Agricole Cup deadline extended.

We have been inundated by a flood of one entry so far for our mixed-age doubles Tournament. So that we have time to deal with this and the large number expected in the few days up to entry date, we will be extending the deadline for a week until the 7th March.

We know of several adult players without a partner, and they are interested in getting in touch with juniors to partner them. So ask around if you don't have an obvious father or mother partnership lined up.

Saturday Junior Coaching (1st March)

This Saturday (1st March) 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 to think about your Squads of Gosh internal league matches and try to play one if you can find an opponent.

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

School Friendly against the Leys School.

Tuesday 26 February at Comberton.

We hosted a visit of players from The Leys School, unsure of how our standard of squash would compare to theirs, since the only “known quantity” on their side was Harry Taylor, an Under-15 Norfolk County player.

Unfortunately CVC’s top player, Tom Symmons, was unable to play for us, so the rest of our squad had to play up one, and this made for a tough assignment, it turned out. Nick Hipwell nobly volunteered to play at #1 vs. Harry, and stayed in the rallies very well, despite having no realistic chance of winning the match. Our opponents proved too strong for us all the way down to the no. 5 string, with Tom Blair at 3 putting up the best resistance against a sixth-former twice his size! All of our team did themselves credit by persevering throughout their matches, and a special mention should go to our no. 4, Jack Murphy, who played an extra match against The Leys no. 5, which he lost 10-9 in the fifth after a truly epic struggle!

The Leys plan to invite us for a re-match at their school in April, and we’ll aim to have some different faces in both teams to get a more even balance between the two squads.

Our full CVC squad this time was:
1 - Nick Hipwell,
2 - James Davenport,
3 - Tom Blair,
4 - Jack Murphy,
5 - Will Collett.


Ray Scrivens
Team Manager

Friendly team for Leys School Fixture

On Tuesday 26th February we will be having a friendly match against the Leys School. This is organized by school year so the squad is

Year 10/11: James Davenport, Nick Hipwell

Year 9: Jack Murphy, Tom Symmons

Year 8: Tom Blair, Will Collett

Ray Scrivens
Team manager.

Saturday Junior Coaching (23rd February)

This Saturday (23rd 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 to think about your Squads of Gosh internal league matches and try to play one if you can find an opponent.

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

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

County Inter-school teams set to go.

The Comberton Village College under-15 boys team, fresh from their excellent run in the National Schools Tournament, are off to St Ivo on Wednesday 12th March for the County Schools Competition. This year there will also be a Comberton team in the girls event - they are looking sharp at the moment so we are sure they'll give the other girls teams a run for their money.

In line with our tactics last year we plan to have a rotation of players at positions four and five in the boys, and at third position in the girls. Play starts at 10.00.

Here are the team lineups (subject to availability and school permission to play):

Boys team:
1.Tom Symmons
2.Will Harris
3.Alan Leung
4.Tom Blair*
5.Will Collett*
6.Marcus Connolly*

* - to play in rotation at #4 & 5

Girls team:
1.Anna Carter
2.Amy Lamb
3.Selina Leung*
4.Fiona Carter*

* - to alternate at #3


Ray Scrivens,
Team manager.

Saturday Junior Coaching (16th February)

This Saturday (16th 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 to think about your Squads of Gosh internal league matches and try to play one if you can find an opponent.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coaches: Martyn Symmons, Mike Macnamee, and Ben Stutchbury
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Ben Stutchbury and Martyn Symmons
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Martyn Symmons

Mixed-Age Doubles: The Agricole Cup

Comberton Juniors present The Agricole Cup next month. This is a Mixed-Age Squash Doubles Tournament. A fun competition for Adult/Junior Pairs. Sponsored by Agricole Ltd.

Practice and Qualifying Games will be on Sunday 9th March 14.15 – 16.30 and the Finals day will be Sunday 16th March 10.30-13.30 and 14.15-16.30.

The competition will be in two age groups: A. Juniors Under-19 with Adult; B. Juniors Under-16 with Adult.

