When I was about 16 -18 years old, before I began playing squash professionally, I began modeling. I appeared in various Canadian fashion magazines and ads. My Mom, was never a fan of this venture, but my brothers and friends encouraged it. She did not want beauty or clothing to define who I was. My mom had a few talks with me about this, and I began to realize that I was not cut out for the modeling industry.
Now as a professional athlete in a not so mainstream sport, I still don’t feel as if I have moved far away from an industry that focused largely on body image to sell something. In an attempt to promote squash throughout Toronto and Canada I have been asked to play in a number of exhibition matches at various sports clubs… As much as enjoy exposing squash to public and being given the chance to demonstrate my talent, I know that there is another aspect of myself that I am showing off on court.
I am not dumb or blind, I recognize that there are female squash players in Canada that are better than me. But the ladies who are asked to play in exhibition matches are either the best players they can get their hands on or are considered attractive by the general public, are well-liked and social.
I don’t think it is necessarily right or fair that certain people are gaining more recognition in a sport because they are more attractive than fellow players. I am not going to turn a blind eye, or play dumb and argue that sex appeal is not being used to sell my sport. But I am also not going to put on a thong and prance around on court to help. Instead, I am going to continue playing and training hard, because let’s face it before anything all these girls were above average athletes that had to work hard within their sport to get noticed. Unfortunately in our twisted world some people have a difficult time drawing a fine line between a an attractive female and sex, athlete or not.
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