Report by KERRY MUNN (Squash coach at Club Kingswood)
The final event of the inaugural South Essex Junior League took place at LA Fitness Thorpe Bay on Saturday with teams from Bannantynes/Thurrock, LA Fitness Thorpe Bay, Brentwood School, Springhealth Chelmsford and Club Kingswood taking part.
The league is for development juniors, year 10 and below (the youngest player was just 5 years old!). It has been running over four separate events since March and as well as at LA Fitness, matches were also played at Club Kingswood and Brentwood School.
At each fixture, all players had at least two matches with a mixture of league matches and friendlies being played. There was a superb turn out to every event and the support from parents and managers was fantastic. The juniors also got lots of marking practice, with dads and managers giving unbiased support. To even the matches out, points handicaps were awarded where necessary and as a result we had a lot of exciting 3-2 matches.
Many juniors had never played a match which was best of 5 games before. While the matches were going on, lots of the juniors decided they didn’t need a rest and took part in giant three quarter court games on spare courts. I am delighted to report that there were no tears or tantrums and everyone had fun. It was brilliant for the organisers, team managers and parents see the juniors improve their squash with each event as the season progressed.
Some stars of the league were: Lewis from Springhealth (who had endless patience with Manuella from LA Fitness) and Alex from Bannantynes (age 5) who played some players who were probably 2 foot bigger than him. He is definitely a star of the future. It was also encouraging to see three girls involved, it would be tremendous to see more girls in the future.
The final placings were:
| Club Kingswood | 1st |
| Brentwood School | 2nd |
| Springhealth Chelmsford | 3rd |
| LA Fitness Thorpe Bay | 4th |
| Bannantynes/Thurrock | 5th |
RESULTS
Kingswood 2, Springhealth 15
1 Tom Kimberley lost to Will Salmon 0-3; 9/11, 5/11, 7/11
2 Callum Ewens lost to Harvey Russell 1-3; 8/11, 9/11, 11/9, 8/11
3 Adrian Pastor lost to Cameron Sheppherd 0-3; 10/12, 7/11, 8/11
4 David Munn lost to Sam Wickens 1-3; 11/13, 7/11, 11/8, 8/11
5 Theo Redicon lost to Lewis Dumas 0-3; 6/11, 7/11, 9/11
Brentwood 14, Bannantynes/Thurrock 6
1 Alex Walton lost to Evan Marlow 2-3; 11/9, 5/11, 7/11, 13/11, 6/11
2 Elliott Moore beat Charlie Broad 3-2; 11/5, 11/8, 6/11, 7/11, 11/8
3 Joe Quick beat Alex Winder 3-1; 13/11, 11/3, 9/11, 11/7
4 Seb Margiotta beat Aiden Mahoney 3-0; 11/1, 11/5, 11/7
5 Isaac Raj beat Ashton Thatcher-Gray 3-0; 11/2, 11/8, 11/7
LA Fitness 6, Springhealth 15
1 James Garwood lost to Will Salmon 2-3; 8/11, 11/7, 11/8, 8/11, 10/12
2 Alex Wilshire lost to Harvey Russell 1-3; 6/11, 13/11, 9/11, 8/11
3 Selena Donovan lost to Cameron Sheppherd 0-3; 12/14, 7/11, 9/11
4 Jean-Luc Knight lost to Sam Wickens 1-3; 12/14, 11/9, 12/14, 7/11
5 Manuella Forscroft lost to Lewis Dumas 2-3; 5/11, 10/12, 11/6, 11/5, 8/11
Kingswood 15, Bannantynes/Thurrock 4
1 Tom Kimberley beat Evan Marlow 3-1; 12/10, 11/6, 11/6, 11/7
2 Callum Ewens beat Charlie Broad 3-0; 11/5, 11/9, 11/6
3 Adrian Pastor beat Alex Winder 3-2; 11/4, 11/8, 8/11, 5/11, 11/7
4 David Munn beat Ashton Thatcher-Gray 3-0; 11/2, 11/2, 11/2
5 Theo Redicon beat Aiden Mahoney 3-1; 11/7, 10/12, 16/14, 11/6
Brentwood 11, LA Fitness 10
1 Alex Walton lost to James Garwood 0-3; 14/16, 9/11, 4/11
2 Elliott Moore beat Alex Wilshire 3-2; 11/1, 11/6, 3/11, 11/13, 11/9
3 Joe Quick beat Selena Donovan 3-1; 11/2, 0/11, 11/6, 11/8
4 George Fitzgerald lost to Jean-Luc Knight 2-3; 11/8, 9/11, 11/15, 10/12, 5/11
5 Jamie Lal beat Manuella Forscroft 3-;1 11/1, 11/6, 7/11, 11/9
Bannantynes 4, Thurrock Springhealth 9
1 Josh (guest player) lost to Will Salmons 1-3
2 Charlie Broad lost to Sam Wickens 0-3
3 Alex Winder lost to Lewis Dumas 0-3
4 Aidan Mahoney lost to Selena (guest player) 1-3
5 Callum beat Tom Munn (guest player) 3-2
* Guest player results did not count
Kingswood 15, LA Fitness 3
1 Josh Clarke v David Munn (guest player) 3-1
2 Tom Kimberley v Alex Wilshire 3-0
3 Adrian Pastor v Alex Wilshire (guest player) 3-0
4 Callum Ewens v Selena Donovan 3-1
5 Hannah Munn v Manuella Forscroft 3-2
* Guest player results did not count
Brentwood 10, Springhealth 3
1 Alex Walton v Will Salmons 1-3
2 Elliott Moore v Sam Wickens 3-0
3 Seb Margiotta v Lewis Dumas 3-0
4 Jamie Lal v Tom Munn (guest player) 3-0
5 No player v No player 0-0
* Guest player results did not count