Cornwall Squash and Racketball

Newquay’s Phil Thomas won the National Deaf Squash Championships last weekend in Nottingham by emphatically beating the reigning and World Champion (and friend!) Matthew Hewitt 3-0. Phil has been in fine form this season and is certainly not a stranger to squash finals having played in both the Cornish Closed O35 and Senior finals. The tournament was played alongside the National Masters’ Championships in Nottingham. This means that two national categories were won by players from our Cornish leagues, Neil and Phil. Well done both! Time to celebrate! 

NATIONAL SCHOOLS’ TROPHY: TRURO CLAIMS HISTORIC DOUBLE QUALIFICATION……their 2nd in as many weeks (both KS3 & 4 teams).

Part two of our personal “Mission Impossible” turned into the most dramatic Squash triumph for the School imaginable on a day of utter drama, excitement and sporting excellence in the KS 4 final qualification round for the National Schools Championships. The squad consisted of Jack Mahon, Louis Murray, Ben Thorpe, Joe Thomson, Ollie Beaumont and Callum Oliver. All our players were aged 13 or 14 for this matchup against the highly fancied Wilsons, the no2 Sports school in England Whigift and a strong host team in Chaterhouse; all of whom played boys 15 and 16 years of age against us!

On paper Wilsons were incredibly strong in the opening match but we set about our task in gritty determined style with great wins for Callum and Joe, mixed with a tough loss for Ben. What unfolded next was sheer brilliance from Louis Murray beating the National U15 no10 in straight sets with near faultless squash and an awesome win for Jack Mahon over the National U17 no13 (3 years older) in an encounter when both had match balls and our Truro player clinched the win!

We then played Charterhouse who produced some fresh legs for the match and edged out Ollie, Ben and Joe with, to be fair, some very good squash. Jack and Louis secured strong victories but several points were dropped and the overall fixture was destined to go down to the wire! In essence we needed to beat Whitgift substantially to win the group and our gifted players set about the task with absolutely everything they had left. Callum played a lad 4 years older and actually got a match ball before eventually going down by the tiniest of margins. Ben then settled the camp with an irresistible straight sets win for us and Joe went on, despite tiring legs, to grind out a formidable win as well. This left the stupendous talents of Jack and Louis to “bring it home” which they did in totally professional style, the latter without losing a single point at all!

The fixture referee then calculated the final points tally with ourselves, Wilsons and Charterhouse desperately close on the overall standings. After 5-10 mins which seemed like hours the final results were announced.

Truro 33 pts  Wilsons 29 pts  Charterhouse 28pts and Whitgift 7pts.

WE WON!

National finals March 20/21^st in Nottingham for both our teams..

Now for the greatest prize of all….  Tim Smith  Head of Squash

On Feb 6^th our young KS 3 Squash stars literally reduced their opponents from Charterhouse, Felsted and Haberdashers to tears as they swept to victory with maximum points in the final group phase of the competition. The host school, Charterhouse, set up the 4 way match complete with considerable local support, spanking new team kit and top end facilities only to meet a Truro team in superb form, who were simply in no mood to be denied a place in the Grand Finals this March at Nottingham. The team of Jack Mahon, Louis Murray, Joe Thomson, Ollie Beaumont Callum Oliver and Ed Hayes won every single match to secure a huge clean-sweep over our illustrious rivals from these fine private schools. Jack and Louis are both ranked in the top 10 in the country as juniors, Joe is U 14 County champ, Ed is U 13 county champ and Ollie and Callum are both at county level and on the highest of improvement curves. The final scores warrant special highlighting as follows: Match 1   Felsted school 0 pts  Truro school 15 pts; Match 2   Haberdashers  0 pts   Truro school 15pts; Match 3   Charterhouse   1 pt     Truro school 15pts.

