Saturday Junior Coaching (2nd February)

This Saturday (2nd February) we will be running all three coaching 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 (Gods, Godesses, and DemiGods) is from 12.00 to 2.00pm.

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

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

Comberton III vs Bidwells I 29th January

It was a case of Comberton vs Comberton at the Bidwell's courts last night. The
Comberton III team losing to a team that had four current or past Comberton players: Jo Scrivens, who plays for the Comberton Ladies team; Ed Dodson, a member last season; together with Toby Geering and Nick Harris, both current
members of the club.

Nick Harris at five played a gutsy all-or-nothing game against Mike Macnamee. Nick mercilessly exploited any openings to finish off the rallies. Under this pressure Mike never settled and never found his length game on the Bidwell's court with its rather dead front wall. Nick was able to snatch his match 3:0 putting the 'real' Comberton team under immediate pressure. However both Steve Swanton and Neil Stutchbury were is good form and cruised to 3:0 wins at fourth and third positions. Euan Macnamee started out on very even terms with his opponent Ed Dodson, the Bidwell's number two. The first game was competitive with some varied and challenging rallies. Known for his stamina in long matches Ed is also a master of when to apply pressure. He took the next game fairly easily with Euan still looking unsure tactically. Then Ed played a tight hard game in the third to exploit this uncertainty from the younger man and clinch it 3:0 for Bidwells and incidentally continue his own run of nine unbroken wins in this league.

The pressure then fell on Martyn Symmons and Jo Scrivens in the first string decider. Jo looked in fine form and rose to the occasion playing a textbook attacking game from the T forcing Martyn to work hard retrieving from the back corners only to be stretched by Jo's short volleys. Jo took the first game fairly convincingly, but then lost the second when she looked unsettled by some awkward crowded exchanges as Martyn struggled to cover the front court. However Jo soon regained the advantage in fine style to take the rubber 3:1.

So a final score of 7:14 for Comberton III - severely narrowing our lead at the top of the division. We can only hope that Bidwells produce similar quality squash against the two Crown lodge teams - neither of whom they managed to play in the first half.
Joanne Scrivens 9-4 3-9 9-3 9-6 Martyn Symmons
Ed Dodson 9-7 9-3 9-6 Euan MacNamee
John Somerville 1-9 4-9 1-9 Neil Stutchbury
Toby Geering 6-9 1-9 3-9 Steve Swanton
Nick Harris 9-4 9-0 9-7 Mike MacNamee

Third team get foot in the door of the new year league

Comberton third team - fresh from their drubbing at the hands of the seconds - bounced back to win convincingly the first match of their new year league fixtures. This was a home match against Ely Squash and Leisure this Monday (21st January). Steve Swanton has been picking up the pace after a midwinter low and made short work of the Ely number five. Neil Stutchbury looked also to be cruising to a easy win after taking the first two 9:4 and 9:2. But then his opponent Paul Seaford lifted his game a knotch and turned the third game around to win 9:8 after Neil chose sudden death 'set one'. The next game was hard work and very hard fought but went to Paul. However Neil re-asserted his control of the game and won the fifth 9:3. Ben Stutchbury at third place had a similar fight in the third after two fairly easy games. But he was able to clinch it 3:1. Things were rather different for Martyn at second string - he lost a hard-paced first game but fought back in the second. After this reversal the Ely player Dave could not pull back. Finally Nils Downes played a great match against a wily and competitive number one: Daryl Thompson in his debut for the Ely team. Nils was unlucky in terms of points but was fighting hard for the whole five games.

Overall score was a Comberton win 19 points to 7 points.

Third team training is on this Sunday from 4.30 pm - it'd be good to see some more of our advanced juniors (this means YOU - Andy, Euan, Ben, Nils... your Comberton teams need you...).

D'Alessandro win County plate match

Andy D'Alessandro won the Cambridgeshire Closed County Plate match last Saturday in fine style. The first two games against opponent Steve Casey (Cambridge) were close and also involved several rather contentious let and stroke calls. Andy lost the first 9:7 and won the second in a tight 9:8 'set one' but looked philosophical knowing that he had put Steve through some punishing rallies. This proved the turning point with Steve making a large number of unforced errors due to lowered energy reserves. Andy was able to push through to a 3:1 win. This is the second year running that he has taken away the plate while his training partner and former Comberton member Mark Mitchell took the over-45 plate.

Saturday Junior Coaching 26th January

This Saturday (26th January) we will be running all three coaching 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 (Gods, Godesses, and DemiGods) is from 12.00 to 2.00pm.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coaches: Ray Scrivens, Steve Swanton, and Nick Dickens
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Ray Scrivens, Ben Stutchbury and Mike Macnamee
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons

Comberton First team battling hard in Premier League

The Comberton First Team played Hunts Leisure at the St Ivo Outdoor Centre Courts on Sunday 20th January. At third position Tom Symmons was stepping up for his first outing in the Premier League. Fresh from his England Squash Academy Training the previous day, he was clearly well in control against Alex Green despite the older boy's greater reach and power. Tom won it easily 3:0. The boot was on the other foot for Euan Macnamee in number one position. He was facing Robert Dadds who had also benefited from the Academy Coaching. Euan put up a brave fight in the first game and won several rallies with his trademark deadly kill shots. But Rob's speed and fitness allowed him to dominate the T and take the match easily 3:0.

