Essex Junior Open showcases massive resurgence in squash

 LEE HORTON REPORTS FROM THE ESSEX OPEN

WOW…what a monumental weekend of squash action at the Colchester Garrison!

The Essex Junior Open is going from strength to strength, illustrated by an amazing 22 per cent increase in entries from last year. And the bed-rock of that bounce in numbers?  Newcomers attracted to squash following an exciting 18-month long programme by our county coaches rolling out beginners’ coaching and competitions in schools and clubs.

The two-day tournament, supported by London law firm EC3/Legal, featured a full 32 Under-11 entry, testimony to the drive to attract new, young talent to squash.”We have been helping young players with coaching bursaries, running development Grand Prix tournaments and fully supporting the Off The Wall Squash Academy’s schools’ coaching programme, all of which have helped to inspire and attract youngsters to play squash,” said Essex Junior Squash Chairman David Harris.

“It was great to see those efforts rewarded with the number of entries at the weekend. Squash is enjoying a renaissance in Essex thanks to our coaches and junior committee members who work incredibly hard.”

U-11 starlets Hannah Morley and Brooke Smith

Essex’s Hannah Morley, a product of Lauren Selby’s schools’ programme in Colchester, was the first winner of the day after pipping Woodford Wells’ Brooke Smith to the girls’ Under-11 title. Both girls came through a thrilling round-robin event unbeaten before meeting in a winner-take-all decider. Brooke’s recent conversion from tennis to squash has been exciting and she looks a real talent. Hannah’s extra experience, though, told on the day and she deservedly finished in poll position winning their match 3-0.

The boys’ under-11 event unearthed another precocious talent in the shape of seven-year-old Jude Gibbins from Kent. Standing no more than two rackets high, Jude battled his way through to the final displaying impressive racket skills and a feisty desire to contest every point. His tenacity and enthusiasm at times elicits the odd rise in temperature and behaviour but his coaches are aware and working on it.

He found James Carman too tough a hurdle to overcome in the final as the Middlesex lad used his extra experience and cool head to dictate play and control the match. James took the honours winning 11-2, 11-6, 11-6.

Suffolk’s Ella Hall was straight onto Twitter after capturing the girls’ Under-13 trophy. She was thrilled with her win in the round-robin event and so she should be after winning every match 3-0. Hattie Callen of Essex surrendered just one match, to Ella, finishing a deserved runner-up. She improves with every event and should take great heart from her performances.

The boys’ Under-13 final was a real humdinger. Kent’s Michael Mitterer and Joel Braddock from Colchester are England ranked 12 and 13 and after a thrilling five-game showdown it was clear why the ESR mathematicians have them locked together.

Joel came out of the traps like a demon as he chased his first Essex Open title. He was volleying well and moving even better as he opened a 2-0 lead taking the openers 11-6, 11-5. But Michael is a battler as well as talented. He bagged the third game 11-3 and held off a blistering onslaught from Joel in the fourth winning it 11-8.

Joel Braddock receives his U-13 winner’s trophy from EC3/Legal sponsor Matthew White

Joel (pictured right) was getting tetchy and earned a rebuke from referee Paul Selby for a spot of racket abuse. He has the capacity to self-destruct…but not this time. The fifth game saw him produce quality squash with a cool head as he controlled the game and wrapped up the match 11-7 A thoroughly deserved success which will be followed by plenty of others if he continues to convert the tension into points.

Michael’s brother Jack Mitterer made up for his defeat by winning the boys’ Under-15’s. A 3-0 win over Issac Anderson capped an impressive weekend which saw him move seamlessly through the early rounds maintaining an impressive level of squash. Charlie Martin edged Tim Bacon in the 3-4 play-off while Haydon Smith finished with a flourish defeating Harry Kitchens in three for fifth spot. Ollie Green and Josh Stinson are becoming the great entertainers. Their 7-8 play-off was peppered with some great showboat squash including Ollie’s ‘look-away’ special and Josh’s ‘through-the-legs’ winning drop. Quality stuff which brought a smile. For the record, Ollie won 11-5, 12-10, 11-9.

Casey Miller pulled off a shock by beating Ellie Hewes to reach the final of the girls’ Under-15s. Ellie had to settle for third place after narrowly edging Essex team-mate Eleanor White in a hard-hitting five-game 3-4 play-off that was never lacking in effort, skill and full-on passion.

Casey went into the final very much second favourite to Kent’s Lily Taylor-French but the Cambridge girl continually asked searching questions and pushed her opponent all the way. Lily took the prize 3-1 but the 11-6, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7 scorelines highlights what a contest it was.

Club Kingswood’s Joe Blackmur played well for a day and three-quarters, but fell at the final hurdle as he took on Hertfordshire’s Hamish Gillam in the boys’ Under-17 final. Joe looked a picture of despair after his 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 reverse clearly consigning his earlier wins to the trash cash. Hopefully, he’ll take positives from the tournament, not just the memory of a defeat against a high-class opponent. Conor Adams was consistent all weekend and deserved his third place overcoming George Stammers in four in the 3-4 shoot-out.

Gus Beecroft who followed his excellent U-19 win with an equally excellent speech on behalf of the players

Gus Beecroft, who lives in Suffolk but trains on the Garrison courts with the Off The Wall Squash Academy, overcame Richard Horswill, Will Southworth and Guy Tallentire in win a four-man U-19 round-robin event. It was a tough programme, with three matches in a day, with Gus matching stamina with court craft to take the honours.

After two days, 225 matches, a few tears, the odd tantrum, 5,000 fist pumps and a shed load of smiles, on behalf of the volunteers on the Essex Junior Committee, we’d like to thank all the kids, parents, families and supporters who helped make the junior open a memorable event. We didn’t get everything right, but we’re working on it.

Finals word from three parents who were kind enough to drop our incredibly hard-working County secretary Karen Selby a line this morning.

Hi Karen, just wanted to say thank you to everyone for organising the tournament…..Nils has only been to three tournaments now and is very new to it all, but having seen three different events, yours was by far the best……well organised, but more than that….friendly and professional. All the Essex staff I met were just the right sort of supportive of the kids…

Good afternoon Karen

Just to say once again a BIG thank you to you and your team for an
excellently organised tournament.

How I wish we were closer to your club so Scott could be part of it.

Kind regards
Jill (Drewery) x

Click on the pictures below for a taste of the Garrison action. Photographers: David Harris and Jo Braddock.

RESULTS

Click on the pictures below for a taste of the Garrison action. Photographers: David Harris and Jo Braddock.