March Newsletter

Hello Everyone!

Things are happening. Positive noises are being heard. Things feel kind of fragile right now though, almost like if we get ahead of ourselves, get our hopes up, it might not happen. But April 12th is coming, days are getting longer, weather is getting warmer, Formula 1 has started (It's Max's year), we'll soon be allowed in gardens again (I've used the no garden rule as an excuse to not tend to my own this year), roads are getting busier...Ok that's not good but the rest is.

So as we gradually move out of Lockdown (hopefully for the last time), we want to let you know how things will work with reintroducing Squash at SSC.

You may have seen that the Sports Facility Team recently emailed out guidance on this. For those of you who missed it, you can find the link here: https://mailchi.mp/54d6baf0c1e9/squash-centre-reopening-12th-april?e=94b50c701b

Details for Tennis are here:

You can also find the latest guidance from England Squash here: https://www.englandsquash.com/back-to-squash

What if I want to wait until restrictions have been lifted?

This is a fair question and we can confirm that the sports facility team are willing to freeze memberships until restrctions have eased more. If you want to do this please email the Sports Facility team at: sport@shrewsbury.org.uk and explain that you do not want to return to play squash until the restrctions have been lifted further.

Opportunity to Become an SSC Coach!

Ok now normally I'm a big one for consistency and keeping things things the same. But this next piece is so important that I'm going to do the whole thing in bold so that you know It's important. With me? Ok, We have an amazing opportunity for you to apply to be an SSC Coach. Details on this are so important that I'm handing over to our Club Captain "Max Ball" to explain it all to you. This too will be in bold to signify importance. I may even even use a different font.... no no I can't that's too much.

"Hello everyone

I hope you are keeping well and have begun your fitness training ahead of a phased return to squash in the next few months.

The committee had a meeting a few weeks ago over Zoom ( no one was on mute! It was magical) and there was a lot of optimism about our future reopening when the government and England Squash deem it safe to do so.

One of the points discussed was how we hope to be able to continue our coaching offerings that we feel makes us a stand out club in the region. Introducing Squash X and Ladies Pizza and Prosecco over the last few years alongside our successful junior squash coaching programme coincided with significant membership growth up until February last year.

Our Saturday junior coaching and squash training camps led by our Head Coach Ben Schur and our club pro Miles Jenkins captured the imagination of our juniors and helped create pathways to take their squash to new levels. Working with Shropshire Squash and their new Shropshire Squash Academy programme, we believe the future is potentially very bright for young players in the region.

Whilst we have had a lot of success coaching over the years, a huge amount of that success is down to the kind generosity of the parents of our juniors. Many who become qualified squash coaches so that they could support us with our coaching efforts. Most recently we paid enormous thanks to Steve Jones, who recently decided to step away from coaching now his children are going to University. We thank him for all of his efforts over the years and we now have an enormous challenge replacing him.

To help us maintain our strong coaching offering, the club are looking to invest in FOUR new level 1 coaches to join our existing team. Whether you want to join the fun and coach the juniors (and future club champions), bring on players who are new to our sport in the sociable Squash X events or prefer the party atmosphere with the Ladies Pizza and Prosecco events, we are looking for enthusiastic candidates of every playing ability to bring a fresh feel to the coaching team and help the club grow back stronger.

The new coaches will be sponsored through the programme which includes the level 1 coaching course and also the Safeguarding, DBS and First aid qualifications required to be a qualified coach with England Squash.

This is a great opportunity to further your own squash skills too. If you have aspired to become a squash coach this could provide the perfect pathway to getting started.

Please visit the link below for more information:

https://www.englandsquash.com/get-involved/coach/coach-development

If you are interested then contact Ben Schur on: 07871415710

Or email: benschur@zoho.com

Applications need to be in with Ben by the end of April to give us time to review and take succesful applicants to the next stage.

Well I think that wraps things up for now (see back to non bold now as this is not as important) I never know if anyone reads the Newsletter this far. If you do, good for you. I might start adding specail codes at the end to see who reads this far.

In fact next time you see me just say "The pigeons are cold this time of year" that way I'll know you are one of the avid readers that made it this far.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon

Scott

28/03/2021