Henley Juniors Excel

This weekend Thame Squash Club hosted a four way tournament between the local Oxfordshire Junior Squash teams of Abingdon, Henley, Oxford and Thame. Each team had 5 players and the Henley team was represented by (from left to right in the photo) Tom Lynskey, Luca Babb, Miles Edwards, Art Lawton and Jack Lynskey. The Invesco Perpetual sponsored team started the tournament strongly with a 4-1 victory over Thame, only losing 4 games. In the second match Henley again won 4-1 over Abingdon and managed to drop only 2 games. This left an exciting finale against Oxford and the Henley boys played exceptionally well as a team and ran out winners 5-0 without dropping a single game. At the end of the tournament Henley Juniors were crowned champions ahead of the host team as runners up.

The event was extremely well organised and run by Will John, a former professional world ranking squash player, at the Racquets Fitness Centre and we hope to organise further fixtures with our local rivals again soon. Henley Junior Squash Club is based at Henley Leisure Centre on Gillotts Lane and welcomes all new members with a range of activities and events throughout the year.

FREE Squash taster sessions

The club is hosting a series of taster sessions on Wednesday 8th April at the Henley Leisure Centre throughout the day and evening – in order to provide potential new junior and adult players with the opportunity to try the game, and for existing ‘beginners’ to develop new skills.

This will be a fun environment for those with no or limited squash experience. Separate sessions will be held for adults and juniors. Expert tuition will be provided throughout the day by various qualified coaches including Ross Gore, who is also an Oxfordshire County Coach.

Due to the generous support from Invesco Perpetual’s Community Support programme, the taster sessions will be FREE! Squash rackets can be provided by the club. For further details and to reserve a place, please contact Ross (titansquash@gmail.com, 07966 105754).

Members of the Henley Squash Club at an Adults and Juniors Fun Tournament

Sponsor for Club Championship

Henley Squash Club’s annual Club Championship will be played over several months in ‘F.A. Cup’ –style!

Building on an initiative from the last competition, the early rounds will feature beginners and players from the lower divisions of the Club League. Those that win through will face stronger players who join in subsequent rounds. The draw for each round will be made after the previous one is complete, culminating in a final near the end of the year.

“Although the final rounds should still be between the best players in the club, this format will give plenty of scope for giant-killing upsets” said tournament organiser and 1st Team Captain, Simon Street.

The competition will be known as the ‘Aktuel Championship Cup’ with new club co-sponsor, Aktuel Translations, providing financial backing.

“We are proud and pleased to be supporting one of Henley’s most vibrant sporting clubs – not just with the Aktuel Championship Cup, but also a special charity event later in the year” said Aktuel founder, Robin Bennett.

Henley Squash Club has strengthened its sponsorship position for 2015. As well as Aktuel and long-term sponsor Invesco Perpetual, a number of other Henley-based companies have provide further sponsorship: Comtest Wireless, Growth Creation, and TMS2.

“The new club team strips will look pretty impressive with all the new logos” said Club Chairman, Duncan Nightingale. “We will now be supporting two teams in the Berkshire League, four teams in the Oxfordshire League – and with plans for a Ladies team as well, they will be getting plenty of exposure”.

The fund-raising initiative for 2015 has not yet closed, so any more Henley-based companies who wish to be part of the Henley Squash Club ‘story’ should contact Duncan at www.henleysquash.co.uk

Club Chairman Duncan Nightingale and Aktuel founder Robin Bennett with the Aktuel Championship Cup

3rd Team are Champs

The final matches of the Oxfordshire Summer League were played on Thursday 31st July.

Henley’s 3rd Team finished top of Division 5 and win promotion for next year’s Summer League!

Players in picture are (left to right):
Roger Betts, Paul Ireland, Jake Ireland, Simon Stone, Charlie Homewood.

The following players contributed to the 3rd team’s success during the season:
Paul Ireland (10 appearances and team captain)
Charlie Homewood (9 appearances)
Roger Betts (8)
Richard Little (6)
Simon Stone (5)
Alan Smallman (4)
Jake Ireland (4)
Matt Blagg (4)
Duncan Nightingale (3)
Roger Booker (3)
Carl Ramsey (1)
Fiona Dixon (1)
James Little (1)
Mike Lynskey (1)

The 2nd team fared less well. They suffered a ‘hangover effect’ from the last Summer season when, fielding several guest players, they played in the heady heights of Division 1 and even had a win against the 1st team! This year, playing in Division 2 and desperately short of players, they finished well bottom and will play a division lower next Summer.

The 1st team lost skipper Simon Street to a nasty tendon injury early in the season and were short of players for several matches. So finishing 4th (and narrowly missing 3rd place) in Oxfordshire’s elite division was a very creditable performance in the circumstances.

The final League Tables for the Summer 2014 season can be seen here.

The Winter season kicks off in September. Henley will field 4 teams in the Oxfordshire League and 2 teams in the Berkshire Veterans League (over 45s). Anyone interested in playing for the teams should contact Simon Street.

