July / August Newsletter

Hi Ed

Can you please review the 2nd draft below incuding changes you requested to the captains notes and removal of club night section until we have reviewed in coming months.

Thank you

Scott

We're back!!

It's finally happening. We are back to a more normal state of things (bar the lovely abnormal weather) and we've got a lot to cover.

I know not everyone reads the Newsletters but as this one covers a lot I'd really appreciate an effort from everyone to share the love of the newsletter and make a point of telling people you meet and play with to read up on the latest updates from our news pieces. Say to them "Have you read this month's newsletter?" They will probably say "no" You can then say "well we've been told if we read it we can start league matches with an extra 5 points against a member who hasn't" They'll be like "what! no way? that's not fair" you can then say " them be the rules mate, unless you read the newsletter in the next 10 minutes you start 5 points down" Hopefully they will then read this and you'll have done your part in sharing important news about the club. Well done you, well done. Only issue is that the 5 points rule thing isn't real. In fact best not to mention it incase It causes issues. Just say "read the newsletter, It's the best one yet" (it may not be but you're not lying this time).

Reminder of normality..

Following Boris Johnson’s statement on Monday 12th July, Shropshire Squash Club are pleased to announce that the following changes are now in place at the squash club.
1) The changing rooms will be open for members to use. This includes using the space to get changed and also using the shower facilities. We encourage you to keep a safe distance from each other where possible in line with the government’s guidelines on social distancing.
2) The upstairs area and bar* will also be reopening in line with government guidance. This a great opportunity for you to socialise after playing your match with refreshments and also watch other matches taking place. It is currently limited to a maximum of 20 people at any time to ensure your safety.
*For those of you who joined Shropshire Squash Club after March last year. We are a not for profit organisation which generates income to support our events, refurbishments and our junior coaching programmes through selling refreshments to members and guests. We have an honesty bar where payments are completed by a SumUp card machine. In the interests of health, safety and security, we require the bar to be locked by the last person leaving the club each evening. If you are not familiar with the procedures please contact a committee member or join us for one of our new member events which we will be announcing very soon.
3) We will return to our procedure of checking in for matches using the terminal near court 1. Members will be required to check in using their initial and 4 digit password which can be accessed and changed from your Mycourts login. Please contact The Sports Facilities Department if you have any issues. A £5 fine is imposed on any member who fails to check in using the terminal or fails to cancel any court within 48 hours of the booking. This is to encourage you to release courts you cannot use in a timely fashion so that another member can subsequently use them.
4) We will be changing back to 45 minute sessions as opposed to the 60 minute sessions with a 15 minute ventilation period.
5) We will be resuming club events including Ladies Pizza and Prosecco, Squash X and Sunday Club night. Please keep your eyes peeled for updates on these soon.
6) Whilst it is no longer a legal requirement to wear a face covering, we strongly encourage you to do so in communal areas.
If you require any further support please don’t hesitate to contact the sports facilities department on 01743 280625
On behalf of everyone on the Shropshire Squash Club committee and the Shrewsbury School Sports Facilities Department , We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and continued support over these last 18 months. This has been a hugely challenging time for our club and our sport. We look forward to welcoming you back at our great facility as we look to put the Covid-19 pandemic behind us.

20 v 20

We are playing Shrewsbury Squash Club (Rugby club) away on Wednesday 25th August time to be confirmed.

Members who wish to be invovled need to either put their name on the sheet at the squash club or message Max Ball on WhatsApp to confirm they can play.

Internal Leagues on Website

The internal Leagues are back as you are probably aware. The website is now back online and you can see the new Internal Leagues for July - through to the end of August.

Squash Women

Hello girls and women! A big warm welcome to our new and rejoining female members. If you have joined for the first time, then do come along to the next couple of “club nights” (Sunday evening 25 July & 1 Aug) - where you can meet other new members, play squash, have a drink and enjoy our bar area.

After summer we plan to restart our ladies pizza and prosecco nights where you can introduce your female friends/family to squash. There’s an hour of coaching, an hour or more of squash games and then pizza, prosecco, prizes, lots of chatting and fun!

It’s International Women’s Squash Week 19-26 September and we will be part of this. If you have some ideas and/or would like to be involved in planning events to mark this at our club then please contact me.

