Lincolnshire Squash Presentation Night 2018 Visit our website at - PDF document

Lincolnshire Squash Presentation Night 2018 Visit our website at www.lincolnshiresquash.co.uk

Evening All, I’d like to start by welcoming everyone to this evening’s presentation night to celebrate the end of what has been a positive season on many fronts. I’d like to start with a quick thanks to Alex Rook who has taken the bull by the horns in organising tonight. Since taking over as Chairman last August the committee has worked really hard to move things in a positive direction. It ’s been good to build some relationships with many clubs and people that I haven’t been involved with before. Lincolnshire is a huge county but its been great to see clubs develop events independently but also support each other (and the county) in trying to deliver as many positive events / experiences as possible. We’ve seen some fantastic performances around the county th is year and some of the highlights in team squash include Grantham finishing 3 rd in the National Club Championship, Eastgate 1 finishing 2 nd in the Notts Premier and more local to that Eastgate G made it 3 league / cup doubles in the Lincoln weekend league. In the midweek league Horncastle retained their title in the last match of a compelling season and won the league on points difference!! In other leagues Meg C are promoted as champions whilst also getting to the cup final losing a hard fought 3-2 against the premier league champions. Individually we’ve seen some fantastic achievements, Katie Wells finished Runner up in the English Open whilst Ben Smith went one better and won the entire event. Both have achieved No.1 rankings in their respective age categories (in the country) which is a fantastic achievement and a really positive benchmark for other juniors to aspire too, I know them both and whilst talent plays a part their dedication and hard-work to improving is a huge contributing factor to their success. Ben especially seems to be adding tournament victories as fast as he eats a post-match McDonalds! Harry Falconer has also made great strides this season and his run to the Semi-Final of the Israel Open was a great highlight, whilst Adam Auckland cemented his place at the top of the Lincolnshire squash tree with a massive return to form and fitness. 3-2 defeats to Marwen El Shorbagy and Daryl Selby were obvious highlights and show that on his day he is a match for the best in the world! In the last 10 months the committee have focused largely on developing & delivering junior events. Martin Gibson and Nigel Jubbs have supported and worked hard with the committee to deliver the Squad days for selection of our inter- county teams. We’ve also seen a retur n of the Grand Prix series for juniors which Lincolnshire Squash have sponsored alongside Onyx Trophies. As I type this we had 40+ entries in event 1 and 50+ entries in event 2, a big thanks to all the host clubs for stepping forward on this. As a committee we ’re driven to push Lincolnshire Squash forward but it’s a bigger job than I ever thought, please encourage / challenge your clubs to be involved in the committee (even if it’s just as a club rep), those that attend will no doubt have a better understanding and a bigger say in the direction / future we take Squash in Lincolnshire. If you’re interested in been a part of this then have a chat with me tonight…. It’s never too late to jump on board! The committee is made up volunteers and without them many of these positive things just don’t happen. My final thanks tonight is to the committee for their support, commitment, dedication in the last 10 months in delivering many of the positives, but primarily for jumping in feet first and getting on board with some of the big ideas / plans that we have for 2018/19! Have a great Evening Chris

Senior County Championships 2018 Saturday 20 th January saw the County Championships take place for the seniors at the Eastgate & Lindum Squash clubs. With the matches kicking off from 9am, a long day of excellent quality squash was guaranteed, and it didn’t disappoint. Early highlights including Erin Tamplin beating Lisa Tamplin 3-0 before Cathy Kennedy recovered from 5-10 down in the 5 th to take the game (15-13) and the match 3-2 against Peggy Crawford. This was swiftly matched by Phil Roberts who stormed back from a 3-10 deficit in the final game to beat the no.3 seed Ben Smith 2-1 to secure a semi-Final place alongside Martin Gibson, Harry Falconer and Pete Dickinson who all won their quarter final matches against Adam Hildred, Richard Ashby and Paul Warner respectively. In the over 35’s Pete Cheshire won the battle of ‘Eastgate G’ over Adam Bradshaw with a comprehensive 3 -1 victory to set up a final with Chris Martin. In the Over 45’s, last years finalist and winner Alan Smith won a hard -fought match with Ady Proctor 3-2 to secure a final place vs No.1 seed Graham Wallis. In the 65’s Barry Condley beat John Smith before losing out to clubmate Andy Edmo ndson in the semi-finals In the main Semi-Finals, results went with the seedings with Harry Falconer (1) and Martin Gibson (2) coming through against Pete Dickinson & Phil Robert. Pete & Phil then played out a competitive ¾ placing with Pete running out a 2-1 winner Andy Edmondson had too much for Nick Ashby in the over 65’s final running out a 3 -0 winner before Fran Wallis rolled back the years in coming back from 1-0 down to beat Erin Tamplin 3- 1 in the ladies’ competition Alan Borril retained his Over’s 55’s title, before Graham Wallis went on to record a 3 - 0 victory over Alan Smith in the 45’s In the battle of Eastgate G, Chris Martin overcame Pete Cheshire in 3-1 to claim his first county title which led nicely into the Main Final between Harry & Martin. The match was a tight affair in all of the 3 games played with Martin pushing Harry to raise his game / levels. Martin is potent around the front of the court and he looked to utilise this whenever possible. Harry however is vastly improved on the player that finished runner up last time out and at the crucial stages in each game (around the midway point) he stepped up and pushed on, each time taking the game by small margins. Harry ran out a 3-0 winner to claim his 2 nd Men’s county title. An entertaining final to finish of a day of squash!! Some thanks must go to Mark Hildred at Moore Thompson who kindly sponsored the shirts for both the Juniors & Seniors event. Mick Carling (Lindum) and Dan Bryden (Eastgate) for allowing us to use their respective facilities throughout the day. Cathy and George for helping ensure the day ran smoothly from start to finish and Danny Melville for stepping in and marking most of the finals.

Martin Gibson & Harry Falconer Erin Tamplin & Fran Wallis Pete Cheshire & Chris Martin Alan Smith (L) and Winner Graham Wallis Winner - Alan Borril Winner - Andy Edmonson

2018/ 2019 – Junior Development In 2018 we appointed Martin Gibson as Head Coach of Lincolnshire Squash. In terms of the Inter-County teams, Nigel Jubbs has continued to administer the junior county squad aspect in his role as Junior development officer Martin Gibson& Martin Wells will continue to take the roles as County lead coaches allowing continuity throughout squad sessions being delivered 2018/2019. This year will see the squads move around various clubs within the County and allow club coaches to work alongside the County coaches again implementing continuity from grass routes squash within our clubs. The open session was well attended, and the remaining sessions are based on selections identified by Martin Gibson. Some of the criteria used are as follows: 1. England Squash Ranking position 2. Lincolnshire Junior Squash Ranking (gathered from County Champs and GP Series) 3. End of session reviews of performance at Squad Sessions by coaches – (Head Coach has final say) 4. Local Intelligence from local / club coaches 5. A player’s recent performances will be an additional tool – i.e. Player A beat Player B in another competition either representing his club or in other events Note: Code of conduct or disciplinary issues either by their Club or County We are hoping to fill the following categories for the upcoming Inter County junior Championships Boys / Girls U11 Boys / Girls U13 Boys / Girls u15 Boys / Girls u17 Boys / Girls U19 This in turn will hopefully see our increased participation into the 2018/2019 Inter County Championships and build on our 2017/2018 success in which we had our U13s finish 3 rd in the national Trophy final. Have a great evening Regards Nigel Jubbs Under 13’s finishing 3 rd place in the Intercounty competition