Essex players are impressive at Edgbaston Silver

DAVE KITCHENS REPORTS FROM EDGBASTON SILVER EVENT

So, the eight Essex hopefuls made their way to Edgbaston over the weekend of October 2-4 for a ‘full’ Silver Event,( i.e. not split into two areas of the country) , which makes for a much more difficult proposition for those involved.

Just making it into the draw directly is an achievement in itself. However, due to the size of the entry the tournament was played over two locations, over two and a half days all of which made it tricky for me to see all of the matches I wanted to, but with the help and input from numerous parents – thank you, here is the lowdown. I hope you enjoy reading it.

BOYS’ U13

Ollie Green at one seed and Joel Braddock at 5/8 seed had pretty straightforward first round matches to make it into the Monrad, which has to always be the first goal at all the Silver Events. You have to be involved in the Monrad to start mixing it with the big guns of the age groups. These two lads can consider themselves just that , regularly making the Silver Monrad’s and were now set on a quarter-final collision course.

They each faced a lower ranked player in their respective last 16 matches. Both matches started at the same time and they were relatively untroubled. In Ollie’s match he was playing well within himself for a comfortable win. He just had too much for his opponent to handle playing tidy, disciplined squash.

Joel, looking really sharp, went two up in his match and looked good. But, his opponent showed dogged determination and he refused to go down without a fight, which unsettled Joel a little. He then showed maturity in the knowledge that he was the better player and got back into his groove, slotting in that Backhand ‘leftie’ drop shot to great effect to run out the winner.

Ollie v Joel. The sequel was on. 

However, the great match they recently played at the Essex Closed was not repeated. The combination of Joel putting too much expectation and pressure onto himself, combined with Ollie playing a solid match, as he always does , resulted in Ollie as a comfortable winner. Being nervous on a court with Ollie Green is not the place to be.

From there, Joel picked up a niggling injury in his next match and, as a precaution, was unable to compete in the tournament any further.

He should be proud of himself though having played to his seeded position.

For Ollie, who was endeavouring to win back-to-back Silvers, he progressed to the Semi’s and faced off against Hassan Khali, who he beat in the final at the previous Silver. It was a tight match again, but this time his opponent squeezed it out 3-2 to gain revenge. Ollie, in his 3-4 playof,f met Ben Harrison. He won that one 3-0, and both lads played some great squash and looked relaxed, probably as the ‘pressure’ was off.

Third place for Ollie. Another fantastic finish for him.

BOYS’ U15

Harry Kitchens, although not seeded, travelled to Edgbaston with a real chance of an upset having drawn the lad Dan Haggerty, who was effectively the 16th seed, but still a tricky obstacle. Harry started his match a bit ‘nervy’, due to his own expectation, and was playing the ball a little short as the first game slipped by. From there he stepped it up and with some fantastic retrieving and attacking play, playing the back corners with discipline winning that game to even the score.

The third was a Titanic battle, toing and froing with Harry beginning to dominate the T. After some tight rallies and bold attacking from both players going for their shots, they played an incredible game-ball rally, that went on forever (not literally, as they would still be there playing that rally. But you know what I mean) Harry had the momentum, won that point and went 2-1 up. Was the upset on.?

But Haggerty had his professional coach in his corner, and from looking beaten at the end of the third, was a different player at the start of the fourth. He started to put Harry under pressure and was gaining in confidence, as Harry’s was falling away. Errors were creeping in. The moment was gone. Haggerty won that game, and the fifth ran away from Harry too, with him ending up with a tough 3-2 loss.

Harry was then in the knockout plate the next day, but never really found his game and his tournament ended at the plate quarters. Disappointing for him. The world will keep spinning and he will live to fight another day.

Sujan Srindran, unseeded in his first round match of his first Silver Event (well done for that) had an immensely difficult task in the shape of Ben Socket the 3-4 seed. Socket is a real quality top five U15 player. While Sujan gave a good account of himself in that match, it was not enough and Socket ran out a 3-0 winner.

Sujan was now in the plate competition. In his first match of that competition he was up against a big lad who hit the ball tidily from both flanks. The match started ‘edgy’ from both players, but after a few points they had played out any nerves they had and the rallies started to develop. Sujan started to make his opponent work for every point. It was eventually locked at 1 all.

The match was evenly poised but from the start of game three the nerves again began to affect Sujan, maybe to be expected. From my experience of watching the kids play, when the nerves take hold, one of the first elements of the game to suffer is the length on the shot. The elbow goes to jelly and you can’t hit through the ball. For Sujan the match ran away from him for a 3-1 loss. He gave it his absolute all though and should be proud of himself.

There are no easy matches at this level, even in a plate competition, but the experience he takes away from this will be invaluable to him going forward.

BOYS’ U17

This was Aaron Allpress’s category, and he went into the tournament as one of the favourites’ at the 5/8 seed slot. In his first round match on the Friday evening he was up against his conqueror from the Devon silver in the shape of Jack Newey. This was going to be no easy match for Aaron, or so he thought.

I took my seat at the back of the glass court and Aaron was like a spring cog waiting to unwind, he was up for this match big time. As it started, from the first point, Aaron was dominating the rallies and was absolutely deadly with his drop from the deep mid-court area.

It can be a risky strategy dropping from behind an opponent, particularly against a lad such as Newey, but Aaron’s precision was clinical and his opponent never looked like he was going to pick any of them up – and he didn’t. First game Aaron.

