LAUREN SELBY and Alice Green have both been shortlisted for the prestigious 2014 Active Essex Sports awards. Their nominations are a major coup for Essex Squash, which is enjoying a massive resurgence in popularity and unparalleled success.
Former top WSA professional Lauren is now one of the country’s leading squash coaches, spearheads the Essex Junior programme and is a key part of the England Squash coaching set-up in the East of England. At the age of 18, Lauren became the country’s youngest level three coach and since retiring from the WSA has been dedicating an average of 80 hours a week to develop squash in Essex and to mentor a small team of coaches to support her work.
She has worked tirelessly to develop squash in a cluster of primary schools in the Colchester area which has resulted in almost 100 young players regularly playing the sport, many have joined local squash clubs and 10 juniors have been selected to represent Essex.
For the last few years Lauren has been the Girls’ County Coach, giving hours of her time to develop the game, her skill as a coach paid off in 2013 when one of her young players became England No. 1 U11, in the same year she coached the U19 player Anna Kimberley to victory at the National Championships in Manchester.
In June this year, Lauren was the driver behind a Women and Girls’ Squash Festival that saw players ranging from 8-74 take part in a day of squash culminating in an exhibition match featuring women’s World Champion, .Laura Massaro.
In recognition of her achievements, Lauren has been shortlisted for the Active Essex Coach of the Year Award sponsored by Holiday Inn.
Alice, from Billericay, has enjoyed a spectacular year and currently holds English and British Under-13 national titles and made her England debut earlier this year in a five-nation international in Dublin. She won the Essex Junior Closed Under-15 title last month and is currently competing in Manchester at the British Junior Championships in the U-15 event. Alice, who also captained Essex in the Inter-County championships earlier this month, has been nominated as Young Sports Personality of the Year.
Both Lauren and Alice have been invited to the grand awards ceremony, sponsored by Morgan Sindall PLC, in Colchester on December 1st. We’ll bring you all the news from the gala evening. Good luck, champs.
For more details of the awards, go to www.activeessex.org/sports-awards/