All pairing of Junior with Adults are eligible but the default pairing should be with family member if available. So: father:son / father:daughter / mother:daughter / mother:son / carer:child / grandparent:grandchild, etc. All junior girls are eligible for the B-competition regardless of age and Juniors without a squash-playing parent/ grandparent may approach an unrelated senior member to be their partner. We expect the pairings to span more than one generation - so for example Adult brother paired with under-19 brother would not really be in keeping with the spirit of the tournament. We should say that this is a fun tournament and any players demonstrating dangerous play, not in the spirit of the competition, will be subject to Conduct Penalties.

All players must be members of Comberton Village College Squash Club. And all players (including the Adults) must wear eye protection (we have plenty to lend out).

Entry fee: £2 per player per age group entered.

Entry Forms are pinned to the board in the Club. You can return completed entries to any coach to pass along to the organizers. Closing date for entry is Friday 29th February.

Less Success for the Third Team!

Following on from the posting about the junior third team here is the latest from the adult third team.

This is a team of advanced juniors, coaches, and adults that is in the 4th Division of the Cambridgeshire Adult Leagues. Unfortunately, the news is not a good as for our junior third team.

On Tuesday 5th February we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at Cambridge Squash Club when we lost 1:4 to the Cambridge IV team. Mike Kenny was the sole winner of his match in an excellent debut performance at 4th position. At 5th position Steve Swanton put in a marathon performance involving a large number of long hard rallies. However he finally lost 2:3 despite tightening his game following a loss of the first two games to his opponent. Both Euan Macnamee and Andy Hall looked initially strong. But both lost 1:3 to determined and tricky opponents who managed to turn the tables on them. In the first string match Martyn Symmons was also competitive to begin with. But the long rallies against a hard hitting opponent took their toll and he lost in the fourth with a tired looking 1:9 score.

Final score card tells the tale of a 17:8 point defeat for Comberton.

Martyn Symmons lost to Mat Williams 9-7 6-9 5-9 1-9
Euan Macnamee lost to Chris Walthens 9-6 4-9 3-9 3-9
Andy Hall lost to Cyril Macq 3-9 9-5 4-9 2-9
Mike Kenny beat Maurice Ringer 9-5 9-4 9-0
Steve Swanton lost to Jamie Bludell 2-9 3-9 9-7 9-4 5-9

Saturday Junior Coaching (9th February)

This Saturday (9th 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 to think about your Squads of Gosh internal league matches and try to play one if you can find an opponent.

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

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

More Success for the Third Team!

Sunday 3rd February saw our Junior Third Team in action in the Tucker Gardner Leagues for the second time this season, this time at the St Ivo Outdoor Centre.

We started off playing the host club, and Alex Gooding at #3 found himself involved in a marathon against the U13 County Girls’ Champion, Natalie Caulkett. Despite producing a lot of his trademark retrieving skills Alex eventually went down 2-3.

Next up was our new recruit to the team, Alban Fernandez, who played consistently accurate squash and moved around the court with such speed that his opponent was overwhelmed, giving us a 3-0 win at #2. Sam Bradshaw, moving up from #2 last time to #1, had a tough match for the first three games, but after he’d taken the third to go 2-1 up he ran through his opponent in the fourth to clinch the match and the rubber for Comberton.

Overall result: Comberton – 11 points, St Ivo – 4 points.

Not content with a 5-game match against St Ivo, Alex soon found himself involved in another cliff-hanger against Hunts County! This time, though, he fought even more strongly, edging out his opponent 9-6 in the fifth. Alban once again came up with a fine display of consistent serves and intelligent drop-shots to record his second 3-0 win of the day. Sam faced Gregory Goodwin at #1, but although he’d beaten Gregory in their last encounter the Hunts County player was in tremendous form, hardly putting a foot wrong, and Sam succumbed to a 0-3 defeat this time.

Overall result: Comberton – 9 points, Hunts County – 5 points.

This result means that Comberton have stretched their lead in Division 3, so let’s hope we can hang on to our lead after the final match of the season next month!

Ray Scrivens
Team Manager

Junior Committee Members Needed

You may not have realized but Comberton Village College Squash Club does not run itself! Oh No... Between the annual meetings of all members, it is run by a Committee of volunteers that have regular meetings with the club chairman Neil Stutchbury. This Committee decide on how to keep the club running well; how to improve the facilities; and how to organize coaching, teams, and competitions.

