ELIZABETH CORDERY





Ray Kettley has been quite successful in locating many of the ex Squashies, after a lot of years, and one of the Ladies he has tracked down is Elizabeth Cordery/Lopes who now lives in Albury NSW, which they tell me is on the NSW side of the Murray River. It's a twin city to Wodonga, which is in Victoria.

I asked Liz to post me some photographs she has of her Boomerang/Gabba Squash Club days, which she is sending me. Liz also sent me some photos taken at a recent Squash Tournament in Wangarrata, and one of the players was a Ladies ex World Champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald.

I dug up the Honour Boards for the Albury Squash Club on the Net and noticed Liz won the Albury Ladies Title in 1989,1990,1992,1998 & 2000.

Ray and Barbara Kettley intend calling in on Liz on their trip to Tassie. Liz joined Boomerang in the early 70's and followed her brother Cyril over to the club, Cyril was a workmate of Jeff Seipel.

I am pretty sure Cyril and Liz were at Boomerang before the club moved to the Gabba as Liz has a Pennant Winning Team Photo, and photos were no longer taken of winning teams after the Club moved to the Gabba. I checked Ray's list of Gabba Teams and it appears that Liz played B3 in the 1976 Winter Season in her last season with the Gabba.

I asked Liz to put a few words together saying what she has been doing since her days at Boomerang/Gabba, and below is what she sent me back.

Joe Williams

The Elizabeth Cordery Story.



I was so happy to hear from Ray Kettley a few years ago after many years, one day when I got a call on my Mobile from him. And recently I received an email from Joe, telling me about the Memory Lane Website they had set up for the Squash Clubs.

Joe asked if I had kept any Team Photos from my Squash days, which I have sent to him, I told Joe those photos were a slight embarrassment to me, as I was very young and also a bit chubby, but because he asked me so nicely I relented and sent them over.

Just a few things that have happened to me since I left the Gabba in the 70's. I now live in Albury NSW and have been working in different medical establishments and have enjoyed myself gaining heaps of different experience. I have also been working part time at a Safeway Market and have just clocked up 21 years.

I have been coaching Squash/Racquet Ball for the past 3 years, but that is mainly Friday nights and weekends as that is the only time I can get any court bookings. I am now only working 4 days at the Eye Clinic for 4 Specialists and have Tuesdays off and on Tuesday mornings I help out with the ladies squash and sometimes play if needed and do some coaching afterwards.

Just to round off my story, I lost my Husband 4 years ago this March through cancer. I have met someone else who has the same interests as me, and likes a game of Squash and Racquet Ball, and we have both just taken up Bike Riding and are enjoying that. I am looking forward to catching up with Ray when they call in during his trip, and maybe hearing about the two Squash Reunions the Club had last November.

2 Years ago I played in the World Master Open Squash over 50, we put a team in from Albury and we had to play in the over 35 Open event, the age because of the guy that was in our team and the Open because of me having to play in the Open event with my grading.

There were 3 in a Team and we had a guy and 2 gals and of course I was the oldest, we managed to get a Bronze medal, we sure had a lot of fun, and in the Open over 50s event for me I was seeded 16 and won my first match in 3 and then had to play the No 2 seed and she beat me in straight, but we did have great game, so then that put me out of any chance of a medal the way the round robin works. I am not sure where I ended up as there was a bit of a change in who played and some of my matches got changed around and the girl, I ended up beating in the first round ended up being 2 places up in front of me, but never mind it was all god fun, Anyway the surprising thing was a Bronze Medal (or burnt Gold) which is very nice and was a wonderful surprise.

I sent Joe some photos taken in 2009 at a Squash Tournament in Wangaratta, and as Joe said above one of the players was ex World Ladies Champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald, also Sarah brought another player with her, the players name was Isabelle Stoehr and she was from France and is ranked 19th in the World and was out in Aussie getting some hard practice from Sarah. The matches were best of 5 games, and each game was played to 11 with no hand outs and the margin had to be at least by 2 points, if the score became 10 all, against Sarah I managed to get about 15 points, a few I won fair & Square, and the rest Sarah was kind to me. My match against Isabelle I also lost in 3 games 9/11,9/11.5/11.

I have some wonderful memories of my time at both Boomerang and the Gabba Squash Clubs.

Liz Cordery/Lopes.