East Grinstead Tennis, Squash and Racketball Club
Ship Street • East Grinstead, West Sussex • RH19 4EE
Tel: 07851 060570
Racketball Leagues
The current league runs until Friday 28 June. Slim pickings for bonus points at the halfway point probably due to more tennis being played, hopefully everyone will have an opportunity to play more games through this month.
Squash Club Night
Please note for the whole of June squash club night is limited with only courts 1 & 2 available from 18.10-19.00. Normal service resumes on Monday 01 July. This is to accommodate the squash summer social.
Squash Club Championships
Thanks to Roger Bean and Andy Norris for another excellently organized club championships. Great participation with 12 ladies and 31 gents. Congratulations to all our finalists: Dominic Williams, Coach Cowdell, Megan North and Tracey Webster, and to the winners on the night, Dom and Tracey.
EGTSRC Open Day
Saturday 11 May turned out to be a glorious day of sunshine and a well-supported event. Great attendance for the tennis coaching sessions run by Danny Sapsford, who barely seemed to take a break all day. Hopefully everyone has been able to put those tips to good use!
We had a goodly number of kids showing an interest in racketball, and Roger was endlessly patient in showing them the ropes and being ball feeder. Thanks also to Stuart Sterling for organizing the catering and to our bar and BBQ volunteers who ensured everyone was fed and watered.
If any of your friends or family attended we would love to hear what they thought of the day, please forward/encourage them to complete our feedback survey here: https://bit.ly/EGTSC-2024-OpenDay
Squash Summer Social 2024
Our Summer Social kicks off this evening at 7pm. Even if you’re not playing for your team on any particular evening please come along to support/heckle! The teams hoping the path to success is fuelled by beer points are:
Squash(ed) Bananas (Yellow) – Captain: Florice Cole-Fontayn
Megan’s Misfits (Pink) – Captain: Megan North
Hermione’s Hackers (Green) – Captain: Hermione Vartan
Two Dot Bosh (Blue) – Captain: Henry Cole
Marvellous Mulberries (Purple) – Captain: Sarah Vartan
Red 5 (Red) – Captain: Anna Hall
Ladies 2023 Season Squash Report – Sue Kent & Megan North
EGTSRC are extremely proud to be one of only two clubs in Sussex to field two teams in the Ladies Squash league competition. With tremendous support from all the section members, fielding players for both teams across the full fixture list was easy, so thanks to all Ladies.
The regular 2nd team comprised Lynn Edwards, Karen Millard and Hermione Vartan, and these three played brilliantly throughout, especially against the 1st teams of Crawley, West Worthing, and of course, our own 1sts! They were ably supported by Sue Kent, Fiona Mackay and Florice Cole-Fontayn where appropriate.
The team finished 4th, below the aforementioned first teams, but above Lewes and Brighton, which is a fantastic achievement, and demonstrates the depth of good squash that we have at our club.
Thank you to Lynn for the regular taxi service, to Hermione for getting herself to most venues!! and to all for the delicious suppers at our home fixtures.
The ladies 1st team had a great season this year finishing second in the league, narrowly missing out to Crawley by just 3 points! Our regular team – Tracey Webster, Megan North and Florrie Edwards – consistently put their best foot forward with some great matches over the year. Special note has to go to Lynn Edwards for stepping in on our final game against Crawley, with such a close match.
Thanks to Tracey for driving to away matches and to everyone for their cooking across the season. Thanks also to everyone who came to support across the season, it’s great to see so many faces to cheer on the team. Here’s to another great season next year!
Mens 2023 Season Squash Report
1st Team
The team were in Division 1 East and ended the season in 4th place, winning 9 of their 16 matches. Although the win/loss ratio was the same as Dunnings, the team didn’t secure as many points but were close enough to hope for a reversal of fortune in the 2024 season.
No fewer than 13 different players saw 1st team action during the season, with special mention to George Tardrew, Ben Swadling and Thomas Mukasa for stepping up to the plate when needed.
