Christmas and New Year break

Saturday 30th December
Because of holidays we do not have junior coaching this Saturday. But we will be back on the 6th January so see you then.

Hope that Santa has been good to you and you have not eaten so much pud that you can't run around the court quickly.

Just how crazy?

For those of you wondering just how crazy the Xmas handicap got here is a list of some of the things we asked them to do. For each challenge, player 'A' was the stronger one in the handicap ranking. Everyone plays everyone else but a different challenge gets pulled from a Santa hat for each pairing.

1. A has small racquet; B has normal.

2. A must play all shots with 'wrong' hand (left for righthanders).

3. A must boast everything; B all shots.

4. A must win a point in each corner; let if corner already used. 5 PAR.

5. A and B share one racquet score is largest number of shots in rally (shared between them).

6. A must start with hand on wall of B service side (to 5 PAR B always serves).

7. A must break B's service twice to get a point (to 5 ordinary scoring).

8. A normal scoring; B point-a-rally (to 9).

9. Service shoot out: A must return straight to length 1 pt per return; B any valid return wins 1pt (5 serves each BH and FH).

10. Cooperative rally down forehand and backhand but must touch other wall between shots A and B to share highest number of shots in rally as points.

11. B timed to put sweets out from T to each corner. A timed to get them back (neat pile). 2 points per second difference awarded to faster one.

12. Ordinary PAR to 5 - but RIP applied at end of game (see Coach for explanation after playing)*

*RIP is 'reverse in points' so the loser gets the winners point score and the winner ends up with the losers points. It is important that the players don't know this until they finish playing!

Junior Christmas Handicap

There were crazy goings on at the traditional Comberton Junior Christmas Handicap on Saturday.

This involved challenges like playing with your racquet in your wrong hand, touching the opposite wall between shots, or even working with your opponent to keep a ralley going with only one racquet between the two of you ( scoring a share of the number of hits in the rally)

The final winner was Will H. with 48 points - a large number of them won in a service 'shoot-out' competition: no rallying at all - just return of service.

A close second was Will T. with 45 points. The rest of the order was:
Jeremy 27 (3rd)
Oliver 25 (4th)
Sam P 24 (5th)
Anna 23 (6th equal)
Ben 23 (6th equal)
Tom 13 (7th)
Sam B 11 (8th)
Nils 9 (9th)

Well done everyone.

Junior Coaching December 16th

This Saturday (16th December) we will be running all three sessions. These will be the last ones this term.

The first session is for beginners. The second is more advanced. And the third session is currently by invitation to those in the School Squad.

This Saturday there will be a special Christmas Handicap Tournament at the second session. All Juniors are invited. This tournament will be our traditional Martin Yeadon-esque lucky-dip format where all sort of strange and wonderful games will be played.

Unfortunately Chris Vine cannot be with us this Saturday for the advanced session - so it will be a further dose of Doctor Mike and Doctor Martyn. Individual prescriptions will be dispensed for all those attending.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Ray Scrivens and Steve Swanton

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Mike Macnamee

Advanced coaching
12.30 - 14.00 session
Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons

Martyn and Mike are our Junior Development level II coaches. Both are qualified Doctors (non-medical) and can dispense with accuracy.

Brian Fielding Memorial Handicap Tournament

This Tournament is an annual timed handicap event commemorating the county coach Brian Fielding who helped develop squash in Cambridgeshire.

Comberton were probably the best-represented club at the tournament this year, held at the St Ivo Club on Sunday 10 December, with 7 players in Group A (Under 15s) and one in Group B out of a total of 30 competitors in all.

Our Group A players – scattered through four round robin-boxes – were Sam Bithell, David Cadwalladr, Anna Carter, Will Collett, Marcus Connolly, Liam Faruq, and Andrew Healey. Rafie Faruq carried the lone Comberton flag in Group B!

Everyone seemed to manage at least one competitive match, though David was hampered by a shoulder injury, and Anna and Rafie were only narrowly pipped at the post for qualification for the semi-finals as box winners. In the end our one semi-finalist was Will, who performed very well to win his box (and a £10 gift token!). Will went out in his semi-final to the eventual Group A champion, Jack Wright from Peterborough.


Ray Scrivens

Get pally with that alley.

Our Level IV Coach Chris Vine gives it to us straight:

"I am firmly of the opinion that the straight game (volley short/long) drop (front and back) drives (all heights and power variations) should be as solid and as "automatic" as possible - (remember tightness to the wall will always help you out!)- this is the basis of constructing a sound and mature game.

"In order to perfect their straight games all the lads should really persist with the alley work - even if they find it difficult at first. They will get the hang of it and maybe some individual simple repetitive practice (hitting straight drives/volleys on their own at least maybe twice a week) should assist with the technique problems that are there - for instance, racket not up early enough, shoulders not turned enough, footwork not quite there yet, inconsistent quality hitting, balance etc etc.

"Six months of practice and you will see huge strides made."

(Taken from Chris's recent comments to Dr Squash. Chris will be here in person on Saturday 16th December.)

Comberton III not halfway bad!

Comberton III is our development team of juniors along with coaches, dads, and others. They play in Division 5 of the Cambridgeshire County Adult Leagues.

With the final results from the first half of this season added in, we have a total of 74 points putting us in fourth position out of the seven teams - so we are exactly in the middle of the league. But we are only 11 points behind the leader Crown Lodge IV - a team that we in fact beat 4:1 when we played them.

