three venues around Johannesburg from 23-30 September. The 19 events have so far attracted 572 players from countries such as Germany, Zambia, United Kingdom, America and Canada (to name a few). Local organisers anticipate around 700 entrants this year, ranging in age from 35 to 80 (in the men’s section).  Whitmore will join an 18-member South African team to compete in the 2016 international championships.