Several of the boys will now be in action again on Feb 11^th, coincidentally at the same venue, against Charterhouse, a strong Wilsons and the no 2 ranked sports school in the country, Whitgift. This promises to be a tight and enthralling match which I suspect will be very closely fought right to the end. If we play at our absolute best, we can do it! Our method of travelling the night before, warming up at Winchester Squash Club in the morning and playing all afternoon will be our formula for success again as we seek to achieve a superb double-qualification (with KS 4) for the right to play for the National title outright next month.    Tim Smith   Head Squash coach

The 2019 County Closed Champs were a huge success in terms of the quality of matches and finals, the number of spectators over the two days and the very convivial atmosphere enjoyed by all at the host club, Truro SRC. For a full report click on the attachment below but here are the main results:                                                                                                      Men’s Final       Jared London (Bristol Uni) beat Phil Thomas (NQY) 3-0.                      Ladies’ Final     Katy Brickell (York Ladies) beat Katrina Thomas (Falmouth Club) 3-0.        Men’s Plate       Jon Wills (Truro SRC) beat Rob Irish (Bude SC) 3-2

County Squash 2019 Newspaper Report Tim S

From L-R      Tim Smith, Phil Thomas, Jared London, Katy Brickell, Katrina Thomas, Jon Wills, Rob Irish & Tony Bowyer (CCSRA)

For more photos go to the  EVENTS TAB and click on 2019 Champs, or copy and paste  http://www.cornwallsquash.co.uk/wp/county-championships-archive/

Or go to our Facebook page by simply searching Cornwall Squash & Racketball

For any new players registering to play just in the second half of the season, the fee has been reduced to £5.  Payment by Paypal is preferred please:

CCSRA invite all eligible players to enter the 2019 County Champs @ Truro HQ this month 26th/27th January – £10 Adults/£5 Juniors. Simply complete the entry form and return or contact directly the tournament organiser Tony Bowyer before the DEADLINE at Midnight SUNDAY 20th. MEN’S & LADIES/ MAIN & PLATE COMPETITIONS…… 

County Closed 2019 Entry form

Don’t forget the COUNTY JUNIOR CLOSED the weekend before (19th/20th) at Truro HQ. Closing date for entries is Sunday 13th January. GIRLS & BOYS U11/13/15/17/19 Organisers: Tim Smith & Brian Nash – contact directly for further info…….

CCSRA JUNIOR CHAMPS entry form 2019

Last Friday Truro school and Truro Squash club were privileged to receive two of England’s best ever Squash players to this hub of Squash activity. James Willstrop is the former World No 1, the European and the current Commonwealth champion. Daryl Selby is the former World no 9, World team champion and Commonwealth silver medallist. They are the top two British ranked players and still occupy positions at the very top of the World ranking system. These professionals have amassed nearly 300 England caps between them and are part of our Golden Generation of home-grown global Squash stars. The visit began with an exciting masterclass at Truro school where they showed their skills and abilities to 30 of our rising Squash pupils and even brought their medals to inspire our fast developing youngsters. Truro school is challenging very hard for the National Schools Squash title, and this pro-session will only encourage our talented players even further in their bid to bring back the title. We then transferred to Truro Squash club for further junior training followed by “The Battle of Britain” challenge match between the Pros. The evening saw a sold-out auditorium enthralled and entertained by the speed, dexterity and awesome determination of the players to earn pre-Xmas bragging rights. In the event the match went to a full five sets with James sneaking the win 12/10 in the decider. At the end of the proceedings James and Daryl expressed how impressed they were with the school and club and the depth of our junior talent pool here in Truro. We have superb facilities, a healthy school and club coaching structure and both internal and County-wide events and leagues throughout the entire season. For more information see  www.truroschool.com and the club’s and our county’s Facebook Pages. Just search both on FB.

Another vintage year for the veterans of Cornwall! The 2018 Cornwall Squash Masters’ Closed was held at Truro HQ on the weekend of the 24th/25th November. There was a good turn out from all corners of the county and a new category was added, the Over 65s, by popular request! Those who were crowned county champs: Dave Owen (St Ives) in the 65s; Dave ‘The Master’ Matthew (Truro) in the 60s; Mike Morgan (NQY) in the 55s; Tim Smith (Truro) won the 50s and 45s, and newcomer to the county Jamie Lang (NQY) won the 35s title in dramatic fashion V Launceston’s Phil Thomas in a spectacular 3-2 final in which both players had match ball. Indeed it was an epic battle and will go down as the most thrilling final in the Masters ever witnessed! For more go to the EVENTS TAB and click on COUNTY MASTERS’ CLOSED……and see even more photos Facebook @ Cornwall Squash & Racketball!

 Sponsored by Diane and Mike – with thanks!