Saturday Junior Coaching 21st July

Starting from this Saturday (21st July) we will be running just one session starting at 10.30 and ending at 12.00 and all juniors are invited to join in all together.

Remember that eye-protection should be worn for all junior sessions.

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Ray Scrivens and Mike Macnamee

Comberton Squash AGM hears about juniors successes

Rory Symmons recently reported to the Squash Club AGM about our Junior successes over the past season:

We entered four teams in the County Junior Leagues. The best performance was by our First Team, who were runners up in the Premier Division. We would like to thank Redmayne, Arnold and Harris for sponsoring all the team shirts.

At the League End of Season Tournament Comberton had almost twice as many competitors as any other club. Tom Symmons (already the County U13 Champion) won the Boys U13 competition; Will Harris won the U13 Plate; Jeremy Harris won the U11 tournament; Nils Downes was runner up in the U19s and Rory Symmons was runner up in the U17s. Congratulations are also due to Gareth Nunns, one of our enthusiastic primary school pupils, who recently won a County-wide mini-squash tournament at St Ivo.

Club players also made up all the CVC teams in the national and county inter-school tournaments. We had an outstanding run in the National U19 Inter-School Championships, reaching the last 16 in England, and were finally knocked out only when we faced a team of Eton sixth-formers. We have already entered a Boys U15 team in the National Schools Championship for next season.

The “Gods of Squash” course organized and run last summer by Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons gave a great boost to junior players at the Club, and further courses of this kind are planned for the coming summer. We would like to thank Andrew D’Alessandro and visiting Level 4 coach Chris Vine for their work with the “Gods” during that course. Chris also organized a special “Gods on Tour” training event when we played against members of his Essex County squad, and we are keen to maintain this link. Thanks to the Club for their generous financial support for the Comberton elite course and also Hugh Symmons, Architect, for both sponsoring coaching and providing tracksuits for the squad.

Ray Scrivens (helped by Rory Symmons) has coached a very successful after-school session for primary school players. The regular Saturday morning junior sessions have been very well attended. We would like to thank all the volunteer coaches who have run those sessions and also the older juniors who have provided support. It’s good to report that one of our top juniors, Ben Stutchbury, has just qualified as an England Squash Level One Assistant Coach.

Our older juniors have competed successfully in the adult County leagues as members of Club teams. The new Third Team (under captain Steve Swanton) has a core squad of our oldest juniors. Typically we had two or three juniors in each match and their successes helped the team to finish first in Division Five.

Checking the England Squash national rankings shows that, out of the eleven Cambridgeshire juniors currently listed, six are members of Comberton: Robert Dadds, Nils Downes, Rory Symmons, Euan Macnamee, Andy Hall and Tom Symmons.

Finally, juniors did well in our Club tournaments. Andy Hall was runner up in the Plate after a nail-biting final. Robert Dadds (who is coached by Bob Maison at Comberton and plays in the Men’s First Team) was a popular winner in the Club main event. In the handicap tournament a large number of juniors had good runs against adult competitors. We would like to thank all the adult club members for their encouragement - and also for their advice on proper knock-up etiquette!

Cilla Fuller - Comberton squash hero

Comberton's junior squads were very sad to hear that Cilla Fuller had died recently. Among her many contributions to the club over her years as ladies team player, team captain, and committee chairperson. But, most importantly for us all, she, together with Linda Brown, set up the regular Saturday morning sessions for juniors which are such an important part of the life of the club.

Saturday Junior Coaching 14th July

This Saturday (14th July) we will be running two sessions but the second will be depleted since many coaches and players are going to Bishops Stortford for a friendly match. They will meet up at the usual 10.30 and leave around 11 am. Hopefully they will be back bay 4 pm. Three cars are going - drive by Mike Macnamee, Andy Thorne, and Martyn Symmons.

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

Remember that eye-protection should be worn for all junior sessions.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Ray Scrivens

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coach: Ray Scrivens

Comberton III gears up for the new season

Comberton III is a development team that plays in the Cambridgeshire adult leagues and gives our most advanced juniors a chance to develop their match playing skills. It finished in the top three of the 5th division last season and then due to penalty points against one opposing team (who erroneously substituted a player listed for another of their teams) we jumped to the top of this division.

It is rumoured that the number of divisions may be cut and so we may end up in the bottom division again - but we will be the only one to have be promoted to the bottom division!

The squad last season included Andy Hall, Euan Macnamee, Nils Downes, Ben Stutchbury, and Rory Symmons, along with a number of veteran players, dads, and coaches. We are having intensive training from Andy D'Alessandro on Thursday evenings along with the Comberton II squad through the summer to get us geared up for the new season. Due to the division rearrangement we will have more games to play.

Next training is on 19th July at 19.30. We generally start with racquet skill routines. Then do ghosting or courts sprints for fitness. And finish with a circuit of strength and power-building exercises.

Junior Coaching Saturday 7th July

This Saturday (7th July) we will be running two sessions.

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

Remember that eye-protection should be worn for all junior sessions.

9.00 - 10.30 session
Coaches: Steve Swanton and Ben Stutchbury.

10.30 - 12.00 session
Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Andy Thorne

Comberton III evening training sessions

We have persuaded Andy D'Alessandro to take on the task of getting the Comberton third team into shape over the summer. The squad includes our oldest juniors. Each session will be two pounds fifty for junior members. Full programme is not yet finalized but we are having two sessions this month to try out the format. 5th July and 12th July at 18.45. We are hoping to make the sessions short and intense.

The squad includes: Andy Hall, Euan Macnamee, Nils Downes, Ben Stutchbury, and Rory Symmons.

Friendly Match at Bishops Stortford

Next Saturday we will have only a limited second coaching session. Many of us will be going down to Bishops Stortford for a friendly challenge match against their advanced juniors.

If you would like to come as part of our team then let one of the coaches know this Saturday. We will try to find space for as many as possible but places will be limited by the number of cars going. #

We will leave Comberton at 11.00 and will be back around 16.30. There are usually lunches available for us at the bar in Bishop Stortford or otherwise we can run around the corner to the shops for sandwiches.