LEE HORTON REPORTS
Another busy, busy weekend for Essex Junior Squash. Our players, coaches and parents were spread across the South East for Inter-Counties Stage Two matches.
Three of our teams, Girls U-13’s & U-17’s and the Essex boys U-15 are off to the National Finals in January but all of our teams were hugely competitive throughout last weekend.
Before the matches, our friends at squash suppliers Iprosports offered EJS a branded shirt as a prize for any of our players who impressed their county coach with an act of good sportsmanship, good manners or just plain, good squash.
It was a fun idea which our coaches embraced with the good-natured spirit in which it was meant. Thank you Andrew at iPROSPORTS Ltd
Here are our coaches’ verdicts:
DAVE WEBSTER U-13 Boys coach:
Junior of the day for me was Sam Bennett, who showed great attitude and was always smiling, saying thank you after every talk between games. You cannot beat that.
CHRIS CHITTY U-13 Girls A coach
My star player from the weekend has to be Lara Newton. She won all her matches, but more important than that she was very honest on court telling the marker if her ball was out or double bounced, she immediately told the markers, one incident was on match point to her too. Also her team effort was amazing as she encouraged every girl in their matches and kept a smile on her face the whole day, a pleasure to have on our team.
CHRIS CHITTY U-13 Girls B coach
For our Under 13B team, Amelie Brooke smiled all day, played hard and got on with the job in hand. She gave 100% on the court and was a pleasure to have on the team. Having said all this all girls in this team were equally well mannered and gave their best so a very difficult choice for me to make here.
PAUL SELBY U-15 Boys coach
My star of the day was Joel Braddock who playing at 2 and going on last had to secure victory for us to go through to the finals. His team spirit was great and his support of the team was immense. His Squash was very polished and was a true hero among many.
LEE HORTON U-15 Girls coach
My Under-15 star was Libby Connor. We dragged her out of bed at 7.45am to come off the sub’s bench as replacement for our injured No.1. Hannah Morley. No ifs or buts…just a quick YES, I’ll be there. And she was unbeaten on the day despite having swollen knees. Mention too for Hannah who still turned up to support her team mates.
PAUL ALLEN U-17 Boys coach:
My player of the day was Harry Kitchens who managed to take the much higher ranked Jack Mitterer to 5 verses Kent, and then recovered to win his last match 3-2 against Surrey.
LAUREN SELBY U-17 Girls coach
My U17 girls vote goes to Aliza Sheikh. She was not only undefeated throughout she also was so encouraging in our pre-match chats. She kept motivating the girls (all of whom are much older) and had a very professional attitude throughout. She won 3-2 against Kent which was crucial match and guaranteed our place in the finals.
JAKE BYRNE U-19 Boys coach
Aaron Allpress gets my man of-the-day award. He helped out with the coaching always displaying an excellent attitude. Aaron also won both of his games 3-0.
**No photograph of our Under-17 Boys yet. Will add later.
