RE: January Newsletter

Hello and Happy New Year to all of you!

We're two weeks into 2020 which usually means we are split into two categories. Those who have lost their Christmas weight and those who are sick of hearing about how others have lost their christmas weight.

Veganuary is also a trend that's been thrown about after the Christmas period. Now those of you who know me will know that I LOVE food!! I've personally always struggled with keeping a healthy diet until about a year ago. I started eating healthier and making smaller portions for myself. Bare in mind I'm 6ft 1, 1/2 Danish and was brought up on a meat rich diet. Honestly I had bacon in cereal..... Don't judge.

So this December just gone I watched a program on Netflix called "The Game Changers". Now I'm not going to sit here and rant on about food for the whole Newsletter but I think nutrition is something we don't really touch on that much and it's a vital part of improving your squash, lifestyle and healthy living. So if you are like I was and don't want to hear about this then skip ahead. If you are like I am now and want to improve your lifestyle, health and your relationship with food then carry on reading.

So like I said I watched a documentary called The Game Changers which long story short is based around making people realise why you don't need to eat meat and dairy in your diet. Again if you know me you would know that this would be an impossibility for me a few months ago. I even have a special club card for Hickory's! mmmmm ribs.

The documentary sets out principals and the history of why we don't need to eat meat or dairy in order to be strong, fit, healthy or recover. Instead it outlines how a plant based diet will provide you with everything you need. Even those who train professioanlly. I've been on a plant based diet now for over a month and the results are as follows: I've lost 9 ibs of weight in total, gained 4 ibs of lean muscle, my speed on court has improved slightly, my energry levels are higher, I sleep better, I improved my best 5k and 10k running time, my FTP (unless you cycle that will mean sod all to you, basically how many watts I can hold for a period of time measured against my weight, age and height, I know boring right) has improved over 40 points from 320 to 360 which is huge in 6 weeks and, I feel great and less lathargic, less stressed and more positive. I realise some of these things can be contributed to a placebo effect but not when it comes to measured results like weight and speed.

I honestly can't recommend this change enough. If you are interested watch the documentary or grab me for a chat about it. All I will say is that if you make the change do it in baby steps and don't plunge in. Try a few meat free days a week at first, do it gradually and try to measure your changes to find results. It may not work for you but give it a go. If you don't feel any different then you've lost nothing, if like me you find it helps in the ways I've described then it's worth a go.

Ok onto the News:

Mistletoe Mish Mash - 13th Dec 2019 - Shropshire Squash Club Christmas event .

THE RESULTS

22 lucky club players took part in the unknown challenge of the Mistletoe Mish Mash.

Teams of 5 or 6, named from the Mythology of Mistletoe, battled it out over 4 events.

Team Loki: Ali P, Mark C, Colin J, Paul M, Tom H and Ozzie guest Dan Blakeney

Team Frigg: Linda, Dan A, Neil M, Steve O, Ffion (Kieran was stuck in the Mersey tunnel).

Team Odin: Dan J, Ollie D, Andy L, Tony B, Max and guest Adam PP

Team Baldur: Cam, Steve M, Steve J, Tom Q, Geoff H (abandoned by Jason PP)

Event 1 - Top God – Players played 3/4 court in 5 min bouts with promotion and relegation.

Teams Frigg and Loki looked strong at the start and came out at the top with equal points.

Event 2 – Norse Invasion - Teams sent one player at a time to invade another team and win as many points as they possible could playing ¾ court in 2 min rotations. This was very close with scores of 43,37,33 and 31. Team Odin made their mark taking first place here.

Event 3 – Escape from the Underworld – (50 up) – First to 50 in matches of 5 points with team scores added together. 65,71,98 but again Team Odin took top spot with 135.

Event 4 – The Mistletoe Mish Mash – Teams of 2 or 3 played timed matches in a team tag format, players coming on taking over the previous score. Odin were the ones to beat. But once again they proved invincible.

So Christmas Wreaths for Team Odin in first place.

Special award to Ollie D for winning Escape from the Underworld

Large decorated Christmas cones for Team Loki in second place.

Mini cones for Frigg and Baldur.

Individual scores.

1 Ali P 51

2 Ollie D and Adam PP 49

4 Cam 37

5 Dan B and Dan A 36

7 Dan J 35

8 Max 34

This event was a Mish Mash of stuff that is used in Junior coaching. Congratulation to all. You adult members played some really good ¾ court squash and went along with the mythical adventure.

Sausages in mash abounded and a great night of squash and entertainment was had by all. I believe a select group of 4 were still out and about in town at 4 am.

Many thanks to Sue Perkins for stepping in as catering manager, Guy for his gallons of delicious onion gravy and Ian Tanner for marking.

Thank you also to our self - invited friends from Brookside, Dan B (Ozzie hulk) and Adam PP. We will invite you back next year.

Mmmm sausage rolls, no Scott you don't need meat! This is hard.

Bar Payments

Members will have noticed that from mid December we have been trialling the cashless bar system, with the Sum Up card terminal and no till. This has proved very successful and as over 75% of bar sales have been made using the terminal since its installation, we will be continuing with this system from now on.
So, to summarise how you can pay for a purchase at the bar:

1. Pay by card on the Sum Up terminal (contactless or "chip and pin") - amounts of £1 or over only.

2. Pay direct to the Club bank account via your phone/desktop banking app - the Club bank details are in the front of the Tabs Book.

3. Pay by putting the exact cash into the safe (via the slit in the top of the safe) behind the door of the bar.

4. Pay by noting the purchase in the Tabs Book (name, amount and date) and at a later date (within a month) pay via method 1, 2 or 3 above.

