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Since my first tentative steps on to a squash court well over 30 years ago under the guidance of Roz Frankland, Woking has always had a thriving junior section. Remarkably, Roz continues to encourage and coach our juniors to this day, ably assisted by club professional, Jesse Engelbrecht and overseen by committee member Mike Thacker. As a consequence of Roz, Jesse and Mike’s passion for the game and dedication to the club, we currently have around 50 active junior members and for the first time in a few years, we have been able to field two teams in the Surrey Junior Leagues. As we were new entrants to the leagues and our skill levels were therefore unknown, it was “luck of the draw” in terms of the divisions the two teams were to be placed. Woking Juniors 1, made up of Anisa Javaid, Rehan Ahmed, Matthew Leslie and Uttara Raju, were placed in Division 4, which provided some very tough opposition from often much older players. Despite some very close games and a single match victory against Dorking, the team will be returning to battle in Division 5 next season! Woking Juniors 2, including James Bremner, Nick Hiley, Tiffany Kuk and Alex Cannell, not to mention guest appearances by Hamza Ali, were placed in Division 9. Despite the relatively low level of the division, the season started with a shock when the team came up against the 16-year old, six-foot leviathans of Warlingham. After an epic battle of David and Goliath proportions, Warlingham just edged us out to win 2-1. This early upset spurred the team on to win their remaining nine matches and the Division – a resounding success! As you may already be aware from our website, we continue to offer free junior coaching on Sunday afternoon and the first session of the new season will take place on Sunday 11 September. If you or someone you know would like to take part, please click here. |
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As with the seniors, the junior events were well supported by the membership with trophies on offer at under-11, under-13, under-15, under-19, girls and handicap levels. A very big thank you goes to Roz and Mike and all those behind the scenes for organising the events. Please click here to view the full results.
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The Wagtail |
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Newsletter of Woking Squash Rackets Club |
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Issue 3 |
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August 2011 |
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Welcome once again to the Wagtail, the “occasional” newsletter of Woking Squash Rackets Club.
The purpose of this publication is to keep you informed of developments and events at WSRC and I would welcome the input of individual members if you wish to highlight a sporting achievement, charitable activity or even business that may interest or benefit other members, so please email me with your contributions for future editions.
Those of you with long memories, will no doubt recall that I promised in this issue to concentrate on the thriving junior squash scene at the club. In addition, I thought you would also appreciate a review of the incredible event that was the WSRC 24-hour squash marathon in aid of Woking Hospice.
Dates for your diary:
Friday 28th October at 8pm WSRC Annual General Meeting
All members are encouraged to attend and everyone will receive a free drink! This is your opportunity to learn more about developments at your club over the last 12 months and ideas and plans for the coming year. As well as the Chairman’s report there will be short presentations on the clubs finances including a membership update and planned expenditure for 2012.
Friday 19th November at 8pm Annual Beaujolais Quiz Night.
Enjoy! John Hughes Chairman |
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WSRC Juniors |
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WSRC Junior Championship 2011 |
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WSRC 24-hour Squash Marathon |
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At 6pm on Friday 17 June, an exhibition match between Jesse Engelbrecht and his young protégé, Gary Naidoo, kicked off an attempt by WSRC members to raise much-needed funds for Woking Hospice. Although I had every intention of playing for the full 24 hours, personal circumstances dictated that I was only able to participate in the second 12 hour shift. However, the carnage that greeted me at 6am on Saturday morning was enough to make me have second thoughts about taking part at all…Aside from the stench, players who had been there from the start looked like extras from Dawn of the Dead! Undeterred, I put on my usual understated kit and began to play. During the course my participation, I have to say I was genuinely touched by what I saw; both those taking part and those supporting and we should all be very proud of the great community spirit we have. The danger with highlighting individuals in what was a massive team effort, is that someone may not get the recognition they deserve, so please accept my apologies if I have omitted your contribution from the following: Roll of Honour OMG! Chris Bartlett Respect Due! Simon Browne Other stalwarts Special mentions Kieron Harwood – not for playing – he was washing his hair or something – but for kindly donating a leg of lamb for dinner. Jo Pewter – thanks to Tom’s better half for cooking and serving said leg of lamb. Cheryl – Martin Shelley’s significant other for supplying food. Kerryn Bartlett – for manning the bar for the majority of the event as well as providing bacon rolls, tea and coffee. Chris Raftery – for staying and playing through the night on Friday and then coming back again on Saturday afternoon for several hours, even though he “only popped in for a drink!” Freddie Lawson – for quite literally playing non-stop at the highest possible tempo for 12-hours straight, the nutter! The event was a huge success and we are on target to raise over £8,000 so well done everyone – you are amazing! I am keen to make this an annual event and, next year, to see if we can set the World Record for continuous doubles play so you’d better start training now. Click here to see the article that appeared in this week’s Woking Informer. |
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