Saturday Junior Coaching 27th October

This Saturday (27th October) by popular demand we will be having three sessions. The first session is from 9.00 to 10.30 for beginners and the second is from 10.30 to 12.00 for more advanced players. And the final most advanced session is from 12.00 to 2.00pm.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coaches: Steve Swanton, Ray Scrivens, and Tim Mears
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Martyn Symmons, Steve Swanton, and Ray Scrivens
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons

Comberton III win against Cambridge IV

Under acting Captain Mike Macnamee Comberton III beat Cambridge IV on Monday 22nd October in a home fixture. Mike was feeling distinctly viral but still managed to beat his opponent 3:0 at fifth string. Ken Brewer was less successful but managed to take one game off his opponent giving 1:3 at fourth string. David Cronk who had turned out for the team at short notice let his opponent get 2 games ahead before going up a gear and winning his match 3:2. Julia Dolman who turned out at even shorter notice and who will probably play for Comberton II later in the season, put in an excellent performance for us at third place to win it for us 3:2. Our only junior this week was Euan Macnamee who is looking very sharp at the moment. Although losing 0:3 to the Cambridge number one but this was a hard fought and high quality match against a worthy opponent who was clearly the best player in the Cambridge line-up.

So thanks to David and Julia for turning out and winning the day for us.

Final scores:
Euan lost 0:3
Julia won 3:2
David won 3:2
Ken lost 1:3
Mike won 3:0

Tucker Gardner County Junior Leagues, Division II

Comberton’s Junior League season got off to a flying start at Fenland Squash Club on Sunday October 14, with the Club’s Second Team emerging emphatic winners from both their matches.

St Ivo could only produce two players, so Will Harris at 3 had a walkover, while Pete Tasker at 2 and Ollie Thorne at 1 had comfortable 3-0 wins. Hunts County proved to be much tougher opposition at 1 and 2, though Will wasn’t greatly extended in his 27-0 victory! Pete started nervously, dropping the first game, but from then on played good controlled squash to take his match 3-1. Ollie and his opponent Sam Penny produced the match of the day, a thrilling five-game epic played in a very sporting spirit and featuring some tremendous rallies despite Sam having an injured arm and Ollie having a painful back! In the end Ollie just managed to clinch it 9-7 in the fifth, giving Comberton maximum points from the fixture.

Comberton III get win at Ely

Comberton III have had mixed fortunes against Ely Squash and Leisure in the past. But this time they made no mistake with a 5:0 win on Thursday 11th October. The courts at Ely are like fridges most evening through the season, but the recent warmer weather helped to make them climatically more like our own courts. Here are the team results:

Mike MacNamee won 3-2
Steve Swanton won 3-1
Euan MacNamee won 3-0
Neil Stutcbery won 3-2
Ben Stutchbery won 3-1

Team captain Steve said of the result: ' I thought it was a very professional performance and shows that, as a team, we are now coming of age.'

Nils Downes gets County Call-up

Comberton player Nils Downes helped the Cambridgeshire under-19 team to a good result recently against Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire recently. Playing in the Prestigious Nottingham Squash Centre Nils won his 5th string match against his Leicestershire opponent contributing to a win for the county team against those opponents. Later the team faced much harder games against the Nottinghamshire team. Nils was not able to beat the Nottinghamshire number 5. But Cambridgeshire were strong enough in the upper strings to win 3:2 over all. This included a win for our own Club champion Robert Dadds fresh from his successes in the recent County and Area Tournaments.