Our final position will depend on how we do in the second half of the season but we've made a very solid start!

Our thanks go to our captain Steve Swanton for an excellent job. And well done all the juniors and other players for turning out and competing:-

The juniors were Rory, Euan, Nils, Andy, and Ben.
The 'oldies' were Martyn, Steve, Lloyd, Mike, Neil, and Ken.

Special mention goes to Lloyd and Ken for their 100% winning performances. And also to Rory for three solid wins, two of them turning the scores around to give us the matches.

Full details are on
http://www.yoursport.net/uk/squ/401111547206sfbv051l00005.php

Rules Quiz 6.

Question 6.
Getting ready to serve you look over at your opponent and they have moved forward out of the back quarter of their side and are standing with both feet on the line at the front of the service box. Is this allowed?

Answer to question 5 (glass back court top).
If you look at a glass back wall you will see that the top of the glass lines up with the bottom of the out-of-court line. So if the ball kicks up then it didn't hit 100% on the glass - which means it would have hit a line if there was one. So it is out - you win the point - don't be fooled into accepting a let!

Comberton storm into next round of National Schools

Quite a bit better than 'good enough'!

The Comberton National Schools team made no mistake yesterday about winning their place in the next round of the competition. They all proved much too strong for their opponents from King Edward VI Grammar to make any impact on them at all: every position was won quickly 3/0 by the Comberton lads. In fact only a handful of points were conceded by the team in the entire match.

If they now beat their final opponents in this round (which seems likely on their current form) then they will finish clear winners of this regional league. This will put them in a good starting position for the next round which will be an inter-regional knockout competing for a place in the National finals in March next year.

Their final first round match will be at Comberton in January against Brentwood High School.

Junior Coaching Sessions 9th December

This Saturday (9th December) we will be running all three sessions.

The first session is for beginners. The second is more advanced. And the third session is currently by invitation to those in the School Squad. This week by special arrangement it will be an encore of Mike and Martyn's session continuing the 'targets' theme. Next week (16th) will be the last advanced session of this year and will be with Chris Vine.

We also need to collect payment for the advanced session as soon as possible - that is only twelve pounds which covers the entire nine sessions. Paying soon will mean you get one of the great new squad track suits when they arrive. Thanks.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Ray Scrivens and Nick Dickens

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and David Downes

Advanced coaching
12.30 - 14.00 session
Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons

Martyn and Mike are our Junior Development level II coaches. Both are applying their scientific training to squash: Mike is investigating the stimulus of red wine anti-oxidants on squash performance; while Martyn is developing a wave diffraction theory of boasting from the back corners.

Next National Schools Match

The Comberton National Schools team have their next first round match this Thursday (7th December) against King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmesford. We will leave at 15.00 from the squash club and aim to be with them by 16.00. The squad is: Nils, Rory, Euan, Andy, Tom, and Peter. Remember to get those permission slips in!

The great Saturday handicap challenge

2nd December
The junior coaching session was the venue for a great sudden-death (that means best of one game) tournament this Saturday. Scoring was same as on the Professional Tour - Point-a-rally to 11. Everyone played everyone including the older boys who were helping.
Final point order (out of a possible 88) was:
1. Sam B. 87 (+6)
2. Will H. 84 (+5)
3. Anna 79 (+6)
4. Charlie 72 (+6)
5. Ben St. 70 (-12)
6. Sam P. 67 (+8)
7. Will Th. 61 (+6)
8. Ollie Th. 58 (0)
9. Rory 57 (-12)
with their starting point handicaps in brackets.

It was amazing how many of the matches went to 10 all. We did n't follow the Pro Tour tie break rule so it was sudden death at 10 all. This meant a lot of pressure on that final point!
Special mention goes to Sam B. who got extra points by doing well against the older boys (Ben & Rory) so effectively. And to Anna who did so well against all the boys.

Comberton 4th Team Match Report Sunday 26th November

Sam B. at first position and Charlie at second were up against a strong opponents and lost 3-0. Peter had an easier job at 3rd , but had to fight back from 2-0 down in games.
Here are the final scores:
Sam Bols vs Alex Darer 2-9 1-9 4-9
Charlie Leech vs Howard Storey 0-9 0-9 2-9
Peter Heynes vs Harry Darer 8-10 3-9 9-4 9-7 9-4

To make up for not having another team to play they also played a friendly against Fenland. Peter again had a close match, but this time losing 3-2. Sam and Charlie lost 3-0 each at first and second positions - it's tough at the top!

Rules Quiz 5.

Question 5.
You are playing on a glass-back court. A high ball hits the very top of the glass, jumps up and comes back into the court, but you don't manage to hit it back onto the front wall. Do you lose the point, or is it a let?

Answer to Question 4 (tennis serve).
An overhead serve with a run-up is perfectly ok so long as the server has one foot on the floor in the service box when they hit the ball. Remember that the foot in the box mustn't touch a line and it must be on the floor - no jumping up to hit the ball is allowed (but they could jump then land and hit the ball - not sure why they might do that!).

Although these sorts of serve can look really good, remember that a squash ball comes back off the front wall at a fifth of the speed it hits it. So a 100 mile-per-hour serve turns into a much easier 20 mile-per-hour ball coming back to your side. A higher slower service can be much worse to deal with, so you shouldn't worry when you face this kind of serving (or try to copy it!).