So that the Junior members' points of view and suggestions can be represented at these Committee meetings, we plan to form a new all-junior group that will report to the main Committee once a term. This Junior Committee will not have to attend the main Committee meetings - instead they can give either written or spoken suggestions to one of the coaches to pass along to the main Committee.

There will be a two representatives from the under-16 members one for the 10.30 Saturday coaching group, one for the 12.00 Saturday coaching group. And a third representative for the U-19 members.

So start to think about who you would like to have representing you. This does not have to be someone with lots of ideas themselves. They will just have a responsibility to go around to hear the suggestions and annoyances of other juniors and then present them to the coaches and the Committee.

So what would you like to see? - new cool T-shirts, a fizzy drinks machine, glass backed courts. This is your chance to say what you think we need.

Another Great Run in the National Schools

The progress of CVC’s team in the Boys U15 section of the England Squash National Schools Tournament came to an end on 31st January with defeat against Lancing College. Lancing College is a top independent school which specialises in squash, and its team were very strong all the way down.

Nevertheless our squad (Tom Symmons, Peter Tasker, Tom Blair, Will Collett and Marcus Connolly) all fought well and did Comberton proud. For the second year in succession a CVC team has reached the last 16 in this tournament – a great tribute to all our players!

So congratulations to the five players mentioned above, plus Will Harris, our regular no. 3 who was unavailable for the final match, and to Sam Bithell, Alan Leung and Jack Murphy who played as our reserves in various fixtures.

England Squash Academy Area Coach Bob Maison commented:

In my view these lads are all very useful players but have the possibility to improve out of all recognition... ...if they can continue to work hard with their coaches and with the Comberton programme then there is no reason why they can't be at least twice as good this time next year and they will be ripping up teams like Lancing and saying "remember us". Keep it up Guys you're doing fine.


Ray Scrivens
Team Manager

Final scores:
Cameron Western beat Tom Symmons, 90 90 92
Joshua Anderson-Rose beat Peter Tasker, 91 92 90
Alex Warren beat Tom Blair, 90 90 91
James Ballamy beat Will Collett, 90 90 91
Kit Logonov beat Marcus Connolly, 91 91 90

Ticket Time Coaching

Many Comberton Juniors get individual coaching with our Club Coaches Bob Maison, Andy D'Alessandro, and Jo Scrivens.

For those who don't, we are going to offer trial 'Ticket Time' sessions on Thursday evenings. These will be at 19.30 and 20.15 with two juniors in each session coached by Martyn and Mike.

We will offer this to whoever we think will benefit from some extra coaching. But we need to share it around so you will only get an occasional session. We'll sign you up on a Saturday for the following Thursday. If you want regular session then you can talk to one of the Club coaches.

For Thursday 7th February Sessions we currently have invited:
19.30 - 20.15 Nick Hipwell and Sam Prime.
20.15 - 21.00 Jonnie Brown and Will Collett.

Comberton juniors climb county ladder.

Comberton juniors are doing well in the latest County ladder. We have five players in the top 12. We have also two players heading up their age groups: Tom Symmons who is first in the under-15s and Marcus Connolly who is first in the under-13s.
Here are the Comberton juniors - well done all of you,

6 Nils Downes
7 Ben Stutchbury
9 Euan Macnamee
11 Andy Hall
12 Tom Symmons (1st in U-15)
19 Matt Cole
27 James Davenport
28 Oliver Thorne
29 Peter Tasker
35 Marcus Connolly (1st in U-13)
49 Tom Blair
51 Will Harris
52 Jack Murphy
55 Anna Carter
57 Jeremy Harris
58 Will Collett
59 Will Thorne
61 Amy Lamb
62 Sam Bradshaw
64 Sam Prime
65 Alex Gooding
71 Angus Harris
74 Gareth Nunns
76 Alan Leung
82 Hoi Ping Liu.

County Under-15 training comes to Comberton

The County Under-15 squad will be coming to Comberton tomorrow Sunday 3rd February. Training will start at 13.00 and finish at 15.00. In addition we have made a special invite to the Comberton U-15 school team since they are clearly of U-15 standard.