Comberton's best ever County haul!

It was the best ever year for Comberton Juniors at the Cambridgeshire County Closed Tournaments this weekend (27th & 28th September) at Hemmingford Grey Pavilion Squash Club.

We had a new County champion in the boys U-13 age group where Jeremy Harris convincingly added the squash trophy to his recent county tennis win (Ed: Tennis? what's that? Dr Squash: Well it's sort of a summer version of squash played in the sunshine and also wimbledon).

Jeremy's brother Angus Harris played well in the mixed U-11 age group and was defeated by Nadine El Rafee - who was an eventual finalist.

Will Harris was knocked out of the U-15 boys competition by fellow Comberton player Tom Blair. Tom himself was a finallist in the U-15 boys - a runner up to Tom Symmons who successfully defended his title having also won the U-17 boys plate competition the previous day. The runner-up in that hard fought final was Chris Shaw who also trains with us at Comberton.

In the older boys age group Euan Macnamee played exceptionally well in the boys U-19 plate competition after winning a very creditable 10 points against Sammy Chambers (Crown Lodge) who went on to easily win his title for another year. Euan went through to the plate final after a excellent performance against Toby Reeve (St Ivo). This hard game slowed him a little and in the final he came runner-up to a fresher Steven Mason (St Ivo).

The boys U-15 plate final like the main event was an all-Comberton event with Jack Murphy narrowly beating training partner Will Collett.

Finally Robert Dadds, who plays for the Comberton Mens' 1st team, narrowly lost out to his training partner Dan McGinn in a tremendous U-17 boys final - after a gruelling five games it came down to three crucial points between them. With Dan looking just a fraction sharper to finish the match.

Well done all our winners and also well-played our other juniors who were not in the finals - in many cases knocked out by fellow Comberton players! Will Thorne, Ollie Thorne, Alex Gooding, Sam Bradshaw, Sam Bithell, Johnny Brown, Nick Hipwell, Ellis Maloney, and Guy Weatherhead.

Saturday Junior Coaching 27th September 2008

This Saturday we will be running three coaching sessions. The first session is from 9.00 to 10.00 for beginners and the second is from 10.30 to 11.30 for more advanced players. And the final most advanced session is from 11.30 to 1.30pm.

This Saturday we will be running rather limited coaching as many of our players will be away at the County Closed Tournament at Hemmingford Grey - good luck to all our juniors in their matches both on Saturday and Sunday.

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

9.00 - 10.00 session. Coach: Ashok Babbar and Steve Swanton
10.30 - 11.30 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Steve Swanton
11.30 - 13.30 session. Coach: Mike Macnamee

Saturday Junior Coaching 20th September 2008

This Saturday we will be running 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.

Next Saturday we will be running a limited coaching schedule as many of our players will be away at the County Closed Tournament at Hemmingford Grey

After that we will be changing the timing of the sessions to 9.00 to 10.00 followed by 10.00 to 11.00 and then 11.30 to 1.30. We will be giving you a list of the full programme for you and your parents to check out.

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

9.00 - 10.30 session. Coach: Ashok Babbar and Steve Swanton
10.30 - 12.00 session. Coaches: Mike Macnamee and Steve Swanton
12.00 - 14.00 session. Coach: Mike Macnamee

NATIONAL SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP – A GREAT START FOR CVC!!

Comberton Village College got their campaign in the Under 15 Boys section of the National Schools Championships off to the perfect start, with a 5-0 win away to Bedford School.

Despite a minor problem in finding the school entrance in heavy traffic we arrived pretty much on time for our match against the independent school. The matches were scored under the new system: point-a-rally to eleven. There was limited time to warm up, and our first two players, Sam Bradshaw at 5 and Will Collett at 4, had trouble adjusting to the unfamiliar courts with their lack of bounce compared to Comberton’s courts. For a while things looked ominous as, playing at the same time on opposite courts, they both lost their opening games. However, they both settled in well from then on and recorded 3-1 wins.

Next up were Tom Blair at 3 and Will Harris at 2. Tom had a very comfortable win against an opponent who seemed overawed by his accurate serving and powerful forehand and backhand drives, and he dropped only four points in the entire match. Will had played hardly any squash through the summer, but had had a “crash course” during the past week, which seemed to have worked well as he steadily overcame a tall and hard-hitting opponent with his superior racket skills – another 3-0 win for Comberton!

Finally, the number ones! Like Will Harris, Tom Symmons had taken the summer off, and wasn’t as fit as usual. He was up against by far the best of the Bedford players, and this made for a really high-quality match. Both players displayed some great skills, and there were some excellent rallies, but in the end Tom’s greater range of shots proved decisive in his 3-1 win.

CVC’s next fixture will be in October, at home to the only other school in our Stage One group, St Peter’s, Huntingdon – watch this space!!


Ray Scrivens
Team Organizer

No Junior Coaching Sessions Saturday 13th September

Because of all the court maintenance and painting work this weekend there will be:

NO COACHING SESSIONS this Saturday morning or afternoon.

Beware of turning up - because you may have a paintbrush put in your hand and get given a wall to paint!

No coaching next week.

Remember there is no coaching next Saturday (13th September) due to maintenance work on the courts and painting of the rest of the club.

Saturday Junior Coaching 6th September

Wishing you all a successful new season.

This Saturday we will be running 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 next Saturday there will be no junior coaching because the courts are closed for repair and decoration.

Watch this space for details of the new season's coaching sessions. We will be changing the timing of the sessions and hope to put the full programme on the club website for you and your parents to check out.

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

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