Hope to see you all soon. Kind regards, Tracy WP 07754 544732

The Shropshire Squash County and Academy is excited to announce some open day Academy sessions at various Shropshire facilities throughout the summer break. These can be attended by all juniors of any level and are run by county coaches.

The first attendance at a single session is free (subject to availability) and we have longer session slots available for older players. The following dates and venues are currently planned.

1. 4th August at Shropshire Squash Club

2 11th August at the Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis

3 18th August at the Shrewsbury Squash and Racket Centre (Rugby grounds)

4. 25th August at the Wrekin College

5. 1st September at Brookside Leisure Centre (near Oswesty)

Please register interest by emailing academy@shropshiresquash.org.

Thank you

Shropshire Squash Club juniors take the county championships by storm

This month saw the Shropshire County junior closed championships held, at Shrewsbury Squash and Racketball Club.It was fantastic to see some exciting, competitive squash and the Shropshire squash community getting back together after such a long time. This is the first time the junior county championships has been held at this venue and we are all grateful to the club and the volunteers, including Graham Jackson and Cyril Nolan, who helped to get this on safely, it's so important for the youngsters to have events like this after the enforced break.

Great work also from Gary Nolan laying on the refreshments and tunes to get a lovely relaxed vibe going and, of course, hard work of event organiser Ian Tanner in getting all the juniors - and their parents - to the right court to play and for the generous support of event sponsor Birford Cable and Harness. Thank you.

There were some brilliant results with Shropshire Squash Club juniors winning the county trophy in 9 of the categories!

A special mention to some of our top stars:

· Doubling-up in the BU11 and mixed under 9 categories was George McGurk, winning both events playing high energy squash coupled with some amazing serving. George plays with such enthusiasm and makes being on court the most fun thing you could imagine, while at the same time being incredibly respectful to his opponents.

· Jaydan Ingram, from Shropshire Squash Club, won the Under17 boys. He achieved this whilst being eligible for the Under15 event and, even more impressively, beat the county Under19 champion in the round-robin stage, where age groups were combined!

· And finally to Esme King and Vesi Vasileva who, entering their first ever competition, played every match with massive smiles and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was wonderful to see such positivity from these players so new to our sport, setting an example to all others.

List of SSC county champions:

GU19 Sophie Wright

GU17 Izzy Wase

GU15 Nia Lincoln

Mixed U9 George McGurk

BU11 George McGurk

BU13 Max Ruffles

BU15 Billy Schur

BU17 Jaydan Ingram

BU19 Finley Aimer

Wolves Ranking Competition

Congratulations to Fin Aimer, winning silver for an impressive display in the Wolverhampton Ranking competition. There were also good performances from Joe D’Ammassa, Jayden Ingram and Billy Schur.

Squash United by Birmingham 2022 at the 1YTG celebrations on 28th July at Centenary Square, Birmingham 10.00am - 6.00pm. (1YTG - 1 Year To Go).

Most of the 19 sports that make up the Commonwealth Games next year are taking part in these celebrations. For squash, Mellior Sports have developed and built a mini perspex squash court, which looks exactly like a a full size court, to help promote our wonderful sport. (The mini squash court is
a quarter of the size of a standard size court. (Standing 2metres high, 3.5metres wide and 4metres long).

What is Squash United by Birmingham 2022

Squash United by Birmingham is the project name for the Birmingham 2022 Legacy for Squash.

What will happen on the day?

When you arrive you'll find 2 mini squash courts, a batak wall and if there's enough space, a rebound wall.

Throughout the day we will be running lots of fun events including - (approximate times)
1. 10.30am - 11.45am - The longest rally challenge

2. 1.00pm - 1.30pm (Pro Demo)

3. 1.35pm - 2.00pm (Birmingham 2022 1 Rally Championships)

4. 2.00pm - 4.00pm - The Batak Wall Challenge

5. 4.30pm - 5.30pm - The longest rally Challenge

The event is free to attend so come along to Birmingham to join in the celebrations, show off your squash skills and see what the other sports have to offer.

Brookside 10 v 10

On Tuesday 13th July, Shropshire Squash Club played a friendly 10 v 10 match away at Brookside which saw the hosts needing two players to play twice after several late postponements.

