Cameron Pilley
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Cameron Pilley (squash) is among a handful of squash players to win gold medals at three consecutive Commonwealth Games, having claimed the mixed doubles with Kasey Brown (2010) and Donna Lobban (2018), and men’s doubles with David Palmer OAM in 2014. The former world top-20 player was unlucky to make it four from four in Birmingham, losing the men’s doubles quarter-final with Rhys Dowling to the eventual gold medallists. He also finished 4th in the mixed doubles with Donna Lobban, losing the bronze-medal play-off to the Indian pair they had beaten in the gold-medal match on the Gold Coast four years earlier. He also owns men’s doubles bronze with Ryan Cuskelly from Delhi 2010 and mixed doubles bronze from Glasgow 2014 with Kasey Brown. Hailing from Yamba on the NSW north coast, Pilley starting playing at his parent’s squash courts. He attended the Australian Institute of Sport from 2001 until 2005 working with Australian legends Geoff Hunt and Rodney Martin. Pilley won the Australian under-19 title twice before moving to the senior circuit at 18. He reached a career-high world ranking of 11 in January 2011 and later that year set a world record by hitting a squash ball at 281kph. He has also claimed three world doubles titles, winning the men’s in 2017 and 2019 with Ryan Cuskelly, as well as the mixed title with his cousin Donna Lobban in 2019. Winner of 13 professional titles during his career, Pilley announced his retirement in December 2019 and now coaches squash in upstate New York in the United States.
Results History
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Additional Information
Languages Spoken:
No
Why did you begin your sport?
My parents played, so they would take me along to the squash club every time. I was always around the squash club so I ended up playing it and loved it.
Do you have any pre-competition routines or rituals?
No rituals or superstitions, just the usual pre match routines/warm up I do before every match or training session.
What is your most memorable sporting achievement?
Winning Gold at the 2010 and 2014 CWG. Amazing feeling just to able to represent Australia at the CWG, then winning Gold topped it off!
Who is your hero / idol, and why? Have you ever met them?
I looked up to a lot of top Australian squash players as a youngster and have been lucky enough to get to know them personally and be coached by some of them. Other top sportsmen I looked up to were cricketer Mark Waugh and Tennis player Gustavo Kuerten. I met Mark Waugh at a junior cricket rep weekend when I was 14 but have never met 'Guga'.
Who has been the most influential person or people in your career and why?
My parents have had the biggest influence on me in my early squash days and as a person. As a professional squash player, Geoff Hunt and Rod Martin were my first coaches once I went Pro. They had a huge influence early on in my career and introduced me to hard training, day in, day out.
Do you have any hobbies away from your sport?
I'm a massive Rabbitohs fan and member so wherever I am in the world I try to stream their games as much as I can. I enjoy odd game of golf and I'll quite often travel with a backgammon board to tournaments. There's a small group of us on tour that play backgammon and it gets very competitive!
What is your sporting ambition?
I'm coming towards the back end of my career and I'm happy with what I have achieved to date. In saying that, I still have some goals I'm trying to reach and making the Top 10 in the World is one of them (No. 11 is my best ranking).
