2002 Club
Championship
Information
Rules
Timetable
Commentaries
Men's Tourn.
Ladies' Tourn.
Plate Comp.
Saturday, 27th April 2002 - Finals Night & Squash Supper
Tonight, we had a great evening of squash followed by another of Brian's scintillating speeches, superb food, a raffle with wonderful and varied prizes, and a disco run by chaps who had obviously checked out our record collections beforehand.
Ladies' Championship Final
The evening started with the Ladies' Championship Final between Lorna Robinson (the club no. 1) and Frances Heneghan. It was very disappointing - incomprehensible even - that only two ladies entered the championship this year. Considering this year's team photograph shows 9 players, where were they all? I'm sure there were some good excuses, but still...
Anyway, back to the ladies final. Lorna took a few minutes to get going and this allowed Frances to take a brief lead, but once Lorna started finding her length, she pulled away strongly. Her returns of serve were particularly good, and once she got back the serve, then she was able to apply pressure on Frances with some very good consistent serving. Frances still hadn't found her power game and without this weapon, Lorna cruised through the rest of the first game fairly easily with a score of 9/3.
The second game was disastrous for Frances. Her returns of serve were straying out from the sidewall allowing Lorna a choice of shots, and she still wasn't getting good enough lengths. Lorna was never in any danger in this game and took it 9/1.
In the third game, Lorna started off well and shot up to a 5/0 lead. At this stage, Frances suddenly found form and with some good powerful lengths started picking up a few points. At 3/5, it looked distinctly possible that she was staging a comeback. Lorna then adapted her game to the faster pace and hit some great varied returns of serve off Frances's powerful serves. Once Lorna got the serve back, there was no stopping her, and she went through to 9/3 in a single hand.
Score: 9/3 9/1 9/3 to Lorna
Plate Competition Final
The next match was the Plate Competition Final between the energetic youthful Simon Harrison and the wily veteran Jonathon Bomford. This was an exciting match between players with very different styles. Simon is very stylish, with an impressive turn of speed and an ability to do the splits when reaching for an almost-out-of-reach ball that made me wince a few times!; his only weakness is a tendency to throw away positions of advantage with risky shots. Jonathan is a clever player who capitalises on his opponent's weaknesses and has the ability to play a lob (from anywhere on the court) that has to be volleyed before it dies in the back.
Jonathan got off to a tremendous start and kept Simon under continuous pressure with some very good lobs. Simon hadn't yet relaxed, and although his retrieving was awesome at times, he tightened up at critical times and threw away a lot of opportunities. Jonathan looked totally in control in this game and took it 9/2
The second game started off in the same fashion. Jonathan picked up lots of easy points to go 5/2 up and looked all set to steam through to a 2/0 lead in games. Simon reacted magnificently to the pressure and settled into percentage squash. He cut out all silly shots (well almost all - there was a dreadful reverse angle that gave Jonathan a stroke at some stage) and kept driving the ball to the back. Jonathan was still doing a good job of flicking the ball up forcing Simon to volley difficult shots or wait in the hope that the ball would come off the back wall. However, lobs from the back of the court are never as effective, and Simon was now in control. Simon took that game 9/6
Jonathan kept up the pressure in the third and fourth games, but there was no holding Simon back and he took those games 9/2 and 9/3.
Score: 2/9 9/6 9/2 9/3 to Simon
Men's Championship Final
Once again (as we have come to expect) this was a battle between Glen Danks (the club no. 1) and Brett Green (the club no. 2). I'm not alone in thinking that both these players are improving every year. It must be very frustrating for Brett to play better each year only to see Glen respond with a similar boost in performance. So, what was the outcome this year?
After a cautious exchange of serves, both players settled into some really good squash. Glen produced some superb boasts which were millimetre-perfect on the front wall. Brett was still warming up and hadn't reached his peak speed yet and this allowed Glen to go 4/0 up. Brett then dug in and played some tight percentage squash to claw back a couple of points. Glen has a couple of new shots - straight drops, forehand and backhand. and a short backhand boast. These are rarely winners in their own rights, but they are so tight that they make it almost impossible to hit a good safe shot off them. Actually, in a couple of cases, Glen's forehand drops were so tight that Brett couldn't get a racket on them! Glen also played a couple of backhand boasts off Brett's backhand drops. These weren't winning shots, but often tempted Brett into going for risky winners which rarely came off. In particular, Brett's backhand crosscourt drop lost him many points - only one winner off about five or six attempts. Against any other player, they would have won, but Glen's anticipation and speed are awesome. The outcome of that game was 9/3 to Glen, and he really looked in control.
