December Newsletter

Hi Ed, Hope all is well with you,

Can you let me know if you are happy with this newsletter going out? Excuse the poor jokes. :)

Scott

Hello everyone and sorry for a late December Newsletter but it's been busy and cold and putting up all of those lib dem signs in north shrophsire really took it out of me and was anything but a conservative effort..... see what I did there?

But it's December, It's Christmas and we've got a few things to share with you before the big day:

Team Squash - From Club Captain Max " Christmas " Ball

Our Shropshire League season has now got into full swing with all teams close to reaching the half way stage of the season just after the Christmas holidays.

It has been a challenging start to the season for our division 1 teams. Following the C team’s promotion in the 2019/20 season we decided as a club to accept the promotion to the first division and evenly spread our division 1 players across the three teams. Our C team has remained competitive with Cameron Parry continuing to impress. He played an impressive match this week against Craig Heath in the local derby. He has bee a shining light this season, not just in matches, but also supporting our coaching programmes as well.

Our B team required our Chairman Rob to take the mantle as number one for the first month of the season as our new talent Tim Arthur was away on work placement. He is now back and the B team are starting to creep up the table.

In division 2, our D team led by Nigel Jackson have been steady and most recently this week beat table leaders Bishop’s Castle 3-2. It has been lovely to welcome Steve Wright back to team squash. He has currently played 5 and won 5. Well done Steve!

Next there is the Shropshire Squash Academy. Whilst this is a team led by the county, we are proud to have all of the juniors as members of our club. Led by Dan Aimer, the young players have excelled this season having mostly played in division 3 last year. Finley Aimer, Jayden Ingram and Billy Schur have all taken huge steps this year and we are excited for their future. We are also thankful to them for supporting our division 1 teams this season as they have given up their Wednesday evenings after a hard match on Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday afternoon training as well.

In division 3, we have seen a lot of change this season as Matt King and Harrison Crombie have assumed the role of captains of the E and F teams. Matt has been the bedrock of the E team this season with 5 wins and no defeats - Leading by example. The F team has used plenty of experience to keep a steady position in the middle of the table.

The Shropshire Squash Club committee would like to place their thanks to all of our captains for their hard work supporting team squash this season. It is hugely appreciated and we look forward to the matches resuming early next year.

Women’s squash - From Tra-cy- me opening my presents early Waldron-Pegge ( I admit that one sucked sorry Tracy)

Our Pizza & Prosecco events in October and November attracted 20+ women to each. As ever the atmosphere was buzzing. We followed the last one up with some taster group beginners coaching sessions held over the last 3 Friday nights - these attracted 15 women over the 3 weeks and around 10 are keen to continue onto a 6 week course in the new year. Special thanks to Ben for organising the group coaching and our youngsters Becky, Cam, Fin and Izzy for helping out at these events.
More women are joining the club and it so hoped that these initiatives bring more in. More women have been attending club night where they’re finding that members are always welcoming and keen to offer tips.

Watch this space for what’s on in the new year.

Thanks for all the support and Merry Christmas all!

Tracy WP

Shropshire Squash up in North - From Ben Schur rrly it can't be Christmas already (So proud of that one)

In November we had a great day out in Manchester with the young squash kids. Max King and Jessica Weaver making their tournament debuts, Dan Nayman playing some great squash and George McGurk and Fred Schur both reaching the final of the under 9s. George took the win in an exciting match. Well done team!

Junior Squash Player of the Month

Congratulations to Jessica Weaver, CLUB JUNIOR PLAYER OF THE MONTH. She has been chosen for this award for the positive attitude, determination and joy she displays whenever she takes to the court.
Jessica recently entered her first England Squash event, travelling up to Manchester to compete in the girls’ under 13 event despite being only 10 years old. She went up against some very strong (and tall!) girls and maintained her cool in some very tough matches. Well done Jessica and keep having fun!

The Bar, Payments & My Courts Pro Tips - From An-drew me a lovely picture of a deer eating grass in a meadow with a Robin on a branch whilst the sky was all Black (No apologies for this one. it's spot on)

On a serious note though:

The Bar :

Over the last three months there has been approximately £200 worth of items taken from the bar for which payments have not been made through the Sumup terminal. If this continues, the Club will be short of £1,200 of cash for this year.

Unfortunately, there is no doubt about this as we have been monitoring usage of the bar with daily stock takes and Sumup reconciliations for most of November. It appears that every day some members (and there is no pattern) do not pay for the drinks (or balls or racquet grips) that they take, to the value of several pounds as day - which builds up to £100 over the month. This may be because:
i. They forget their card and then forget to pay the next time they come to the Club; or,
ii. The Sumup terminal fails to get a connection (it operates on the phone network, which can be erratic); or,
ii. The payment transaction on Sumup "fails" and no money is taken from the card (this is always flagged up with a message on the terminal). If this happens - try again, please.

But, if for whatever reason payment is not possible at the time of using the bar, it is still the responsibility of the member to make payment for their all their drinks or squash sundries. This should be done via Sumup the next time the member comes to the Club, or, as a last resort, by posting cash in the slit in the top of the safe behind the door into the bar.

If you have any other issues or problems with payment for bar usage, please let Andrew Black know (07889 494786).

It is your Club; your bar; your responsibility.

Thank you.

Mycourts Top tip

Did you know that ....... If you put the name of the playing partner on your booking, the court will also appear on the “Your Bookings” information of you and your playing partner on Mycourts from the moment you enter their name in Mycourts. Also, both you and they will get an email reminder the morning of the court booking.

See also the Information Point by the door of the bar, for other guidance on how you can make best use of Mycourts.

Merry Christmas!

Feedback on New Scoring System and 1 spot Balls: From Rob "Nay-man we have no room at the inn" Said in a Newcastle accent.

Could everyone please let me know what their thoughts on:

1) Using 1 dot balls

2) The new internal league scoring system

All feedback to be sent to Rob Nayman at naymanr@yahoo.co.uk

Thank you

Alan Boswell Trophy

Thanks to all who attended a most enjoyable day of social golf at Arscott Golf Club.

The trophy holder Jules O’Neil put together a very competitive round of golf to win the trophy once again. Congratulations Jules who came in with a respectable score of 32 Stableford points. However it was a close run contest with Geoff Harrison hot on Jules’s heels finishing in second place also with 32 points but Jules nicked it on the count back. The two “Nearest the Pin” prizes were won by Keith Sillitoe. Well done to all.

Jim Quinn

That about wraps our December Newlsetter up. Apolgies it's late in coming out but then so was George Michael and he's a Christmas Legend.

We hope you manage to have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Fingers crossed nothing changes or gets in the way ( he says checking as BBC News alerts flash up on his phone).

Stay safe and enjoy your Squash as always.

- From Scott Bass -nuts roasting on an open fire!!! (that makes no sense and doesn't work but my name is rubbish for Christmas play on words. We can't all be Max Ball. That was easy.

Merry Christmas!!

19/12/2021