Christmas 2013 Opening Times

There are plenty of opportunities for Squash League players to finish their December matches over the Christmas period! And for all members, why not burn off that Christmas Day excess before the New Year celebrations start! Here are the Leisure Centre Opening Times (normal times for any days not shown below):

Friday 20th : CLOSED

Tuesday 24th : 6.30 – 16.00

Wednesday 25th : CLOSED

Thursday 26th : CLOSED

Friday 27th : 6.30 – 20.00

Saturday 28th : 8.00 – 20.00

Sunday 29th : 8.00 – 20.00

Monday 30th : CLOSED

Tuesday 31st : 6.30 – 16.00

Wednesday 1st : CLOSED

Thursday 2nd : 6.30 – 22.30 (normal opening times)

Also, remember that team squash has finished for the season, so Tuesday and Thursday evenings have FREE COURTS for the rest of December and until the new season starts in early January. The full schedule of free courts is here.

2013 Club Championship Report

Having not staged the club championship for 5 years, Henley Squash Club experimented with a new format for the 2013 tournament. All 76 members were entered into the competition, with a qualifying event to determine the 8 players to meet the seeds in the main draw. Jeremy Willis, Dan Andrews, Paul Ireland, Richie Hopkins, Alan Smallman, Charlie Jackson, Charlie Homewood and Fiona Dixon all progressed to the main draw. However, having qualified, only Paul Ireland managed to record a win in the main event, beating Henley junior James Little 3/1 in round 1. Having said that, Charlie Homewood narrowly lost his first match 3/2 in a very close encounter with Tim Budden. In the next round, Ireland produced another gutsy performance against 9/16 seed James Knight, narrowly losing 3/1 to end his good run. All the seeds continued their progression to the quarter finals as expected, although number 1 seed Rick Weatherall had to pull out due to work commitments. Returning from a 3 year contract in South Africa, Matt Marshall replaced Weatherall and became the number 1 seed, taking his place in the quarter final line up. The top 4 seeds, Matt Marshall, Simon Street, Harry Carr and Stefan Stanton then all progressed comfortably to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the plate competition (for all first round losers), had also progressed to the semi-final stage, with Chris Parker beating Sean Borrett 3/0 and Neal Thomas surprising the crowd by beating James Little 3/1. Unfortunately, in the plate final, Neal tore his hamstring in the first point and had to retire, awarding a 3/0 victory to Chris Parker.

In the semi-finals of the main event, Matt Marshall beat a loose Stefan Stanton 3/0 fairly comfortably, although the other line up was a very tight affair. After an hour of high tempo squash, Simon Street and Harry Carr were locked at 2 games all, when the centre had to shut early due to staff issues. On the rescheduled match Street failed to deliver and Carr progressed 3/0 to meet Marshall in the final. The final was an interesting matchup – Carr with all his youthful enthusiasm, bounding all over the court, determined to retrieve every shot, versus the talented and more experienced Marshall. Despite all Carr’s effort, the result was a fairly comfortable 3/0 for Marshall, who has a knack of delivering quality shots from the toughest positions, whilst rarely making a mistake.

The tournament was deemed a success and the approach encouraged greater member participation, with 53 matches being played in total. However, the 2014 tournament will focus upon eliminating the number of walk-overs awarded by introducing a number of new initiatives. Member feedback was very positive, with the only remaining dilemma being the possible result in a Marshall versus Weatherall final. To answer this question a one off ‘shoot out’ will be held towards the end of the year to determine Henley’s number one player. This match is planned to be held on the same weekend as Henley’s ‘handicapped’ tournament and it is hoped both events will be widely supported.

The full Draws can be seen here.

Henley Squash Club’s Own ‘Bionic Woman’ plays for England!

Despite having both hips replaced (in 2009 and 2010), Henley’s Jill Campion has returned to playing squash at the International level.

Jill, who lives in Bix and competes for Henley in the Oxfordshire Men’s League, played for England in the O50s Masters Squash Home Internationals, held in Cardiff on 26/27 April. In the opening match Jill played number three string against a weakened Irish team, winning comfortably 3-0. The next match was against Scotland. Again playing number three, Jill won the first and second games comfortably but her opponent retrieved well, forcing errors from Jill, and went on to win the third. However, Jill proved too strong, winning the fourth game convincingly, to win 3-1. Three hours later she went on at number two string against Wales, playing the highly experienced Lynn Davies. Jill powered her way to win the first game but Lynn, comfortable on home territory started to impose her game, narrowly losing the second. Encouraged by the home crowd she produced a series of winning shots to win the third game. Jill regained control of the match in the fourth, which was nevertheless a hard fought game, and won the match 3-1. England were overall winners of the O50s age category.

Commenting on her selection and victories Jill said, “Selection is based on results in regional tournaments, the national championships and the British Open. It is highly competitive and there are a lot of good players out there. I was thrilled to make it this year, especially playing number three. This is my second season back competing after five years off during which time I had both hips replaced and rebuilt my strength and mobility. It is just such a pleasure to be able to move freely again and play to the best of my ability.”

This is the 11th time Jill has been selected to play for England at age group level, which started at O35. She started playing squash in her teens, representing Bristol University and British Universities teams. She then moved to France where she was ranked either 1 or 2 in the country for 10 years. When she moved back to England she represented Middlesex at county level, reaching the national inter-country finals on numerous occasions. She now plays for Middlesex O40s team, and last month played number 2 for the team in the national inter-country finals, losing narrowly to Yorkshire.

Jill moved to Oxfordshire five years ago and lives in Bix.