As a further improvement, we want to update the Tabs Book - it is very messy and difficult to monitor. So we will be introducing a similar but more robust file with a separate page for each member who uses it (currently about less than 30 members use it regularly) on 1st February. Could you, therefore, please clear as much of your outstandings in the Tabs Book by the 31st January, so that we can start with a clean page on 1st February, so to speak. Andrew Black will be chasing up older amounts outstanding in a couple of weeks.

If you have any questions or problems, please speak to Andrew and he will sort you out ... one way or another!

Whilst we are on the subject of the Bar area we would kindly ask that all members both juniors and seniors be mindful that the frames around the viewing areas have recently been decorated and to do their best to not mark or scratch the frames. Instead eat a plant based diet and then you won't feel stressed or the need to pick at the frames. ;)

The YOUNG ONES - Sat 28th Dec

Teams of Punks, Hippies, Anarchists and Cool People darted, dashed, smashed and boasted their way round the squash court to win the “Cornflakes”. 4 current juniors, 4 juniors turned adult members and 6 ex juniors (now away at uni) were introduced to the antics of Mike, Vyvyan, Rick and Neil playing events called Bambi, Hide n Seek, Demolition and Corn flakes. For those of you who remember the Eighties series this may have some meaning.

The competition was closely fought with final team scores of 19,20 ,24 but the outright winners with 40 pts were The Punks; Cam, Fin Aimer and Tom Turner. Great to see so many young players up at the club. This may become an annual event on the calendar.

Happy 2020 to all.

Shropshire County Closed

Entries for this years Shropshire County Closed are now open, as such it would be great to have you play in the County Closed. This gives you an opportunity to play against players throughout Shropshire in various age categories such as the Over 35 / 45 / 55 ages, or in the Open & Open B Grade category.

There is also an open Racketball competition you can enter, meaning you can play both squash and racketball if you wish.

Full details are on the sign up page here - https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Shropshire-County-Closed-2019-1

Also for those interested in getting more benefits from the club log into England squash www.englandsquash.com and create a free account. There is some good online discounts for squash gear and loads of coaching videos from the National coaches that can help you with your game. When registering, just ensure you select you are a member of the Shropshire squash club and do not pay any subscription fees.

Have you watched "The Game Changers" yet? I'm not on commission for them btw. I just think it's a really interesting documentary. Have I mentioned about the gladiator burial ground they found? well.... you want me to shut up, ok.

Juniors continue to climb national rankings

We have recently been encouraging more Shropshire squash players to get involved in the England Squash circuit and currently we have junior U13 players ranked: at 80 in the country is Billy Schur, George Allison at 138, 144 Jake Davies and Joe D'Ammassa at 163, and an U15 ranked at 86, Jaydan Ingram and Finley Aimer ranked 151 in the U17's. This is a major development in Shropshire Squash Club as I would hope you would agree.

For juniors who want to enter an England Squash ranking event, several county players are going to The Northern Club in Manchester for a Bronze event on Sunday 26th January. Entries are via the England Squash website found here: https://www.englandsquash.com/events/single/11521
It would be great to see a number of our juniors all going up together. If you want any help or advice about the event or future national ranking events then please contact Ben Schur (benschur@zoho.com)

Marathon Man

Check out this message from Steve Wright.

Now that Christmas is out of the way, it's only 2 weeks until I compete in the Dubai Marathon (24th January).

I've set up a Just Giving page to raise a bit of money to support a Wildlife charity in the current Australian fires. The just giving page is here

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stephen-wright36

I will be wearing my Shropshire Squash Club T-shirt to run in during the event and there will be photos on social media.

Any support you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Steve.

LADIES CELEBRATE FIRST BIRTHDAY

22 November 2019 marked the first birthday of Shropshire Squash Club's Ladies Pizza & Prosecco Nights! 20+ ladies celebrated in style with funky Shirl warm ups, really close matches, meaty (and non meaty) pizzas, fizzy prosecco and loads of cake. These events have become a breath of fresh air with more women than ever trying out squash for the first time. Following this event we welcome Alison and Aoife to the club.

NEXT LADIES PIZZA & PROSECCO NIGHT - 6:45Ppm FRIDAY 17th JANUARY 2020

It’s on again! Starting 2020 with a bang, grab your trainers, put that sports kit on and join us for another inspiring
Ladies Only night of pizza, prosecco, fun, chat... and some squash ... and some coaching. As always, open to absolute beginners to die hard squash players. Age 15+. RSVP Tracy WP on 07854 544732. Feel free to bring a friend.

Winter Leagues

Below you can find the current standings of Division 1, 2 and 3.

Division 1

Whilst Llanfyllin are comfortably at the number 1 spot, our B and A team are holding 2nd and 4th well. Max's superb poster's for his A team can often be found on our Facebook site. Lots of encouragement for them as they try to make the top 3.

Division 2

In Division 2 things are a bit closer at the top with our C, D and E teams holding 1st, 3rd and 5th. All to play for with all 3 teams playing well.

Division 3

In Division 3 it's tight at the top with only 13 points seperating the top 4 teams! Andy's G (with a silent E, yes we'll never let that go) are within 7 points of promotion with some tough games to come up. Alastair's F team have their next highest opponents next on the 30th January. Good luck to them.

If you are interested in playing in the Leagues then contact a member of the committee or Dan Aimer (Club Captain) for more information. It's a great way to build your squash game and get to represent your club. If you're free one evening and see one of our teams are playing at home then come down and have a beer and see how fun and close the competition is. You're support will be much welcome.

That wraps up January's Newsletter. Whilst writing this Newsletter I've had two missed calls from Hickory's asking why I haven't been there for a while. I may lose my private booth at this rate. Gutted, try the beef brisket, you won't be disappointed. I'll be the one at the bar crying into my side salad with dirty rice and Frickles.

Happy Veganuary!

Scott