Glen and Brett were both doing some spectacular retrieving, but with a slight difference. Once Brett got out of position, Glen would make him work really hard for the next three or four shots. Whenever Brett got Glen out of position, Glen would usually recover position with a single lightning-sprint. It's just not fair!
In the second game, Brett pushed Glen much harder and forced a couple of errors out of him. When Brett played percentage squash, it was very impressive, and he seemed to be matching Glen point for point. However, Brett seemed unwilling to keep up some of the long rallies down the backhand side. While he kept up the straight drives, he was Glen's equal, but he kept throwing in the odd straight backhand drop which would pop up just enough to give Glen a choice of either another straight drop (but tighter), a powerful deep crosscourt or a short backhand boast. Brett also tried several times breaking the monotony of the backhand straight drives by trying out a crosscourt. Almost all of these lacked depth and ended up as half or three-quarter-court shots which Glen pounced on. But, at the same time, Brett was producing some of his usual magic shots. A couple of nicked drops along with one or two superb fast-reaction low volleys meant that he stopped Glen pulling away up until 6 all. But then his luck ran out and Glen surged ahead to 9/6 in a single hand.
In the third game, Brett came out flying. He let nothing past him, took everything early and had obviously set himself the exhausting task of volleying until he dropped. This didn't have much effect on the score, as Glen moved slowly but surely into a 7/1 lead. However, this pressure must have been tiring Glen. He tinned three returns of serve - always the first signs of a tiring player, and at 8/2 ran into a brick wall. Now it was Brett's turn to win point after point. All the relentless early volleying he had done in the first part of the game started to stand to him and his aggressive play was now producing results. This was helped considerably by Glen going off the boil somewhat and producing, what was for him, some lacklustre squash. Glen's lead was just too large though, and although Brett got back to 6/8, Glen clinched the match a couple of rallies later by getting that vital extra point.
This match was an excellent example of two superb players with different styles battling it out in a sporting atmosphere. Both players confessed to double bounces and even at a critical moment when Brett thought his crosscourt drop had won the point only to hear the referee award a let to Glen (a decision that was unpopular with the crowd, but was undoubtedly the correct decision), he only said "Oh, Tony!" - admirable! In the end, Glen's consistency, speed and fitness overcame Brett's slightly more-adventurous high-gain, but high-risk shots, but by a very narrow margin. I've just had a look back over the last couple of years, and this is the first time that anyone has got more than one point off Glen in the third game. What will happen next year!
Score: 9/3 9/6 9/6 to Glen
Many thanks to Tony Arthur for refereeing the matches. The way he says "90 seconds" is so commanding ...
Squash Supper
First of all, grateful thanks to all the people who put long hours into making the squash supper a success. At the risk of leaving out a few people, thanks to Karen, Ros, Gill, Christina, Errol and Gray for the food preparation. The food really was superb. For me, the highlights were the roast pork and crackling, the salmon fillets and the amazing choice of home-made deserts. My one complaint was that the plates just weren't big enough and it made me look greedy going back for seconds and thirds!
Brian's speeches (like Glens and Brett's squash) keep getting better and better! It was nice to have Tony Hilton (the first ever Club Champion thirty years ago) to present the awards and it was good of Gayle Kerrison (the Squash England regional representative) to come along in person to award the club the Bronze Charter (the ERC is the first ever club to achieve this award).
Another highlight for me was the raffle. First prize was a £100 squash racket which was won by my daughter Clare using the master strategy of buying an indecent number of raffle tickets! I also won a free restring, but after thoughts about coals and Newcastle, it seemed appropriate to return it to the pot.
I'm not a great dancer (impossible, I hear you all exclaim), but the disco music had even my feet tapping and caused more than a few of us to burst into song every now again. Christina was undoubtedly the star of this part of the evening - I wish I had that much energy!