Meanwhile Matt Cole and Sean Gant looked like having a rerun of their marathon 5 game match when they met before Christmas at Comberton. But it was not to be - Sean was able to take the sting out of Matt's pacey game and Matt's fitness started to look very questionable after a series of very long rallies. Matt pushed it to 9:9 in the fourth game with Sean two games to one up. Game ball for Matt alternated with match ball for Sean for several nail-biting rallies. But finally Matt made one tired error too many and lost the game and the match.

So Comberton lost the fixture overall. But we saw excellent competitive squash from all three of our players.

Second Team tighten their grip on Division Two

Comberton’s Second Team continued their domination of Division Two with more emphatic wins at Melbourn on Sunday 20th January.

We were up against two of the stronger teams in the division, and Ollie Thorne returned at #1 to strengthen our line-up. He played intelligent and accurate squash in his first match, against Hunts County, and never allowed his opponent a sniff of victory, recording a 3-0 win for us. Alan Leung at #2 faced a taller and older opponent, but made a determined fight of it, going down in four close games. Jeremy Harris, the youngest player at the event by at least two years, showed tremendous maturity and skill in a hard-fought 3-1 victory at #3.

Overall score – Comberton 10, Hunts County 4.

Our second tie was against Melbourn, with Jeremy leading off for us and scoring another 3-1 win. Alan looked well on top in the first two games of his match, but injured his back and faded rapidly, and at two games all he didn’t look to have much chance. Fortunately the back pain wore off and he battled back to take the deciding game. Ollie was involved in some good rallies against his opponent, but showed the greater consistency and once again ran out a 3-0 winner to give us maximum points.

Overall score – Comberton 12, Melbourn 3.

We now have two more rounds to play in this division, but if the Second Team can maintain their form we have a good chance of collecting the winners’ trophy at the end of the season.

Ray Scrivens (Team Manager)

D'Alessandro doesn't dally.

Andy D'Alessandro is known to many Comberton Juniors as an expert coach. He recently coached Tom Symmons to an impressive win in the under-15 competition at the Cambridgeshire Junior Closed. But tomorrow he will be competing himself in the Adult County Closed Plate. He didn't dally after his initial defeat by Dan McGinn in his first round match - but instead has fought through to the Plate final at three o'clock on Saturday 19th January at Cambridge Squash Club. So see if you can get along to support him after the Comberton junior sessions.

Under-13 County Training comes to Comberton

In a special arrangement this weekend the county under-13 training will be held at Comberton on Sunday 20th January from 10.00 to 12.00. This is in order to make space at Hemingford Grey for the Area Academy Squad. For this special week, the county squad training will be taken by Martyn and Mike from Comberton. Several Comberton juniors will be taking part in the session.

Saturday Junior Coaching 19th January

This Saturday (19th January) we will be running all three coaching 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 (Gods, Godesses, and DemiGods) is from 12.00 to 2.00pm.

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: Steve Swanton, Ray Scrivens, and Andy Thorne
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons

Take that you #@€*¥ racquet !

A few weeks ago I was refereeing a junior match and had to give a conduct warning to one of our juniors. He was playing well, in a hard fought match, but was cursing his mistakes a bit too crudely and audibly.

A conduct warning is an official warning from the ref that your behaviour is not acceptable. Audible or visible obscenity is one of the things that are not allowed under the important Rule 17 in the Laws of Squash.

Squash is often difficult mentally. And it can be difficult to keep your cool. But you need to stay calm even when you are working hard. Watch any adult match and you will very often hear some 'rude' words (some of them very)- usually aimed by the speaker at themselves not their opponent.

But when you come to play in junior league matches and tournaments, you should realize that there will be zero-tolerance of this sort of thing from referees. They will also be just as strict about any throwing of your racquet and angry hitting of the ball between points.

And after two or three conduct warnings the referee can award a conduct point to your opponent. The rules don't say when this will happen - but any reasonable referee will give fair warning - something like: "next time you say that, it'll be a conduct point" .

And once a conduct point is given the rules say that it has to be the same for the next time (for the same thing in the same match). You can't go back to getting only a conduct warning. So losing your cool could lose you the match!

Saturday Junior Coaching 12th January

This Saturday (12th Jamuary) we will be running all three coaching 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 (Gods, Godesses, and DemiGods) is from 12.00 to 2.00pm.

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

This Saturday sees the start of our new Squads of Gosh Junior Leagues. So look at the listing on the wall to see who you have to play this term. Who knows - you might even have a chance to play your first match - exciting!

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coaches: Ray Scrivens, Steve Swanton, and Tim Mears
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Steve Swanton, Ray Scrivens, and Ben Stutchbury
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Andy D'Alessandro

Squads of Gosh Rules Version 1.1

Junior Internal Leagues – Spring Term 2008

All questions and requests to join leagues to Martyn.

