RICHARD PILCHER REPORTING
Two teams from Felsted Squash are one win away from reaching the finals of the English National Schools Championships to be held in Birmingham in March. The school entered 4 teams in the event at U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 level. Two of these performed strongly in the Stage 1 Group Stage and now the U-17 and U-13 teams, who contain many Essex Junior Squash squad members, progressed to Stage 2.
The U-13 team, led by George Sweeting, beat Kings College Cambridge (3-2) and Brentwood (4-1) but lost narrowly to Comberton Village School (2-3) before Xmas to progress to Stage 2. Last week they completed a 10-hour round trip to Lincoln to play Lincoln Minster School. Their efforts were rewarded as they played some great squash to triumph (12-6) and now play Kings College Cambridge on March 1st for a place in the finals.
Squad members are George Sweeting, Tom Hart, Oliver Hart, Ben Bushell, Rocco Jones, Ossie Pelosi and Arturo Wilson.
The U-17 team, led by Abdullah Akbar, beat Manningtree HS (3-2) and lost to Stanway (0-5) to progress to Stage 2. They beat Brentwood (11-8) recently and now face Stanway for a place in the finals.
Squad members are Abdullah Akbar, Max Watts, Archie Pritchard, Constantin Bovenkamp, Jessica Baxter and Cameron Ambrose.
Many of the players have developed their skills and experience by playing in the Essex Junior Squash Grand Prix Series, County Open, County Closed and regular friendly fixtures with Off The Wall Squash. In addition, many of the players have benefited from attendance at County training sessions. These combined with commitment and coaching from the staff at the school have helped the players development and success.
