|
|
|
By Vicky Schippers
|
| |
Macree photos by Steve Line/Squashpics.com Archives
If as the saying goes, there is a strong woman behind every successful man, then there is no reason to believe that the same could not be said for every successful woman. That would surely be the case for top-notch UK athlete, Rebecca Macree, raised in Barking, England and currently ranked 9 with WISPA. Rebecca, who was born deaf, gives most of the credit for this triumph to her mother, Linda.
Linda Macree has been Rebecca’s chief advocate since her birth. Becky, now 32, was not formally diagnosed as deaf until she was nearly a year old, but Linda says she knew “without a doubt” that Becky could not hear by the time she was a month old. She has an older sister, Rachel, and as Linda says, “When you’ve already been a mum, you have a pretty good idea of what a normal baby does.”
From the time Rebecca was diagnosed, Linda pulled out all the stops so that Becky would learn to read, speak and lip read. “I didn’t want her to depend upon sign language because signers are only equipped to communicate with others who are deaf,” Linda explains. “I wanted her world to stretch out as far as it could.” The exercises were relentless, but eventually the words took shape in Rebecca’s mind. By the time she was ready for school, she was able to enroll in a mainstream program where she studied with normal hearing children and was taught one-on-one when necessary. Her father, a mega sports enthusiast, tried to interest her in tennis, but the outdoor courts in England were anathema to Becky. She hated the cold. So when she was 14, her father helped start a junior squash program at a local club. Even with her relatively late start, Becky took to the game instantly and quickly started winning junior tournaments.
Linda Macree is the first to say that Becky’s achievements did not come easily, and she credits a high intelligence coupled with a naturally determined personality for her daughter’s success. “With Becky there are no gray areas. There’s black or there’s white. It gives her a very sharp focus,” Linda says. The same traits that have brought Rebecca success have been blamed for fits of temper on the court. Her widely publicized WISPA sanction after the Singapore Open in August 2002, where she hurled a rude comment at the referee, cost her 45 days playing time, forcing her to miss the important World Open that year. She has been accused of creating obstacles on court especially when she is behind or with a referee who is not keen on making stroke calls.
But one of her WISPA colleagues, No. 2 Natalie Grainger looks at Becky’s behavior from a more positive angle. “Since her ban last year, she has come back and really gotten a handle on her frustrations and improved her movement on the court so that she doesn’t inhibit her opponent as much,” she says. “Rebecca is one of the toughest competitors I know. She doesn’t give an inch on the court. She rarely loses to people she’s ranked above and causes headaches for players that are ranked above her by breaking their rhythm. She fights for every point.”
(Full article appears in the November 2003 edition of Squash Magazine.)
|
| |
|
|
|
Feb 2008
(click for contents)
|
