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After tearing her cruciate ligament less than a week after arriving on the island, national coach Denise Sommers has endured a frustrating 12 months.

The former world number 24 has been working every day at the squash club and coaching the island's top players. But the injury has prevented her from playing a single competitive game.

Unfortunately for the top female players on the island, she has pushed her comeback date forward by a week to compete in the Fast Forward Freight National Championships.

Barring accident or injury, she should win comfortably.

Sommers' career highlights include runner-up spot at the Malaysian Open and several European finals with the Dutch national team, which also reached number four in the world.

Now 37, she has not played professionally since injury ended her career a decade ago. But she has been coaching since she was 18 and should be more than a match for most of the competition.

"I should be winning at this level. I'm not really nervous about coming back from the injury. I've been through it before, and I've been hitting quite a lot, so I should be okay."

The women's competition, which has been dominated by talented veterans like Denise Kyme and Liz Martin for years, will have a fresh look to it this time around, with Canadian newcomer Leah Bishop considered another contender for the final.

"For the first time in years it's not necessarily going to be Denise and Liz in the final," said club pro Patrick Foster.

The ideal scenario for Sommers, who is in charge of all the national teams, for future years would be for a young Bermudian to emerge as a genuine contender for the title."We have some very good womens' players but we don't really have that many strong young players. Liz Martin and Denise Kyme were in the final again last year.

"There really should be a younger person winning the national championships."

Laura Robinson, 17, who won the Junior Nationals in December, is one player who Sommers believes has a chance. She's away at school and will miss this event, but has the potential to be a future champion.

And the girls' programme is currently going from strength to strength, with membership doubling to more than 20 in the last year. "Hopefully, they'll come out and watch. And maybe it will encourage other women to see that they can also achieve something in squash."[[In-content Ad]]

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