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.

End of Season Report – Winter2 2013

Despite being one of the smaller clubs in the region, Henley again managed to be one of just two clubs to field four teams in the Oxfordshire League. In the second half of the winter season, Henley again ‘punched above its weight’ and produced some memorable results.

Henley 1st team lost a few players at the start of the season as Captain Simon Street was injured, number one Rick Weatherall became a father again, regular stalwart Harry Carr resumed his winter skiing career, Nyall Driscoll and Ed Hopkins focused on their final year at university and Stefan Stanton struggled with work commitments. At the half way point, despite their best efforts, Henley lay in bottom place in Oxfordshire’s top division, having only won one match out of seven. However, Captain Street was determined not to allow the team to get relegated and returned from injury prematurely to help out. Street also recruited two new players – Matthew Baynes and Andy Lewis to the club. These additions, together with Weatherall’s return and the consistent performance of Adrian Richmond, paid immediate dividends and Henley beat every team in the league to win 100% of their matches in the second half. This incredible performance enabled them to finish in third place overall, with memorable victories over Abingdon and Wallingford. Notable performances came from Stefan Stanton, who won 5 out of 7 matches, Matthew Baynes who won 6 out of 9 and Adrian Richmond who won 8 out of 11. However, the first team player of the season award went to Rick Weatherall for an amazing 8 out of 9 victories at first string. Despite being 45 years old, Weatherall continues to play to an extremely high standard and only lost to former world top 10 Mark Cairns from Abingdon.

Having been relegated from Division 2 at Christmas, Henley 2nd team had another difficult season and ended up being relegated from Division 3. In a very tight division they managed to secure 5 victories out of 14 – more than the other relegated team that finished above them. With many close matches, even the two promoted teams only managed to secure 9 wins each, so the 2nds can count themselves unlucky to get relegated. The problems came in the first part of the season, as players were needed to support the first team and James Knight was unavailable for Wednesday fixtures. By the end of the first half, the second team had also only won one match against fellow strugglers Park Wheatley and were lying in last place. Whilst the seconds enjoyed a better second half of the season, securing 4 wins from 7, it was not enough to avoid dropping a division. Whenever the team could field its top players – James Knight, Paul Sayers, David Wright, Derek Oswald and Jill Campion – it managed to secure good results. In a difficult season, Captain Roger Booker awarded the player of the season to James Knight, who recorded 3 victories from 4 appearances at first string.

Henley 3rd team had a consistent season and recorded 8 wins and 4 defeats, which resulted in them finishing second in Division 6 and duly promoted to Division 5 next season. Valuable points were picked up at home and away, only losing both fixtures to top of the table Wallingford second team. Henley were particularly pleased with being able to include keen junior players in every round of the matches – players who will no doubt be climbing the ranks of Henley Squash Club in years to come. Jonathan Betts put in some outstanding performances at first string and played beyond his age, with a control and calmness that recorded 4 victories from 5 matches. James Little also returned to the team after a year long lay off due to injury and, although not at his best, managed to win all 3 of his matches. But the stand out player of the season was Richie Hopkins who holds the impressive record of 11 appearances and 10 victories. Richie has power and retrieval skills, and when more craft comes into his game, will be a force to be reckoned with. The juniors were supported by captain Richard Griffiths and Peter Hopkins and other established players. Griffiths also recorded some impressive statistics, winning 9 matches from 11 appearances and his involvement helped secure the well deserved promotion.

Henley 4th team started the season with the simple goal of avoiding the wooden spoon in Division 7! Two victories in the first two weeks even gave some hope that promotion might be a possibility, but then reality set in and only two more wins (plus one walkover) were achieved over the remainder of the season. Nevertheless, the team finished 4th – a definite improvement on the three previous winter seasons, when they finished last or next-to-last each time. Henley were pleased to be able to give vital match experience to a total of 15 players throughout the season. Notable performances were Matt Blagg who won 4 matches from 5 appearances, Kristof Kunzmann with 3 victories from 5 matches, but Team Captain and Club Chairman Duncan Nightingale awarded the player of the season award to Paul Ireland for his 4 victories from 7 appearances.

Henley Squash Club would like to thank Invesco Perpetual for their continued sponsorship, which has undoubtedly contributed to the enjoyment and success of the teams – particularly subsidising the costs of including juniors and students within the teams. Anyone interested in following or joining the club should visit www.henleysquash.co.uk.

The latest final Winter2 League Tables can be seen here.

The promotions/demotions referred to above will feed into the next Winter season. The Summer season that kicks off on 30/04/13 has divisions based on the last Summer season.

Christmas Opening Times

There are plenty of opportunities for Squash League players to finish their 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:

Monday 24th : 6.30 – 16.00

Tuesday 25th : CLOSED

Wednesday 26th : CLOSED

Thursday 27th : 6.30 – 20.00

Friday 28th : 6.30 – 20.00

Saturday 29th : 8.00 – 20.00

Sunday 30th : 8.00 – 20.00

Monday 31st : 6.30 – 16.00

Tuesday 1st : CLOSED

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

Also, remember that team squash has finished for the season, so the evenings of Tuesday 18th and Thursday 20th have NOT been blocked out and are available for general bookings. Team squash is due to start again week stating 7th January.