SQUASH / RACKETBALL - NOVEMBER UPDATE

Racketball Leagues
The current league runs until Tuesday 05 December. Kudos to Chris Smyth who has already played all his matches! If you haven’t organized all of your matches yet, there’s still time to get them in.

Racketball Club Night
Please note this will move from Thursday 14 December to Monday 11 December for this week only, to accommodate the squash handicap tournament final.

Racketball Handicap Tournament
The draw went live this week, thanks to Roger’s keen organisation. Please ensure you check the draw and play the first round by the deadline of 01 January 2024.

Squash Handicap Tournament
The promise of a thrilling finale to this tournament…
Finals night is Thursday 14 December . We are at the quarter finals stage, with most matches still to be played although Trevor Webb has already secured his spot in the semi-finals – well done Trevor! Good luck to all our quarter finalists!

As well as the handicap final we have some other events happening the evening of Thursday 14 December . (I would say ‘the premier squash event of the year’ but hey, it’s no summer social…). Our Men’s 1st Team is also playing a match against Dolphin, the bar license has been extended until midnight AND (if you require further incentive), Richard Newbatt, Joe Collier and Ben Swadling have agreed to cook curry. Just your average Thursday evening at EGTSRC! It promises to be a good evening so please do come along, all members very welcome.

Summer Social Update
For those of you who didn’t prioritise attending finals night on the 18 September, Team 6 (purple) emerged the final victors, securing the winning points against Team 5 based on a countback. The final leader board as follows:

1st Place – Team 6 (Captain: Fiona Mackay)
2nd Place – Team 4 (Captain: Florice Cole-Fonteyn)
3rd Place – Team 1 (Captain: Me)
4th Place – Team 2 (Captain: Bonnie Gunter)
5th Place – Team 3 (Captain: Heather Bean)
6th Place – Team 5 (Captain: Karen Millard)

Thank you to everyone for entering into the event with such gusto and enthusiasm, and a special thanks to all our floating reserves and particularly Sarah Vartan, who was awarded super-sub!

Based on the good feedback received and ignoring the rest, we plan to run the summer social again next year. Please do put your hand up when the email goes out, we will run as many teams as needed to accommodate the level of interest.

Ladies Squash Report – Sue Kent

All I can say is what a start to the season we have had. Currently, the Ladies 1sts head the league, and our 2nds lie 3rd. Probably for the first time in our Club’s history. There is a long way to go, and it is unlikely to stay this way, but we cannot help enjoying the moment. ??

Aside from the teams, the Ladies section is thriving, and there is such a good vibe amongst the players. The standard has risen significantly, and, at last, Tracey has some really good youngsters on her heels in Megan and Florrie, plus we have some very enthusiastic members wanting to turn out for the 2nds.

We continue to enjoy our monthly round-robin events followed by delicious suppers cooked by various members.

Well done, Ladies. It is so good to see everyone enjoying their squash.

Mens Squash Report

Mens 1st Team
The team are currently sitting third from the bottom of Division 1 East, having won 3 of the 5 matches played so far this season. An excellent 5-0 win in their last match against Horsham delivered some much-needed points. Three more home matches between now and the Christmas break - 30 Nov, 07 Dec and of course, Dolphin on 14 Dec – home advantage and support will hopefully spur the team on to additional victory!

Mens 2nd Team
The team are in Division 3 East and have won 4 of their 6 matches so far, placing them second with two matches to play before Christmas. The team have been bolstered by some good wins from 3rd team players stepping in. However, best batting average across teams 1 and 2 is held by Joe Collier, with 7 wins out of 9 – go Joe! Keeping his nose clean is Toby Burton with 3 wins and no losses to date, can he maintain his form this Friday? Support always welcome for the 01 Dec home match vs Acorns with the final match this half away at David Lloyd on 18 Dec. Fingers crossed for a strong finish.

Mens 3rd Team Report – Ben Swadling

Following the success and subsequent promotion of the 2nd team last season, a slot opened in Sussex Division 4 East and, following some debate, the EG third team was born, (TW: with Ben kindly stepping up to the plate as captain). Special mention to Joe Collier for organizing the fixtures after the league was drawn, Microsoft Excel tuition available on request!

Any concerns around the availability of talented players were quickly quashed as hands flew up from players, old and new, to help grow our club’s presence in the leagues. Although we have maintained a somewhat younger average age within the team, we have leaned on ‘experience’ for our trickier fixtures and still have a number of volunteers not yet called upon – thanks to you all!

Team stalwarts Lewis Wilson, Finley Edwards, and Megan North have been with the team from the beginning and have gone from strength to strength, thanks to regular game time, with Finley the only player not to miss a match so far – long may it continue!

Our no.1 spot has been shared around but mostly held by the ever-impressive George Tardrew, picking up a number of points for the team and climbing the club rankings rather fast as a result! Other notable no.1’s includes Matt Gimson, who is fast finding impressive pre-injury form and flair; Lewis Wilson, who was thrown to the wolves against Crawley, and Richard Newbatt, who is mostly just excited about the number of young people playing squash and sharing beers!

Ben Thompson and Andy Norris have also thrown muscle into the fray and picked up valuable team points and increased the competition for places. Florrie, Hermione, Jacob, Scott and Ricky are all practicing regularly and looking strong candidates to push talent up through the rankings.

Three losses to start the season with Crawley IV, David Lloyd III, and Dunnings/Acorns V, looked to be an omen of bad things to come but with huge help from Coach Cowdell and tactician Jeremy Gunter (also yet to miss a game), the troops have rallied and since picked up some big wins against Brighton V, Dolphin V and Weald III. Nearing the mid-point of our first season we sit 8th (of 10), with 2 games in hand, and it’s starting to look as though our preliminary ‘lofty’ aspirations of a mid-table finish are well and truly on the cards!

Training is Wednesday evenings with Coach Cowdell - £5 each – and all who are keen to develop and play team squash are welcome. If you need any further details please message me.

Support thus far has been fantastic for our first season – thank you all!

And Finally...
If we needed further confirmation of how well our 3rd team is doing, Ben is currently placed third in Sussex 'Most Improved Rankings' player of the month – well done Ben!

29/11/2023

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SQUASH / RACKETBALL - NOVEMBER UPDATE

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