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Warkworth tennis and squash supremo Kaye Jackson will be less nervous than most athletes when she takes the court at the World Masters Games in Auckland next month.
Kaye is already the holder of a number of masters titles and, at 70, this will be her fourth games.
She jokes that the her main goal will be to survive, but she will compete in her age category of 70 to 74 as the highest graded player from New Zealand.
“I’d just like to play well and finish the tournament with no injuries,” she says.
Kaye won her first World Masters medals in Portland, in the United States, in 1998, claiming silver in singles and bronze in doubles
She says she was very pleased to place in the doubles because North American rules for squash are different, involving a larger court and a bouncier ball.
“We played the Americans in the first round and they realised after the first game we didn’t really know what we were doing under the different rules. They wanted us to beat the Canadians, though, so they gave us some advice and we managed to win that game and ended up coming third.”
At Edmonton in 2005, she won silver in singles and gold in the team event.
Her most satisfying masters was in Sydney, in 2009, when she claimed gold in the singles.
“My son dropped me at the airport before the competition and I said I was going to try and win it. His response was, ‘Well, you might as well get back in the car if you are only going to ‘try’ to win. You have to make your mind up that you are ‘going’ to win.”
Kaye made the final and was down 2-1 before her son’s words spurred her on to a gold medal in five games.
“It’s very much a mental game. I once thought I had won a match when a ‘let’ was given, which rattled me and I ended up losing.
“Now I just enjoy the competition because I’m so lucky to still be playing at my age.”
Kaye’s other accolades include 12 New Zealand Masters Championships titles and seven Club Champion titles while at the Royal Oaks Club in Auckland.
She hopes to compete in the NZ Masters in October and says she hates the thought of one day parting with the game.
Her training involves playing two days a week, as well as some gym work to keep fit.
