U.S. Mens National Team

US Squash has announced the national team selected to represent the United States at the 2013 World Men’s Team Championships in June.

US Men's National TeamThe event is the highest level team championship in the world, involving the best players from 32 countries, and will be held in France for the first time in its 46 year history.

The U.S. Men’s Team will consist of American #1 Julian Illingworth, this year’s National Champion Chris Gordon, former international professional Gilly Lane, and college star Todd Harrity.

The team was selected through a combination of current rankings and recent play, and is the same team that previously competed in the World Men’s Team Championships in 2011.

“This is the team that finished sixth at the Worlds in Germany, and so on one level we have great experience, but on the other hand we need to be careful that we don’t put unreasonable expectations on ourselves, ” says Coach Paul Assaiante.

“As always, it is such a thrill and honor to represent the USA, and I know that this wonderful team feels this way, ” he added.

Gilly Lane 227 year old Gilly Lane is returning from retirement after a back injury forced him to give up professional play at the end of 2011.

Lane says his motivation to return is the opportunity to represent the United States once again.

“For me there’s nothing more important than representing the US and wearing the red, white and blue, ” he says.

“It was always the biggest thing for me while playing professionally, and now that I’m retired it means even more knowing that I can still compete on a world level.”

“I’m really excited to be a part of this group again this year.  It means a lot being on the team with Julian and Chris – the two players that I grew up playing against and alongside on the PSA world tour – and I’m looking forward to playing with Todd again, the up and coming future of US Squash.”

26 year old Chris Gordon has had a successful season on tour, recently being crowned the U.S. National Champion.

“It’s always a dream to win a national title.  I’ve always hoped to have some success on the PSA World Tour, and always dreamed, as a little kid, about playing on the glass court at major events, ” he said.

“Representing the US is always a huge honor and hopefully as a group collectively we can all elevate our games to produce another strong performance at the world teams.

“This team has a great chemistry, and the fact that we all went through the last event together gives us experience which we can hopefully call upon to get us through the big moments at the event this June.”

Julian IllingworthJulian Illingworth, 29 years old, says that he’s looking forward to playing in France once again.

“There aren’t many PSA events there, so I haven’t actually been to France for more than a few days, despite studying french in school for about 7 years”

“Hopefully I haven’t forgotten everything I learned!” Illingworth says.

“I’m very excited to play again in the World Team Championships. We had a really good result last time, so hopefully we can build on that.”

“I think our team is the strongest it’s even been, and we have a good chance to repeat our performance from 2 years ago.”

Todd HarrityTeam youngster Todd Harrity, 22 years old, says that he’s excited to be on the world team again.

“I had the time of my life two summers ago in Germany when we played together, and I can’t wait to go to France in June, ” said Harrity.

“It’ll be great being on the team with Julian, Chris, and Gilly again. We were a good team last time, we all know each other, and we’ll have a great team dynamic.

“If we all play well, this could be our best World Championship yet.”

 

Gilly Lane