Then, with the second game about to start, Newey, inexplicably, conceded the match with a back injury. From where I was viewing, he looked fine during the first game although injuries can be deceiving. My opinion only – but perhaps, as the match progressed, he just didn’t fancy it and if he was injured, which he may well have been, he should not have started.

Or, maybe as he won last time out, he thought he could win again carrying an injury. Interesting. Now, I know I am a magnificent specimen of fitness myself, but I can think of better things to do with my time than being on court with Aaron if not fully fit.

For the older readers among the Essex squash fraternity ‘family’ – we are a family right ? -it reminded me of that boxing slug-fest between the sporting giant of a man in Muhammad Ali fighting big George Foreman in the rumble in the jungle in 1974, when he was rope-a-doping and constantly tormenting in Foremen’s ear that “ This is not the place to get tired “. Aaron’s opponent conceded , but a win is a win, he didn’t come out for the second and it was a technical knockout. Into the Monrad.

However, Aaron’s second match did not go to plan, and he could not find his level of the previous day and was beaten 3-0. Aaron would be the first to admit it was not a great day at the office. From there though he played well and a good match prevailed against his next opponent , Ben Merchant , a previous English U13 quarter finalist and he won 3-1. He continued in the same vein but in his next match was on the wrong side of a 3-1 loss.

He eventually finished placed 11th . Still credible considering the quality of the field of 32 players.

GIRLS’ U15

Ellie Hewes, coming off the back of her Welsh Open U13 win and Essex Closed U13 success, was going for the ‘three-peat’ in her first whole country Silver at U15 level, and was one of the seeds at 9/16. After receiving a bye in her first round match ( always handy on the petrol and hotel costs eh, Andrew) it put her straight into the monrad.

There she found herself up against a really tough competitor in Lydia Robinson, the reigning English U13 champion, and the scoreline of a 3-0 loss did not reflect how well young Ellie played in the match. It put her out of the running for the main prize, so her task now was to finish as high as she could, but in her next match she unfortunately suffered the same result.

It has to be said though that very early in the match she got hit which did seem to unsettle her a little, and left her somewhat wary throughout the remainder of the match that it might happen again. You know what it’s like I’m sure when that kind of thing happens, you just start to give your opponent a little more room to play their shot which means you have to make up a little more ground each shot and so it goes on. It was a low point for her in the tournament.

From there thoughEllie. being the little fighter we have seen on many occasions around the circuit, won her next two matches against girls who were both older than her and ranked higher too. Her fighting qualities were particularly evident in her very last match, coming back from 0-2 for a 3-2 win and securing 13^th place overall. Great effort.

Our other representative in the girls’ U15’s was Amy Aspinall  who was not seeded. In her first match she was up against the previously mentioned Lydia Robinson and this was always going to present a challenge for Amy. With nothing to lose, she put up a valiant effort but her opponent proved too strong and it resulted in a 3-0 loss.

One of young Amy’s qualities is that she is a steely competitor who never gives up. I have seen Amy play on many occasions, but now, under the tutelage and guidance of Paul Allen, her game is improving significantly and it is clear when I watch her play that she is showing improvement in a number of areas of her game. ( keep working on that knock up though Amy ).

She was now in the plate event and as luck would have it received a bye in the first round. But, that meant she was drawn against her good friend from Hertfordshire, Chloe Spratt  who is ranked 38 . Amy is currently at 55.

It was clear from the start that the work she has been doing with Paul was certainly paying off, as she went into a first game lead. The first time Amy has ever taken a game off Chloe. The match then developed into a hard fought intense affair and every game from there could have gone either way, and the third was a 12-10 in Chloe’s favour. That gave Chloe the momentum to close out the match for a 3-1 win. These two girls are great mates but  Amy’s tournament was over but she should be proud of the way she played in it, and be safe in the knowledge that if she keeps working hard the wins will come.

GIRLS’ U17

The indomitable Alice Green was again stepping up an age group and the only Essex representative in the girls’ U17 event. She was handed a 9/16 seeding. In her first match she faced the tricky Eve Coxon. Both girls got into their stride early on and it was an interesting matchup with Eve using her deft touch at the front of the court  coupled with Alice’s great retrieving and power play to eventually take control of the match, and as it turned out a comfortable winner in the end.

This set up a match up with the 5/8 seed Ellen Cooper. The rule book would tell us that Alice being the lower seed, her interest in the main tournament should have ended there.

As we all know, Alice loves ripping up rule book’s, and this was to be no different as her opponent was to find out. The match developed into one of long, brutal rallies with each girl obtaining the upper hand at different points of the match but Alice squeezing out the win. She would eventually find herself in the semi-final berth , well above her seeding, and again facing off against Jasmine Hutton.

Alice hasn’t quite got the measure of Jasmine, who is older, and after a great performance from Alice her opponent prevailed to win 3-1 and putAlice into the 3^rd/4^th playoff.  There, she met another of her adversaries in the shape of Amy Jones. Alice carried on in her last match of her tournament in the vein as her first, being that whoever she faces they will have to bring their ‘A’ game to the table if they are to get past her. It was not to be for Amy Jones. Alice, volleying more than she usually does. registered a relatively straightforward win 3-0.

Finishing in third place, it was another great tournament for Alice Green.