THE Colchester Garrison was rocking last week as more than 100 schoolkids played out the final chapter of this season’s Off The Wall Squash Roman Cup competition.
The finals saw a record 23 teams going full tilt in pursuit of glory producing a level of squash that had tournament coach Lauren Selby purring:” Wow, what a performance from all the schools. The level of squash and the enthusiasm and commitment from all the players was simply wonderful.”
Those sentiments were echoed by OTWS administrator Karen Selby who said:” The Roman Cup is growing each and every year. The level of squash and participation levels are hitting new heights which is absolutely thrilling. Our schools’ programme has already produced several top county players and it looks like we have discovered some new stars of the future.”
The event was OTWS’s biggest ever Roman Cup with 100 kids competing over the three rounds. The competition was for Year 5 and 6, the schools competing were Ardleigh, Bradfield, Brooklands, Great Bromley, Highfields, Langham and Lawford.
The finals day was extremely tense because the scores were so close, you can see from the photos how many parents came to watch the drama unfold!
In the Year 5 competition the finishing positions were as follows:
1st- Lawford 1
2nd- Brooklands 1
3rd- Langham
4th- Ardleigh 1
5th- Highfields 1
6th- Lawford 2
7th- Great Bromley
8th- Brooklands 2
9th- Highfields 2
10th- Bradfield
11th- Lawford 3
Lawford steamed to victory, winning by 25 points. Their team was Alex Kemp, Owen Toleman, Saziye Ozfirat and Alice Young.
In the Year 6 competition the finishing positions were:
1st- Ardleigh 1 (by two points!)
2nd- Great Bromley
3rd- Lawford 1
4th- Langham
5th- Brooklands 1
6th- Lawford 2
7th- Bradfield
8th- Ardleigh 2
9th- Lawford 3
10th- Brooklands 2
11th- Highfields 1
12th- Highfields 2
The winning team consisted of Thomas Owen, Danny Percival, Rebecca Morley and Amelia Watkins.
The standard of squash was absolutely incredible for primary school age, I think we just need to fluff up what level they play at. Many of these now play for Essex and all came from playing in the Roman Cup.
We also had the most improved/best prizes, these went to:
Year 5 Best Girl- Saziye Ozfirat
Year 5 Best Boy- Owen Coleman
Year 5 Most Improved Girl- Lucy Chenery
Year 5 Most Improved Boy- Jack Prior
Year 6 Best Girl- Amelia Watkins
Year 6 Best Boy- Dylan O’Brien
Year 6 Most Improved Girl- Imogen Fincken
Year 6 Most Improved Boy- Charlie Fretwell