Paul's Rant!
Now for the unpleasant part! Where was all the support for this major club event. There are probably about 100 active squash players in the club, and I counted about 19 spectating the finals and a depressing 15 at the squash supper.
Even the entry for the tournament was a bit half hearted. It would be very wrong to force people to play in tournaments against their will, but it is great for club morale to get large entries for these competitions. It's also an opportunity for lower-standard players to play against the team players. I try to make things as easy as possible by bending over backwards to reschedule early matches whenever possible - obviously the finals (and probably the semis) cannot be rescheduled.
I'm now going to be presumptuous and say what I think is expected of members of a members club. A members club is NOT a money-making club (unlike a commercial club which makes money for the owners/shareholders). Subscriptions are kept to a minimum on the understanding that people will volunteer their services and help out where required. Members have a moral responsibility to contribute in some way to the club to ensure its success and survival.
Some people will feel able to contribute enormous amounts of time/work (think of John Lomas and many others over the years - from a squash point of view in particular, I remember the huge number of hours of unpleasant work removing floorboards and plasterwork from the courts after the '98 flood carried out mainly by Rod Gough, Mike Francis and myself). Some people contribute by entering competitions in a playing, marking or spectating capacity, attending squash, tennis and rowing suppers, buying raffle tickets, having a drink (or two) in the bar after a match etc. These are equally valid ways of contributing to a club. However, using the club purely as a place to play squash cheaply is not really fair on those who do put in the contributions and keep the subscriptions as low as they are.
So, how can you contribute?
There are so many ways you can contribute according to your available time, skills etc.
- Enter the organised events - any capacity is fine - playing, marking, spectating, writing commentaries, organising, running the barbecue, etc.
- Play for the teams. There are teams to suit most standards from county standard to juniors.
- Support the social events - squash, rowing and tennis suppers etc. Turning up and eating is great. Helping organise and preparing the food is even better.
- Help out with the ad hoc working parties. Look at what was achieved recently in the squash balcony and the men's changing rooms.
- Become a committee member.
- Help with the juniors. We need more coaches. Anyone interested?
So, next year when I email you with details of the 2003 Club Championship and Squash Supper, what about putting the dates in your diary and keeping that weekend free? You might win a £100 squash racket!
No time to do any more match reports!
If anyone else would like to submit a few though . . .
Friday, 12th April - Tournament starts
Simon Harrison v Tom Bomford
Oh what it is to be young! Both players set a cracking pace and seemed inexhaustible in their retrieving. Tom dominated the first game with some very powerful drives to the back, and apart from one tinned drop, played percentage squash throughout. Simon threw away a few opportunities with some unforced errors. Things took a dramatic turn in the second game. Simon started hitting winners and Tom seemed to have no answer. In the third and fourth, Tom resorted to his successful opening-game tactics of hard drives to the back.
Score: 9/1 4/9 9/1 9/2 to Tom
Dave Potter v Barry Mulholland
Score: 3-0
Peter ? v Mike Hart (8)
Score: 3-1
Tom Richardson Wayne Hooper
For once, the court was warm, and as a result Tom struggled to keep his serves and crosscourt lobs in.
Score: 9/4 9/4 9/1
Peter Harrison v Jimmy Harrison (no commentary)
The battle of the Harrisons! The greater (we're talking about girth here!) Harrison won.
Score: 9/0 9/2 9/6
Ben Salcedo v Jonathan Bomford
This turned into a very exciting match. Ben sneaked the first game 10/9, and after taking the second game fairly easily looked in an excellent position. However, Jonathan slowed the game down in the third and Ben seemed happy to play at this pace, but wasn't inflicting the same damage. The fourth game was even slower, and this gave Jonathan the opportunity to do some good forehand drops. The most memorable event in this game was Ben's backward tumble - beautifully executed, but rarely seen on a squash court! Ben psyched himself up in the last game and started hitting the ball much harder which gave him good lengths. Jonathan did some great retrieving, but was unable to stop Ben going through.
Score: 10/9 9/3 6/9 0/9 9/3
Friday, 15th March
The first game of the tournament starts on Friday 12th April. Please send in match reports.