Fate led Barbara Slotemaker de Bruine AM to squash, and once she got a taste she could not get enough.
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The Canberran's love of the game led to a more than 50-year contribution and has made her a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to squash as a player, administrator and coach.
She followed her mother into swimming and tennis initially, before a rainy day led her to pick up a squash racquet at 18.
"I started off swimming first, I did four years of training with Dawn Fraser, Lorraine Crapp and all of them. I was doing around 120 laps a day, and then I took up tennis when I got sick of that," she said.
"Then one day tennis was washed out and we went down to the squash courts. The owner said, 'You'd make a great squash player', so he organised coaching.
"Twelve months later I beat the number two seed in the ACT Open and lost to Heather McKay, the future World Champion, 10-8 in the fifth.
"I was doing exams for teacher's college, so I thought I could have beaten her if I hadn't had all those exams," she added with a laugh.
"She won the Australian, and then I thought, 'Well, I can do this', and so that's how it happened."
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Slotemaker de Bruine reached number three in Australia, donned the green and gold on three occasions and was part of the first ever team to beat England.
She stopped playing at 26, and turned her focus to her studies and family life, until a phone call convinced her to start coaching.
The voice on the other end of the phone asked if she wanted to take a team to Darwin, and as she had not been, she agreed.
Then came numerous other coaching gigs, with the pinnacle being her stepping into the sport's national coaching director role in 1988 for four years, "which from the ACT is pretty unheard of".
The AM recipient said being surrounded by Australia's sporting greats, and being a part of the nation's golden years of women's squash spurred her passion.
"The pursuit of excellence," she said.
"You knew you had a certain amount of ability and that you've got to work hard to fulfil your capability.
"I had a year there, I think in '61, where I goofed around, and I wasn't picked in the state team.
"So I thought, 'Right, I'll show them what I can do'. The next year I was number three in Australia."
One of her biggest contributions to the sport, however, has been her book The Golden Years of Australian Women's Squash.
It records the history of the sport from 1954 to 2010, including Australia's undefeated effort as a team from 1964 to 1980, and has received worldwide attention for its vital documentation.
"It was very important," she said.
"I've interviewed all the players who won World or British Open championships, and recorded all the results, which weren't recorded anywhere.
"We produced more World champions and World championship teams, I think, than most sports. Only swimming might come close ... but now we haven't got anyone in the top 30 in the world.
"So that's another thing I'm hoping we can change. Because if we can come from nowhere, I mean from '52 to '62 we were getting wiped by the Brits, and then we produced Heather and we dominated up until 2010.
"So it's a matter of getting our act together and getting good coaching in place and, hopefully, revitalising the sport."
Slotemaker de Bruine's contribution:
Squash Australia
- Author, The Golden Years of Australian Women's Squash, Echo Publishers, 2022
- Member, historical committee, since 2009
- Chair, high performance review committee, 2014
- Chairperson, selection committee for coach of the World women's team to Canada, 2014
- National coaching director, 1988-1992
- Consultant coach, World Squash Federation, 1993
- Coach of Stewart Boswell (Australian junior champion), 1993-1997, and Laura Keating (Australian junior Champion), 1998
- Member, voting academy for the Telstra Sporting Awards, 1995
- Head coach, U15 national talent quad, 2004-2005
- Presenter, National Coaches Conference, Canberra, 2008
- Member, Australian Women's Team, 1964 (first team to defeat Great Britain)
- Achieved Australian ranking of No 3.
Squash ACT
- Director of coaching, 1984-1988
- Life member since 2007
- Established ACT Barbara de Bruine Junior Squash Award
- Coached junior teams 1970s-1990s
- Coached individuals to Australian no.1 ranking in 1988-1998, and 2010-2020
Squash - Other
- Secretary of Australian Women's Squash Racket Association late 1966
- Satellite coach at the AIS 1994-2001
- Mentor coach 2002-2004
Education
- Head PE department at Telopea Park School, 1992-2002
- Master teacher/Level 2 at ACT Education Directorate, 1971-1984
Kosciuszko Huts Association
- Former secretary
- Involved in 10 year restoration of Gooandra Hut, Snowy Mountains, 1998-2008.
Community
- Member of National Parks Association of the ACT since 1968
- Judge of Tournament of Minds, ACT, 1998-2008
- Member of Canberra Bushwalking Club 1970-2022
Awards and recognition include
- Distinguished Service Award, Squash Australia, 2010 'for over 50 years of contribution as a player, coach and administrator'
- Australian Sports Medal 2000
- PSCAACT Female Coach of the Year 1996
- 1993 Coach of the Year by Professional Squash Association of Australia
- Australian Squash Coach of the Year 1993
- ACT Squash Coach of the Month in 1993, 1995, and 1996
Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