Coaches' decisions on rules are final.

Eye protection must be worn for all matches.

Rules

1. Matches are the best of 3 games professional scoring rules – a point for each rally won ('american') up to 11 points (unless 10:10 reached when it goes to a tie break when one player has to win by two clear points).

2. You enter the number of games won in the box in a line below the person you played. Check the letter (A, B, C, D, or E) of your opponent carefully to know where your points are entered.

3.You should try and get a referee for each match. Matches not played on Saturday will only be accepted if valid score sheet given to a coach.

4. At the end of the league (the end of term) you will also be awarded an extra point for each game played and an extra point for every person you beat.

5. The top scoring player in each league will be promoted two leagues and the second top will be promoted one league (except for P2 where both top will go into P1; and P1 where they can't move up). The bottom player will be demoted two leagues and the second bottom demoted one league (except in the bottom two leagues).

6. In the case of players equal in points the number of games scored against them will be taken into account. Note that players may optionally not get promotion due to entry of new contenders.

7. Players present on Saturdays in the last 3 weeks of the leagues will be awarded points for anyone not turning up to play any matches against them: one game, one game point and one win = total of three points.

8. Players not playing any of their matches will be removed from the leagues.

9. Juniors playing in the Adult Leagues are not allowed to play in the Junior ones too.

Junior Leagues for 2008 - codename: Squads of Gosh

For the spring term we will be trying out a Junior Internal League competition. This is very similar to the Adult Internal Leagues. The Leagues are posted just next to the adult ones outside Court 3. You can look to see who you have to play this term. Don't worry if you think you are placed too far down - if you play and win all your games then you will be promoted two leagues for next term and so you can quickly move up the rankings. The matches are the best of three games american scoring to 11 and a tie break rule that happens if you get to 10:10. One player then has to win by two clear points.

You should aim to play your games on a Saturday and we will try to keep one court free for this. Try to get someone to referee. If you arrange to play outside the Saturday junior session times then you will need a referee/scorer since we will want to see a properly written scoring sheet (it can just be on a blank scrap of paper) for the result to be valid. Hand your sheet to one of the coaches for checking.

If someone persistently avoids playing you right to the end of term then we will award points to you for the missed match - provided that you turn up regularly on Saturday to show you are available to play.

Be careful how you enter the points in the league table boxes. There is an example shown at the bottom of the leagues to help you see how this works.

Check the next blog section for the detailed rules.

Good Luck with all your games and enjoy them.

Comberton’s junior teams flying high at the halfway stage!

Comberton have three teams in the Cambs County Junior Leagues this season – and all three are leading their divisions at the halfway stage of the season. Congratulations to all the juniors who have represented the Club, and let’s see if we can make it a hat-trick of trophies this year!

Ray Scrivens - Team Manager


Cambs Junior Leagues – Halfway results, January 2008

Premier Division

1. Comberton 18 points
2. Hunts County 17 points
3. Hunts Leisure 15 points
4. St Ivo 5 points


Division II

1. Comberton 47 points
2. Hunts County 32 points
2. Melbourn 32 points
4. St Ivo 29 points
5. Fenland 21 points
6. Crown Lodge 2 points


Division III

1. Comberton 23 points
2. St Ivo 14 points
3. Hunts County 11 points
4. Melbourn 7 points

A very silly christmas to us all!

On the last Saturday before Christmas we had a special handicapping system for a quick fire Tournament. Everyone played three games against a random opponent with a random handicap imposed - like playing left-handed for the right-handers - or wearing a set of reindeer antlers. This is the popular traditional seasonal squash entertainment devised by a Comberton Junior Coach Martin Yeadon in days of yore.

We followed it up in the advanced junior session with a game of seasonal doubles with all players wearing santa hats or beards (along with eye protection of course!)

Xmas Tournament Results
Position. Player, points.
1.Will Harris, 33
2.Marcus Connolly, 27
3.Jeremy Harris, 26
4=.Anna Carter, 25
4=.Conrad Carr, 25
4=.Sam Bols, 25
5.Alban Fernandez, 24
6=.Sam Bradshaw, 23
6=.Jack Murphy, 23
7.Angus Harris, 22
8.Adam Sandcock, 21
9=.Sam Prime, 20
9=.Jake Thompson, 20
10.Ollie Thorne, 18
11=.Alex Gooding, 17
11=.Tom Symmons, 17
11=. Alan Leung, 17
12=. Johnny, 16
12=.Bart Fernandez, 16
12=.Gareth Nunns, 16
12=.Nick Hipwell, 16
13.Beth Collett, 12

(these result do not include an amazing 103 pts from one particular cooperative rally game that would have completely wiped out all opposition - sorry for that but this was supposed to be a handicapping system to make things come out more equal)

Saturday Junior Coaching 5th January

This Saturday, the first session of the new year (5th January) will
be just one single session. It will start at 10.00am and run through to 12.00.

Wishing a very Happy and successful New Year to all our players and coaches.

Coaches: Ray Scrivens, Mike Macnamee, and Martyn Symmons