National squash victory only one of many challenges for Harbourville resident

BY HEATHER DYKE

reporter@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Harbourville resident Lieutenant-Commander Mike Melnychuk’s dedication and perseverance paid off this spring when he won gold at the Canadian Forces Squash Nationals.

Winning this event is nothing new to Melnychuk, who has captured four independent championships over the past 19 years, but recent health issues this year made the tournament his most challenging yet. “The first challenge was even getting there,” Melnychuk said. He was diagnosed with throat cancer and spent seven months in cancer rehab last year, not getting back to work until January of this year.

Despite missing months of training, Melnychuk got right back into the game. He started training by mid-January, worked to make the base team and then the Atlantic regional team.

He competed at the regional level in Kingston during the first week of May before going on to play in the Master’s Division at the National level.

At Nationals, Melnychuk competed against nine players from each of the five regions from across Canada: Pacific, Prairie, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic. He defeated Lt(N) Karl Hoener of the Pacific region in the final for the Canadian Forces Squash National title in the Master’s Division.

Melnychuk wasn’t the only one from the Atlantic region who was successful in the National competition. Private Chris Jones from Gagetown won gold in the Junior category and the Atlantic region placed second overall in the team events.