Cambs Squash

Cambridgeshire hosted the 1st stage of England Squash Boys U19 Inter County event.

The same Cambridgeshire squad won the U17’s national title last year and are keen to do well this year in the U19’s.

Cambridgeshire faced Norfolk first with good results from all of the squad. Steven Mason played a good match after a hesitant start losing the first game came back to win the second 11-7. Unable to hold his opponent he lost the next 2 games. The rest of the squad, Daniel McGinn, Robert Dadds, Peter Dickinson and Declan Osborne, all won 3-0. Cambridgeshire beat Norfolk 4-1

Although our league season hasn’t started yet Junior squash in the County and Area is off and running.

The Junior County Championships were held at Hunts County over 27/28 September with a great turnout and great organisation – the usual suspects Becs; Glyn and Ray Scrivens did their expected fantastic job and also big respect to Colin and Ahmed from HC whilst James was on maternity leave!!!

Must also mention “Van Es” company for stepping in as last minute sponsor.

Comberton Village College got their campaign in the Under 15 Boys section of the National Schools Championships off to the perfect start, with a 5-0 win away to Bedford School.

Cambridgeshire Junior County Closed Squash Tournament 2008 - Prize winners

The tournament was held over the weekend of 27/28 September at Hunts County Squash Club, and provided a feast of competitive high-quality squash.

Daniel McGinn (Peterborough Town) produced some excellent squash in the Under 17 final on the Saturday, eventually overcoming Robert Dadds (Comberton) in a gruelling contest, and then put on an impressive performance in the Under 19 final on Sunday before succumbing to England international Sammy Chambers (Crown Lodge). Elsje van Es (Hunts County) was a comfortable winner of both the Girls Under 17 and Under 19 events.

The first of what is planned as a series of Under 15 Grand Prix competitions was held on Sunday 6 September at Comberton Squash Club.

The event was open to any boys or girls around the county who are not currently members of the County squad and aimed to give them the opportunity to compete in an informal and enjoyable atmosphere.

Sammy in action

Crown’s Sammy Chambers capped an outstanding season by leading the England U17team to glory when clinching the European team title.

In a season where he has already become the county’s youngest ever Senior champion and has lead the County boys u17 squad to the National title this has to be a moment to savour.

The Cambs End of Season Squash Tournament, held at Cambridge Squash Club over the weekend of 19/20 April, was dominated by two clubs - Comberton and St Ivo.

Cambridgeshire boys U17 county team

England Squash hosted the U17 Inter County Finals in Solihull this weekend for the top 4 teams in the country, Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and Essex.

Cambridgeshire’s experienced squad of 5 won the U15’s in 2006 and were keen to add the U17’s title to their achievements.

I’m sure the whole Cambridgshire Squash Community will want to send their best wishes to our Under 17 Squad as they head off to the Solihull Arden club this weekend and attempt to Win the National U17 Championship.

We are delighted to report further success at the recent Herts junior competition as 9-year old Nadine El Refee was runner up in the Girls u11 event.

Sammy Chambers

Chambers warms up for the Europeans.

Following a short lay off with Achilles problems Sammy was looking for some tough matches as a build up for the up-coming European Championships.

Sammy Chambers

Sammy Chambers has been selected to play for England!!

Capping a season where he has reached the National No 1 ranking at U17 and become the youngest ever winner of the Cambridgeshire Senior championships Chambers has been called up to represent England in the Individual and Team events at the European Championships to be held in Lyon between 7-11May.

Cambridgeshire boys U19 county team

GREAT EFFORT FROM CAMBS BOYS SQUAD IN U19 NATIONAL FINALS

England Squash held the finals of the U19 Inter County Competition over the weekend of 15-16 March at the National Squash Centre -Manchester. Cambridgeshire had earned their way to the final with a very young squad who have two further years within this age group. A fantastic achievement for Cambridgeshire to be one of the top four teams in the country, especially at such a young age

Peter Dickinson

Suffolk Juniors – Well done Peter!!