Saturday Junior Coaching 20th October

This Saturday (20th October) and next as they are half term weekends we will be having only two sessions. The first session is from 9.00 to 10.30 for beginners and the second is from 10.30 to 12.00 for more advanced players.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee, Andy Thorne, and Ollie Thorne
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee, Andy Thorne, and Ollie Thorne

Saturday Junior Coaching (13th October)

This Saturday (13th Octorber) we will be having three sessions. The first session is from 9.00 to 10.30 for beginners; the second is from 10.30 to 12.00 for more advanced; and then 12.00 to 2.30 will be squad training for the School team combined with other advanced juniors. If you came to our 'Demigod' training workshop then this is the session that you should be coming to.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Steve Swanton and Ray Scrivens.
10.30 - 12.00 session. Mike Macnamee and Andy Thorne.
12.00 - 2.30 pm session. Mike Macnamee and Andy D'Alessandro

Comberton Players get mention on England Squash website

Bob Maison reports on the England Squash Website about the County Closed event last weekend.
Check out the full report and details at the following page:
http://www.englandsquash.com/nlstory.cfm?ID=25723&NLID=62415

Saturday Junior Coaching 6th October

This Saturday (6th October) we will be having only two sessions. The first session is from 9.00 to 10.30 for beginners and the second is from 10.30 to 12.00 for more advanced players.

This weekend the England Squash Area Academy Tournament is running at Hemingford Grey squash courts. Most of our advanced players are competing there and so there will be no advanced squad training. We wish all our players good luck in that tournament.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coaches: Ray Scrivens, Steve Swanton, and Tim Mears.
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Ray Scrivens, Steve Swanton, and David Downes.

Comberton Results in the County Closed

Comberton players turned out in force at Hemingford Grey Squash last weekend for the County Closed Tournament. In fact we had more entrants than any other club. Everyone put in maximum effort - so well done to all our juniors. Thanks also to all the parents who turned out to support. And also to our coaches Bob Maison and Andy D'Alessandro who gave helpful advice and helped with the refereeing .

Saturday was given over to the under-11, -15 and -19 events.

In the U15 final Tom Symmons, who has only just turned 13, put in a storming performance to beat Toby Reeves (St Ivo), who will be over 15 in just a couple of weeks. This was a match that showed it is not how hard you hit the ball that matters but the accuracy to hit it tight to the wall. So although Tom has had to hand in his U13 trophy he won a new U15 trophy to take home.

Will Harris had previously been knocked out by Toby Reeves (St Ivo) the eventual runner-up.

Sam Prime got throught to the U15 plate semi-final but was knocked out then by Alex Curtis.

In the under-19 event Nils Downes was knocked out by Rob Dadds (Hunts Leisure but also training at Comberton).

Unfortunately Andy Hall was forced to retire injured during his first match against Paul McDonald (Hunts County) with muscle spasms that have now been diagnosed as due to a slightly displaced backbone. We all hope that he will be back on full power soon.

Ben Stutchbury got through to the second round but here was beaten by Dan Mcginn - who was the eventual runner-up to Sammy Chambers (Crown)

Matt Cole got through to the semi-final of the U19 Plate event but was put out by Paul McDonald (Hunts County). Euan Macnamee looked set to win this U19 Plate but unfortunately after a rearrangement of the line-up there was a late entry to that of Ahmed El-Refee (Hunts Leisure) who proved too strong for Euan and was the eventual winner.

Gareth Nunns was a worthy runner up in the U11 plate competition

On Sunday came the U13, U17, and the girls U15 and U17 competitions.

In the U13 main event Tom Blair won through to the final but was beaten by Liam Barnard (Peterborough) who was runner up last year.

Will Collett had performed well in the U13 and can take some comfort from the fact that he was knocked out by the eventual winner Liam Barnard.

In the U13 Plate competition both the winner and runner up were Comberton lads: Marcus Connolly and Will Thorne.

Ollie Thorne did well in the under-17 Plate competition getting through to the second round but being knocked-out by the eventual winner Sean Gant (Hunts Leisure).

Comberton girls were up against strong opposition but put in good performances: Amy Lamb in the under-15 and Ana Carter in the under-17.

Finally, the highlight of the day was a very hard-fought U17 final between Daniel McGinn and Robert Dadds (Hunts Leisure) - with Rob the eventual winner - a popular new U17 champion. Rob is coached by Bob Maison at Comberton and we are lucky to have him as number one in our adult leagues first team.