Luke makes us proud in first National Ranking Junior Open tournament
Racquets Fitness Centre hosted the Racquets Junior Open squash tournament on 12th to 13th December 2015. This is a nationally ranked tournament sanctioned by England Squash – the governing body of squash in the UK. Players travelled from all over the country for this tournament so we saw some top junior squash.
This year we had 5 of our players in the event. Emily Coulcher-Porter in the Girls Under 11s, Luke Hayes in the Boys Under 11s, Oliver Coulcher-Porter in the Under 13s, Molly Woods in the Girls Under 15s and Nick Harbour in the Under 17s.
We are very proud of every one of them.
Oliver Coulcher-Porter played up an age group in the Under 13s despite being still only 9 years old. This will be giving him plenty of experience of playing against much stronger boys. He did very well to reach and win the final of the plate.
Molly Woods competed well in the Under 15 Girls. The squad of girls who travel to tournaments are very strong and having lost in the first round of the main event Molly was happy to win the first round of the plate.
In the Under 17s, Nick Harbour (from Lord Williams’s Upper School) played very well to reach the final but narrowly lost in a tight 5 set game against Marcus Connor (from Aylesbury Grammar School).
Emily Coulcher-Porter, at only 7 years old, played in the Girls Under 11s. Although Emily is a very high standard of Under 9s player the other girls in the tournament were much older and are ranked 10 and 17 in the country. Emily, who is ranked 27 in the country at Under 11, is very keen to compete and shows great strength of character when playing in these events.
Luke Hayes, age 10 from Barley Hill Primary School, has only been playing around 3 months. Playing in the Under 11s in his very first open tournament and only his second tournament ever – Luke won his first round. Although Luke couldn’t overcome the number 1 seed and eventual winner of the tournament Felix Loeffen in the second round Luke’s natural understanding of the game of squash and his ability to follow instructions from his coach meant that his little experience at the start of the event grew throughout his matches to run out as the winner of the plate.
Luke’s coach Sue Martin-Downhill said ‘We entered Luke into the tournament because of his calm approach to sport and felt that he would be able to cope with the pressure if the standard was too high. The experience he has gained from this tournament will stand him in very good stead if he decides to play more open events as by the end of the tournament his serves would have caused event Felix to struggle. I can’t be more proud of him. We are looking forward to having another 4 or 5 players in the tournament next year as the academy is producing some strong players in all age groups who will be up for competing next year’.
Luke’s mum said ‘I just wanted to say a huge, huge thank you to Racquets for this weekend. Luke has had the best time and is so amazingly comfortable down at the club. It is a true testament to you guys. Thank you for making him feel so welcome….’.
If you or your child would like to try out squash for the first time please do come down to the club and we’ll work out the best session for you.
