Greatly respected, both on and off the court, Steve Wren reached the pinnacle of his squash career when, on June 23, he was elected, by his peers across Canada to be President of Squash Canada, a position not filled from the Ottawa/Gatineau area, since the 1930s.
Steve left his native New Zealand in 1986, to be a Squash Pro in Toronto for the next 9 years. During this time he was instrumental in helping develop a formidable string of young Canadians who were to later launch onto the international scene and raise Canada’s profile amongst the world’s very best top ranked 25 male players in the world – Jonathon Power (1), Graham Ryding (9), and Shahier Razik (23).
In 1995 he turned from being a professional squash player to a successful businessman, but never lost his enthusiasm for developing juniors. Moving in 2000 to Gatineau, where he has lived ever since (apart from a 3 year stint back in NZ from 2006 to 2009) with Hélène, his wife, and their three children Calvin, Dominic and Chloé (all players of note at provincial, and national level for Canada), he demonstrated his administrative talent, by organizing Gatineau’s first Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour Circuit events (2003,4,5,6). In addition, he has run many other tournaments, Chaired the ODSA Junior Committee and Squash Canada & Squash Quebec Masters Committee, and during 2015 he operated the Squash Canada office while the Association recruited their Executive Director – all while holding down his own daytime senior sales management job.
As a player, Steve has represented New Zealand as a junior at regional & World Championships, he has won at least 10 national titles in Britain, Canada and the USA since coming to Canada, and has been on at least 12 New New Zealand and Canadian Provincial teams (including 6 Championship winners). While a professional squash coach, he was ranked No. 1 in Ontario in 1991/92, No. 7 in Canada, and entered the top 100 in the World. Skip some years ahead and Steve continues to compete in various international masters squash tournaments, having won silver medals in squash at both the 2013 and 2017 World Masters Games.
Later this year, Steve will represent Squash Canada in attending the Youth Olympic Games in Beaunos Aires along with Canada’s sole athlete representative, Canadian Junior Champ, James Flynn. This will be the inaugural opportunity for squash to be entered into the Olympic movement, as a demonstration sport, and it is a significant step towards the sport’s potential full inclusion into the Games.