Saturday Junior Coaching

There is no Saturday Junior Coaching this weekend as term has ended.

We will start the coaching sessions again on January 7th in the new year.

The Comberton Coaches all wish our Juniors a very

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Mixed result for Comberton in the Premier Division

Once again there are only two teams competing in the Premier Division of the Cambs Junior League this season, and, as last year, we’re up against Hunts County.

In the first of the season’s two fixtures we travelled to Hemingford Grey to face what has become their regular trio of nationally-ranked players: Greg Goodwin, Tayla Mounter and Nadine El-Refee. We were a bit below our top strength, as Jeremy Harris was occupied with a sponsored cycle ride – though if he had known he was going to have to retire with a puncture after only three miles he might have opted for the squash fixture instead!

In the event, both our no. 3, Todd Roberts, and no. 2, Alan Leung, put up respectable performances against their female opponents, but in each case the girls had the edge, and both matches went 3-1 in favour of Hunts County. This left Laurence Temple, our no. 1, to redress the balance against his old foe Gregory. Laurence played very well throughout, and Gregory never looked like matching him on this occasion, Comberton’s 3-0 win a fair reflection of the play.

So we took 5 points from the tie, with Hunts County recording 9 points – a four-point lead which we could well make up in the second half in the New Year.

Ray Scrivens
Team Organizer

Saturday Junior Coaching (10th December)

This Saturday we continue with our revised schedule.

The first session is for mini-squash players and will be from 9.00 to 10.00.

The JS1 session is for beginner level squash and will be from 10.00 to 11.15.

The JS2 session is intermediate and is from 11.15 to 12.30.

The JS3 session is from 12.30 noon to 1.45pm and is for more advanced players. For this term this will also include the JS4 elite coaching.

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

Coaches

9 am - 10 am mini-squash session. Coach: Ashok Babbar

10 am - 11.15 am JS1 session. Coach: Andy Thorne and Will Thorne


11.15 am - 12.30 pm JS2 session. Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Andy Thorne

12.30 - 1.45 pm JS3/4 session. Coaches: Martyn Symmons and Chris Shaw.

Thanks to our guinea pig juniors!

Thanks from all the coaches to all the juniors who turned out today to be 'guinea pigs' in the assessment exercises. It was quite a difficult day fitting so many coaching sessions onto just the two courts. We hope that you all had a useful time on court with the trainee coaches.

Thanks for being so helpful and we hope it helps you with your own squash. It all means that we will have some newly-qualified coaches for the Saturday morning sessions.

Next week will be a normal coaching Saturday. See you then.

The Comberton Village College Squash Club coaches.

Cambs Junior League Division III: a strong start for Comberton

Comberton Third Team began their match at Fenland Squash Club with a convincing win over Crown Lodge First Team. Sam Hicks at no. 1, Owen Mellors-Bourne at 2 and Adam Peer at 3 all recorded comfortable 3-0 victories to give us a 12-0 points tally (including a 3-point bonus for winning the rubber). Our other opponents, Abbotsley, proved a far tougher nut to crack, though! Adam, perhaps helped by his previous experience (he used to play for Abbotsley), came out on top in a well-contested match with a 3-0 win. Owen and Sam then found themselves embroiled in epic matches: Owen losing 11-9 in the fifth and deciding game, while Sam lost 15-13 in the fourth game and by 3 games to 1 overall. So Abbotsley won overall, but we picked up a respectable six points from the tie to finish the afternoon in second place. Everyone played very well and in a good spirit, and we look forward to playing against Fenland and Abbotsley (again!) in January.

Ray Scrivens
Team manager

Saturday Junior Coaching (3rd December)

This weekend we will not have any junior coaching on Saturday. This is so that our club can host a Level II England Squash Coaches course.

On Sunday morning from 10am to 12 noon all juniors are welcome to turn out to be coached by the trainee coaches. This is a great time to get some free coaching to improve your game.

We are back to normal coaching schedule the following Saturday.

An excellent start for Comberton Second Team

Our Second Team opened their season on November 20th at Hunts County Squash Club, facing the host club and Abbotsley squash. It turned out to be a very successful afternoon for Comberton, with all three players winning every match they played!

Nick White at no. 1 showed great character in toughing out some very close games – although he won both his matches 3-0, three of the games went to 12-10: clearly, Nick isn’t a player who gives up on a game! Mark Dancy at no. 2 had a couple of very close matches, gradually gaining superiority over his Hunts County opponent to take the match 3-1 and playing with enormous determination to win a very tight match against Abbotsley 3-2. Henry Prime at no. 3 had easier games, keeping his concentration well to record two decisive 3-0 wins, and for good measure winning a ladder challenge match, also 3-0, against a player from the other strong team in this division, Ramsey Abbey.

So we ended up with a 12-1 win over Hunts County and a 12-2 win over Abbotsley – a great start, but in the next fixture, in January, we’ll be facing Ramsey Abbey’s team, who also took maximum points from this fixture.

Ray Scrivens
Team manager