Southern Area Intercounty placing for Under 11s
Fourth place out of the South of England for our Under 11s
Our three Under 11 county squash players from Racquets Fitness Centre competed last weekend in the Southern Inter-county Under 11 tournaments. This was a tournament between the top 6 counties in the Southern Area of the UK.
The team comprised Alex Smith, Oliver Coulcher-Porter (Racquets), Luke Hayes (Racquets), Emily Coulcher-Porter (Racquets), Molly McCusker, Ambrose Garson.
Oliver (age 10) and Emily Coulcher-Porter (age 8) and Luke Hayes (age 10 from Barley Hill Primary School in Thame) battled bravely at Bluecoat Sports Centre, Horsham in the Oxfordshire Under 11 mixed team against 5 other counties. Two of the teams, Sussex and Kent, are ranked amongst the highest in GB.
Oxfordshire was the only team to provide a mixed team. This meant that 8 year-old Emily had to compete against some of the top 20 GB ranked Under 11 boys. “It was tough” she said. “I loved the challenge”. Emily managed to win two of her matches and fought with tenacity in her others.
Luke Hayes, heavy with cold, played competitively against his tough opponents. His ability to keep calm yet deliver hard hitting balls was astounding.
Oliver Coulcher-Porter kept the team afloat in the difficult matches. His playing was inspiring. He beat two players ranked above him convincingly, causing an uproar amongst the other rivals. One was ranked 9 in GB and the other ranked 14. Oliver said “This bodes well for the English Open next month where I want to do even better !”.
Oxfordshire proudly came home with medals for fourth place and we expect results to get better and better as this group of squash players are dedicated to improving and are playing like a real team.
Racquets coach Sue Martin-Downhill said ‘Luke, Emily and Oliver are going from strength to strength with every tournament they play in. We now also have some Under 13s who have started training with the Oxfordshire squads. Oliver Cartwright and James Portsmouth are training hard every day to be good enough to get into the Under 13s squad over the course of the next 6 months.’
If your child is already playing then why not enter them into one of our fun one-day squash tournaments – the next one is on Saturday 14th May starting at 11am (or 12noon if that suits you) and finishes around 4pm. Email info@racquets-fitness-centre.com to enter. All standards are welcome – even if still playing with the development balls.
If you or your child would like to try squash for the first time please do come down to Racquets and we’ll work out the best session for you.
