Saturday Junior Coaching (1st June)

This Saturday (1st June) as it is half-term we will be running a limited coaching session. 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 only 1.00pm this Saturday.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coach: Steve Swanton
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Ben Stutchbury and Steve Swanton
12.00 - 13.00 session. Coach: Andy D'Alessandro

Comberton adult leagues third team ends up third!

After an exciting second half in division four of the Cambridgeshire adult leagues Comberton III have ended up third overall. Although this puts us out of the running for promotion we were only 5 points behind the second placed team Cambridge IV. Perhaps this is fair enough since in the second half they had up-ed their performance turning a 10:18 loss to us in the first half of the season into a 17:8 win this year. But we can take some pride in keeping our play up to standard - we actually beat convincingly the overall winners Crown Lodge II 17:6 this half - inflicting one out of only four defeats on them.

Special mention goes to Steve Swanton who was captain and a regular player for the team with a highly competitive 8 wins out of 11 matches. Our top performing juniors were Andy Hall (5 wins out of 7), Euan Macnamee (8 wins out of 12), Ben Stutchbury (7 wins out of 8) and, in the first half, Nils Downes with 3 wins out of 5. Martyn Symmons played in the most matches with 8 wins out of 15 at number one. Neil Stutchbury (9 wins out of 11) and Mike Macnamee (5 out of 8) put in a number of crucial performances; but most reliable adult players were Julia Dolman and Mike Kenny with a 100% record each with 3 wins out of 3 matches apiece. We were also lucky to have excellent support from Ken Brewer and David Cronk who turned out for a single match each. It says alot for the spirit of the club that over the course of the season we never had less than a full side. Our overall stats were played 17 won 12 - Cambridge IV had the same match tally and the winners, Crown Lodge II, had only one more win to their name.

It was an exciting season and we have had some wonderfully competitive squash on show. As the older juniors, who showed such improvement over the season, move on up to the second and first teams, we will be looking to recruit more juniors to play for us in the new season.

Our pre-season training sessions will be starting over summer so why not come along and improve your game so that we can count on you in September?

Saturday Junior Coaching (24th May)

This Saturday (24th May) 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 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, and Steve Swanton
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Ben Stuchbury and Andy Thorne
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Oliver Thorne

New Club Junior Champions - and the Cilla Fuller award

On Club finals day we held the Comberton Junior Closed Under-13 and Under-16 finals. The Under-13 was a hard fought match between training partners Marcus Connolly and Tom Blair. This was an excellent game played at a very high pace. Those of us who remember the sparring partnership between our older juniors Nils Downes and Euan Macnamee could see the same competitive spirit developing between these two. It was especially good to see them already developing their individual styles and know that they were obviously destined to push each other to higher and higher quality squash.

In the U16 category the final was between Tom Symmons and Nick Hipwell. Tom had his work cut out trying to get the ball past the longer reach of Nick. Despite taking the first two games convincingly he was feeling that it was very difficult to finish the rallies - particularly in the warm conditions on the day. Nick also has a deceptively casual movement that covers the court surprisingly well. However fortunately for Tom the earlier games had taken its toll on the energy of both players and so his commitment to a more attacking game paid off as he kept the rallies short and intense.

Final results
U-13 winner Tom Blair; runner-up Marcus Connolly
U-16 winner Tom Symmons; runner-up Nick Hipwell

The other big news was the first junior to win the new Cilla Fuller award for most-improved player. This was Anna Carter who the coaches all felt deserved this award for her own improvement and also her commitment to the coaching programme.

The most-improved player award has been renamed to the Cilla Fuller award as a lasting reminder of the contribution of Cilla, who died this year, to the Comberton Junior section. She was the member with the foresight to see that a regular junior coaching session was needed - and we are all grateful and know she would be so pleased to see our juniors doing so well at county and area levels as a result of her initiative.

Anna was the number one of our girls' county schools competition team. Unfortunately she was ill on the day of that competition and - although the other girls were still able to win - it was a shame that she did not get to play. So it was nice that she got the Cilla Fuller award to help make up for the disappointment.

Saturday Junior Coaching (3rd May)

This Saturday (3rd May) 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 is from 12.00 to 2.00pm. We are hoping that some of the Under-13 and Under-15 Tournament first round games can be played this weekend - check with Mike Macnamee for details of your games.

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: Ben Stuchbury, Andy Thorne, and Mike Macnamee
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Andy D'Alessandro