The mainstays of the team Joe Collier, Mike Breen, Giles Cowdell, Dominic Williams and Curt Bean all played 10+ matches, with Coach Cowdell proving his commitment and playing in 15 of the 16 fixtures! Shout out to Curt for the best batting average, winning 8 of his 11 matches!
2nd Team
The team came so close! A nail-biting finish to Division 3 East but sadly, we were 1 point shy of 2nd place (and only 4 points shy of the overall division winner). So, despite winning more matches overall than Dunnings, we had to settle with 3rd place.
The ‘regular’ team of Joe Collier, Toby Burton, Rob Grange, Sam Gunter, Matt Gimson and Tracey Webster, were bolstered by support from an additional 12 players – a true club effort!
3rd Team: A Journey of Growth & Determination – Ben Swadling
In Division Four East, the 3rd team embarked on a challenging but ultimately rewarding season that was marked by fierce competition and opportunities for growth.
The season started on rocky ground with 3 back-to-back defeats and some personal concerns about strength and depth. The triumphant return of Ben Thompson and the unearthing of George Tardrew’s true potential; an already well-rounded (in my case, physically) team started to show its true colours. I didn’t know that a game of racket and ball could make me so happy as when we took our first win against Brighton! Stalwarts Megan North, Finley Edwards, Lewis Wilson and me, joined by Ben T and George T have taken up the bulk of the 3rd team spots, but where we have needed it, the club has pulled together. Appearances from Tracey Webster, Matt Gimson, Andy Norris, Ricky Gunter and Thomas Mukasa have helped us to valuable points.
After the aforementioned dire start to the season and efforts not to finish last in the league, things really started looking up and a ‘low mid-table’ finish became our new lofty ambition. Important wins at Dolphin, then putting the returning Nutley to the sword saw ambitions grow even further; we were now staring down the barrel of a ‘high mid-table’ finish and things started getting serious.
Giles was brought into the fold for weekly training sessions and I’m not sure any of us quite appreciated what he was about to do to all our performances! Ben T learnt the elusive art of a drop-shot, George realized that hitting winners is a good idea, Finley now floats around the court with a new-found grace and somehow Megan and I are running to collect drops and good length alike! And that’s only the people who have put points on the board for the teams.
Giles’ contribution to the level of squash at the club is phenomenal – new starters, tennis players and returning squash maestros have improved hugely and thoroughly enjoyed his tutorage – thank you Giles!
The run-in saw our ambitions transition from lofty to outright fantastical as we started to look at the podium! (and the addition of Lucas Day to the squad saw competition for the no.1 spot). Sadly, we didn’t make it into the top 3, but 4th is something we could only have dreamed of at the start of the season, and we have more than a few people to thank: Joe Collier, for making it all happen; Coach Giles, as previously mentioned; ‘The Tactician’ Jeremy Gunter, who I think only missed 2 games; and countless fans! We were, without a doubt, the best supported team in the league, winning off the court home and away.
Particular thanks to Stuart North, Scott Anderson, Elliot Bramwell, Florrie Edwards and Jacob Burton, who you will be able to see in action as our teams look set to grow again next year with a 4th team! And, of course, thank you to our wonderful bar staff and larger EGTSRC team, we all feel very lucky to be part of such a wonderful community and atmosphere. Long live cheap pints!
And finally, kudos to all our squash captains for magnificent juggling acts across all teams. Our success is testament to the commitment and ‘all-in’ mindset demonstrated by our club’s squash community.
Tournament fixtures for the coming season
Squash Handicap – 01 September 2024
Racketball Handicap – 01 November 2024
Squash Club Championships – 01 February 2025
*NEW*
Racketball Club Championships – 01 March 2025
Squash Summer Social – 02 June 2025
03/06/2024
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
May 2023
April 2023
Hotmail/Outlook Users
GMail Users
Other email service providers may have similar settings -- please follow their instructions. If not, contact their support desk and request delivery of messages from egtsc@no-reply.mycourts.co.uk.