Max made 8 changes from the team who played them in June giving first team debuts to Tim Arthur and Russell Norman.

Ashley Jones and up and coming star Billy Schur were both tasked with playing Jason Pierpoint, a player members will know very well. Ash had the benefit of playing him first and took time to overcome the speed and power of his opposition (Two traits we often associate with players with the surname ‘Pierpoint’ or their close friends and associates) and also a tidy drop shot against the serve. Ash managed to keep the ball away from him with strong rallies and saw out a 3/0 win.

Billy took up the mantle later in the night but couldn’t quite follow in Ash’s foot steps. Nevermind rematch will come in a few months. 0/3 defeat

Richard “Airforce” Allison and Finley “Aussie Junior” Aimer were both tasked with playing Olly Pierpoint, a very dangerous player especially at the front who had quick drops and boasts. There was 0/3 defeat for the Airforce whose guile couldn’t overcome middle aged youth and enthusiasm. Aussie Junior took up the mantle next narrowly losing the first game from having game ball. The second game saw Olly take control, but the third Fin came out with real hunger and won the game 11/3. The fourth game was much closer and Olly won the match. 1/3 defeat

Matt King led to a comfortable 3/0 win against another player called Jason with varied pace which led his opponent floundering. Max refereed the match and apologised straight away “Apologies if I make any mistakes. I haven’t refereed a squash match in a year and a half” – Nor have we all. This was reciprocated straight away as Matt marked Max’s game against Tim Ledden and said “Apologies if I make any mistakes, I have never marked a squash match in my life”- so that was probably a bigger challenge than the match.

Max played out a tight encounter with Tim Ledden who has had an excellent pre-season so far. Max kept cagey against Tim’s high tempo genga press style squash but narrowly lost the first game. The second again was close as Max tried varying the place and hitting more straights which won him the game. The third game hinged a lot on a very long rally and with Tim being much fitter than Max you can probably picture what happened – The hosts took control. Fourth game and Max came back stronger after another breather. He couldn’t break Tim down with decent serves, but edged the game 11/9. Fifth game and Tim reached his peak. With strong lengths down the line to pull Max deep and well placed drops at the right times, he deservedly won the match. 2/3 defeat

Next were the new players. Russell continued his strong 100% winning record at the club (including 2 friendlies against the club captain who has marked Russell as his “new bogey player”) with an impressive 3-1 win against Seb Pierpoint.

Tim Arthur, the club’s new whizz kid on the block was up against another popular Aussie – Dan Blackney – The talkative one who has been enrolled into the Pierpoint clan. Tim who has blown every player he has seen in Shrewsbury 3/0 slumped in the first game 11/7 before finding his rhythm and seeing out a comfortable 3/1 win.

There was a tense encounter between our other young whizz kid Cameron Parry and Adam “Windmill Arms” Pierpoint, another player who poses plenty of pace, energy and endeavour. That was a close encounter with Cam not quite finding form and succumbed to a 3/1 defeat.

Lastly our late call up Harrison Crombie concluded proceedings needing to find victory to prevent a second defeat in a row. He came from a game down to defeat his opponent 3-1 with good use of boasts and a lot of wrong footing.

The match had finished and it was 5-5.

So the calculators game out and we were totting up the individual games – amazingly the final score was 19-18 to Shropshire Squash Club. A great evening and social afterwards with thanks to our hosts.

There are plenty of team matches coming up:

On the 27th July we will be hosting Llanfyllin from 6.30pm

On the 1st August we will be travelling to Club 72

On the 7th August we will travelling to Wolves

On the 10th August we will be hosting Brookside from 6.30pm

On the 25th August we will be playing a 20v20 match against Shrewsbury (Rugby) Squash Club Rugby club. If you are available on this date and would like to play please get in touch with our club captain Max on 07859123417 or add your name to the sheet on the noticeboard.

The End

That about sums up our Newsletter. We hope you have enjoed reading up on all things happening with the club. As you can see there has been a lot going on and we have more to come.

Please encourage as many people as you can to read the newsletters we send out as we often hear of members saying they didn't even realise events were going on or that changes were taking place etc.

We hope you have a lovely summer.

Thanks for reading

Scott

22/07/2021