Report by PAUL ALLEN
Several year three and year four Colchester primary school squash teams recently took part in the annual mini squash ‘Lexden Cup’. The competition involving schools from the Tiptree and Stanway consortium saw teams compete against each other in pool fixtures over three consecutive Fridays finishing up with play off matches and a final placing.
Mersea A team led from the start after impressive wins on week one with Stanway A and B showing great improvements from recent years sitting closely behind in positions 2nd and 3rd the first week.
In week 2 Mersea A continued to pull away but more impressively Mersea B were starting to make their own way up the table over taking Stanway B but still eleven points behind Stanway A. Past winners Tiptree also needed keeping an eye on as they were also starting to climb the table.
All to play for on the third and final Friday with teams playing their last pool match followed by a play off match to decide the final placing in the tournament.
Unfortunately for Stanway A their last pool match was against league leaders Mersea A who proved once again to be ruthless denying Stanway A to many points which also helped out their B team who won their own final pool match comfortably thus over taking Stanway A in the process. This secured 1st and 2nd place in the pool for Mersea primary school and set up an intriguing derby match in the play offs.
In the play offs 5th place went to Stanway B who denied Milldene their first competition win by just a point. Tiptree finished strong closely beating Stanway A in the 3rd/4th play off match. Finally Mersea A showed no mercy against their B team in a well contested 1st/2nd play off match.
To have two teams reach the final is a credit to Mersea primary school squash coach Sally Meanley who does great work with the Mersea pupils both in school and at the island’s sports centre squash courts.
This year we saw a huge improvement in the level of squash being played by the year 3-4 pupils none more so than Mersea A player Matilda (pictured left) who was awarded this year’s sportsmanship award, the prize being a squash scholarship involving a whole term of free coaching at Lexden Rackets and Fitness Club.
Congratulations to everyone who was involved.
Final placing:
1st Mersea A
2nd Mersea B
3rd Tiptree
4th Stanway A
5th Stanway B
6th Milldene