Inter-County friendly event proves a massive hit at the Garrison

The fixture was just one of several new ideas being rolled out by the Essex Junior Squash Committee with the aim of giving developing players the experience of playing in a tournament environment.

Senior Essex coach Lauren Selby lauded the event claiming:”This is just the environment and experience that all young players need. We invited teams from Kent and Middlesex to bring teams to the Colchester Garrison to help stage an under-11 and under-13 friendly event, and the level of commitment and squash was terrific.

“The other counties were thrilled with the idea and the plan is to play return matches away from home quite soon. It’s a great stepping stone for players on the cusp of playing for the full Essex teams.”

Essex fielded four teams in the under-11 event which consisted of three players in a team with Kent and Middlesex providing one team apiece. The seeding committee did a superb job balancing the teams with the final placings being decided by the narrowest of margins. Every point in every match counted towards the final results with the Alice Lindsay, Josh Stephens and Alex Banhidal emerging victorious.

The Under-13 event featured no less than eight teams with Kent providing four, Essex three and Middlesex one. After some incredibly tight and competitive matches, the Essex 1 team of Ruby Hudson, Travis Tatum and Brandon Higgins-Pearce narrowly edged Kent 1 into top spot.

The event also featured a fledgling assistant tournament director in the shape of 11-year-old Ellie Hewes who helped the brilliant Karen Selby to man the event desk, collate results and allocate courts. Ellie even found time to take the photographs below. What a star.

U11 Playoffs
5th/6th		Kent	v	Middx	Score	Games
	G	Lottie Hill		Charlotte Finn	33-43	4/11 2/11 11/4 11/6 5/11
	1	Christian Thomas		Sam Barker	33-8	11/5 11/1 11/2
	2	Harrison Seal		Gil Tydeman	33-21	11/5 11/8 11/8
				Result	99-72
3rd/4th		Essex 3	v	Essex 4	Score	Games
	G	Hannah Morley		Kayleigh Bennett	33-21	11/6 11/6 11/9
	1	Callum Ewens		Stanley Sykes	33-18	11/8 11/6 11/4
	2	William Wand		Edward Mason	26-45	4/11 4/11 14/12 4/11
				Result	92-84
1st/2nd		Essex 1	v	Essex 2	Score	Games
	G	Mikayla Mann		Alice Lindsay	33-16	11/5 11/4 11/7
	1	Aidan Cahill		Josh Stephens	31-45	14/12 1/11 9/11 7/11
	2	Jacob Drew		Alex Banhidai	31-39	11/6 8/11 6/11 6/11
				Result	95-100
Positions
	1st	Essex 2
	2nd	Essex 1
	3rd	Essex 3
	4th	Essex 4
	5th	Kent
	6th	Middx