The 2nd Weekend of Junior Competition saw Peter Dickinson roar through the field to capture the u19 title.

Unseeded due to lack of recent tournament play Peter was in sparkling form sweeping aside last weeks u17 Winner Robert Dadds and then going on to beat Bucks No1 Charlie Wyatt , who’d come from 2-0 to get past Ahmed El Refee, in the final.

Robert Dadds

Elsje Van Es

Regular readers to these columns will be starting to get used to reports about the success of our players. So now we have this fantastic web-site we hope to bring regular news from the Squash Scene regarding the County’s players

This week’s report features 9-year old Nadine El-Refee, a definite star for the future – remember you read it here first!! and goes all the way through to the WISPA tour with news 2 of our top ladies Carrie Hastings and Kira Pettersen playing in the Swedish open as part of the WISPA tour.

Cambridgeshire boys U17 county team

Cambridgeshire junior squash players clinched the double this weekend winning Stage 2 of England Squash U17 Inter County Championships. They now play in the finals of the U17 and U19 age groups for the county.

Attendees of the Young Leaders Course

Twelve juniors from five Cambridgeshire clubs attended a Young Leaders Course at Comberton Village College Squash Club on Sunday 27 January 2008.

The course was open to any junior aged 14 or over, and aimed to teach basic leadership and communication skills, to qualify the juniors to assist at coaching sessions and to provide them with ideas for coaching younger players, with a strong emphasis on Mini-squash.

The third Brian Fielding Memorial Tournament – and the first to be run as a Grand Prix – was held at St Ivo Outdoor Centre on Sunday 9 December. Competitors were divided into Groups A (younger and less experienced players) and B.

Cambridgeshire U19 Boys had an unexpected result in Stage I of England Squash Inter County Championship. Nottingham played Leicestershire in the morning winning 5-0 without dropping a game so we knew we had tough opposition before us.

Cambridgeshire played Leicestershire first and No 5 string Nils Downs and No 2 string Daniel McGinn both won 3-1. Ahmed El Refee, Robert Dadds and Sammy Chambers all won 3-0. Cambs beat Leicestershire 5-0

First round match reports are as follows:

Comberton’s Junior League season got off to a flying start at Fenland SC on Sunday October 14, with the Club’s Second Team emerging emphatic winners from both their matches.

St Ivo could only produce two players, so Will Harris at 3 had a walkover, while Pete Tasker at 2 and Ollie Thorne at 1 had comfortable 3-0 wins.

Sponsored by the Tucker Gardner Partnership

This long term partnership with Cambridgeshire junior squash has been fundamental in enabling youngsters to get their first taste of competitive team squash and many of those players have gone on to represent the County at both Junior and Senior level.

Based on the excellent junior programmes at Crown, St Ivo, Fenland, Hunts Leisure, Peterborough Town, Abbotsley, Hunts County, Melbourn and Comberton the number of youngsters wanting to play in this grass roots competition increases year on year.

Sammy Chambers

Sammy and Daniel McGinn

Sponsors of the championships

Training partners Sammy Chambers (Crown) and Robert Dadds (Comberton) took the honours at this weekends Cambridgeshire Junior Championships, Sponsored by Tucker-Gardner and Dunlop.

National No.1 at U17, Chambers was hot favourite to retain his U19 title but was made to work hard for it, first by Dadds in the Semi-Final and then by Daniel McGinn (Peterboro) in the final. However, Chambers proved too strong for both an added yet another title to his already record haul.

Robert Dadds

Nayera El Refee

Robert Dadds and Nayera El Refee doubled up at this week Mid East Area Championships adding to their u17 County Titles won at last weeks Cambridgeshire Championships.

With Academy Director Mike Harris away on International duty Academy Coaches James Powley and Bob Maison were fortunate to be joined by Area Organiser Andy Hastings and National Performance Director Peter Hirst to run the rule over the Area’s Junior talent.