Saturday Coaching 26th May

This Saturday (26th May) as it is the Bank Holiday Weekend we will be running only the first two sessions.

The first session is for beginners. The second is more advanced.

We will be continuing with the remaining Tournaments to finish before the end of term. The Handicap and the Junior Plate. The listing for these will be posted on the notice board today and so you can see if you have games to play.

Check back to the posting about the Tounaments if you want to check the rules.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Steve Swanton and Nick Dickens.

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Mike Macnamee.

Saturday Coaching 19th May

This Saturday (19th May) we will be running all three sessions.

The first session is for beginners. The second is more advanced. There will also be an advanced session.

We will be continuing with the remaining Tournaments to finish before the end of term. The Handicap and the Junior Plate. The listing for these will be posted on the notice board today and so you can see if you have games to play. The Plate is for people who got knocked out of their main competition by their first opponent (not including 'byes' as 'firsts' so your first actual in the flesh opponent). So if you think that applies to you but you are not listed then complain to one of the coaches.

The Plate will be professional scoring to 11 points. If you get to 10 each then it is a tie-break where one player can win only by getting two clear of their opponent. So that might be 12:10 or 13:11 or 23:21 or even something like 123:121! Check back to the posting about the Tounaments if you want to check the other rules.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Ray Scrivens and Nick Dickens.

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Mike Macnamee and David Downes.

12.00-12.30 extra time for coaching/tournament matches.

12.30 - 2.00pm session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Mike Macnamee.
Mike and Martyn are level II junior coaches.

Two more tournaments

Although the under-16 and under-13 events have finished we still have the Junior Handicap and the prestigous Junior Plate competitions to play. We need to finish them before the end of term - so look at the noticeboard schedule and try to line your opponents up. Remember: if you have a match to play and do not turn up for two Saturday sessions in a row then you are likely to be discounted from the competition. So if you can't avoid missing two weeks then let us know and we will re-schedule your matches.

Comberton's plate specialist doesn't disappoint

Comberton Junior Andy Hall is something of a plate specialist: winning this event in the recent Tucker-Gardner Junior end-of-season tournament.

This week he also qualified as a finalist in the Comberton Club Adult Plate Competition - playing Steve Swanton on Sunday evening in front of an appreciative gallery of spectators. This match was perhaps the most exciting of any final played on the day. Both finalists were phenomenally quick and fit and won two games each. At this point it really looked like, if Andy could keep up the pressure, we would have a new junior name on the trophy board. But in the fifth game Steve kept his cool and exploited the front court with deadly accuracy despite Andy running him to the back corners repeatedly. And so Andy was not able to take the deciding game and lost the match 2:3 overall.

However the quality of his squash was clear to everyone watching and after receiving his runner-up trophy he also receive a well-deserved award from the coaches as the Most-improved Comberton Junior for this year.

Comberton Junior Champions

Under 13 tournament

The under-13 tournament final between Will Harris and Tom Symmons was played on Saturday. Will managed to take quite a few points off Tom but did not get a game. Both of them were awarded their trophies as finalists at the Club Award Ceremony on Sunday. Before presenting their awards Bob Maison mentioned the excellent performance of all the Comberton Juniors over the past year.

Under-16 semis

Tom had also played earlier on Saturday as a semi-finalist in the under-16 tournament - losing 0:3 to Nils Downes. There was some excellent squash in this match suggesting that Tom will soon be pushing the older boys pretty hard.

The other semi-final was between Andy Hall and Euan Macnamee. This was also a hard fought competitive match. Euan won through to the final but Andy was obviously warming up well for his final the following day in the Adult Club Plate (see our next posting). Bob Maison mentioned this match especially at the Award Ceremony because of the excellent sportsmanship and fairness shown by Euan and Andy.

Under-16 tournament final

So the final on Sunday was between Nils and Euan. Some of us felt like this was a touch of deja vu of their previous battles through their years as juniors at Comberton. But looking at their match there was no doubt that this was very mature squash being played - as good as in any of the adult finals.

Nils narrowly won the first game 10:9 and then took the second. But then Euan came out on full throttle to win the third game with a series of the high powered kills that are his speciality. Unfortunately for Euan, Nils managed to increase the pressure enough in the fourth game to limit further attack and so win the match.

The standard of play and commitment to the spirit of the game was excellent throughout. Both the lads making every effort to get to and play every ball giving us exciting flowing high octane squash. But match ball was a disappointing anticlimax when it ended in a penalty stroke as one of Euan's drives ricocheted back at him from the front wall nick.

Somehow I don't think we have seen the last from this classic rivalry...

Saturday Coaching 12th May

This Saturday (12th May) we will be running all three sessions.

The first session is for beginners. The second is more advanced. There will be an advanced session for the 'Gods of Squash' squad.

We are hoping to finish at least one tournament this week so if you know you have to play someone in another session then try to arrange and overlap. If your opponent has not turned up for three weeks running then we will give you the match by default.

Check back to the posting about the Tounaments if you want to check the other rules.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Ray Scrivens and Ed Dodson.

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Andy Thorne and Martyn Symmons.

12.00-12.30 extra time for coaching/tournament matches.

12.30 - 2.00pm session
Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons.
Mike and Martyn are level II junior coaches.

Make your knock-up work

The 'knock-up' or 'warm-up' is the time before you start a match and is an important time for you to learn about the court and your opponent.

You can learn more about the opponent by giving them plenty of time to hit the ball. This means not hitting it lots of time back to yourself. And in anycase it is not considered sportsmanlike to hog the ball to yourself. Hit it a couple of times back to yourself and then send it over to them. Watch them closely.

Use your hit to them to look for weaknesses in their technique. Are they standing so far back that they struggle to pick up a low ball? - maybe they will not fetch your drop shots. If you lob the ball up above their head do they have trouble volleying? Can they do a volley back to the back corner or only hitting down into the front of the court? If you know what they can do then you know how to cover it.

If the ball gets past them can they dig it out of the back corner? Can you tell when they move their position and racquet to use a boast to get it out? Does it look like a consistent boast or just desperation?

Compare them on the forehand and the backhand - a lot of right-handed players are quite weak on the backhand. This could be an area you can exploit.

Do they watch the ball or only the front wall? - if they are not watching then they might be easily beaten by an unexpected cross-court.

Do they make lots of mistakes? If they do then things are looking good for you.

Have a look at the court - is it cold or hot? - does it make any strange noises when the ball hits certain places? These can be very distracting. Are there other things that might distract you? - through the glass-back for example - get yourself mentally prepared to ignore these.

And finally don't forget that you have 90 seconds at the end of the knock-up to get yourself ready to start. The match does not start straight away. You can carry on hitting the ball to keep it warm during this time. Or you can change out of your tracksuit, or grab a drink, or go for a pee.

Just make sure you are 100% focused for that first point.

Saturday Coaching 5th May

This Saturday (5th May) we will be running all three sessions.

The first session is for beginners. The second is more advanced. There will be an advanced session for the 'Gods of Squash' squad.

We are hoping to play more tournament matches this week so if you know you have to play someone in another session then try to arrange and overlap.

Check back to the posting about the Tounaments if you want to check the rules.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Nick Dickens.

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Mike Macnamee and David Downes.

12.00-12.30 extra time for coaching/tournament matches.

12.30 - 2.00pm session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Mike Macnamee.
Martyn and Mike are level II junior coaches.