GRAMPIAN DOMINATE AT NATIONAL

INTER – REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2007

Grampians junior squash stars once again demonstrated their dominance of the junior game at this year’s Inter–Regional championships held in Edinburgh. The squad won every tie at Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 age groups, with the relatively young Under 13 team obtaining a credible 4^th position in their age group.

The depth of the squad was highlighted when two 15 year olds, Mhairi Charlton and John Milton, moved up to the U19 team. The experienced Mhairi went on to win every match 3/0 with exemplarily performances throughout, none more so than that of her defeat of the Scotland No2 Annie Lambe. It was, however, the introduction of John to his first ever tournament and his performances, which had the squad talking. John narrowly lost 2 of his matches 3/2 and showed great composure to win another 3/0.

Lyall Paterson playing in his last junior Inter–Regional tournament lived up to his national No1 ranking by winning all of his matches in a very professional way. Time appears to have stood still for this young man: with him turning up for the first match sporting his lucky Stonehaven top, which he wore as a youngster when he won his first ever title aged 10. The entertainment this year was provided by Nigel Anthony at No2 who put in some excellent performances to defeat a group of very interesting and unorthodox opponents in all of his matches. I doubt I have ever seen Nigel enjoy himself so much as he and the team shared a bundle of laughs along the way, with Nigel showing great control to come through 3/0 each time.

The Under 17 team squad consisted of Sam Allan, Chris Shinnie, Hannah Anthony, Jarod Shuttleworth and Mark Everard and they pulled out all the stops to see off the much fancied Highlands in a closely contested title decider. Rule changes in the format of the tournament meant that points difference could in effect decide the tie, and Mark got the team off to a fantastic start with a 27/2 victory. Both Hannah and Chris then went on to win their first games against Ally McCorquodale and Ewen Urquhart respectively. Although Hannah went down 3/1, Chris was to secure his first ever 3/1 victory over Ewen to make it advantage Grampian again. Sam at No1, however, was to find himself trailing 0/2 in games and suddenly the old calculators were out trying to see how many points Sam required should the unthinkable happen and he go down 3/0. Fortunately computation was not required as Sam turned the match round to come through 3/2 and take the title. Jarod was to drop a mere 2 points in all of his matches playing at no4 in the team.

In the Under 15 event the new rule changes worked in Grampian’s favour on two occasions, when, at first, the team won a tie on games count-back, and then again in the last tie against East, on points count-back. The depth of this squad in particular is such that there is very little difference in the standard between any of the players below the No1, Chris Leiper. The squad, which also included Rosie Allan, Tim Davidson, Michael Boyne, Robbie Paterson and Lauren Hodgson, repeatedly produced excellent performances. With this strength in depth it was no surprise that whoever was playing at both 3 and 4 were to win their games in reasonable comfort; however, both Chris and Rosie were to find it considerably tougher. They both, nonetheless, did enough to win most of their matches, or at least obtain sufficient points to secure victories for their team. The highlight for Chris was a tremendous comeback to secure a 3/2 victory over Greig Stewart.

The Under 13 team was very young indeed, with Calum Morrison, Madeleine Reader and Jonathan Read all qualifying to play for the same age group next year. Playing at no1 Aaron Thomson was to put in some spirited performances against the country’s leading players and secured a couple of victories along the way. The team got off to a great start with all of the players winning all of their first matches. However, a heavy defeat against the West affected the team’s confidence and some narrow defeats saw the team slip to, a still very creditable, 4^th position.

Grampian Squash would like to thank the coaches at each of the Region’s clubs, along with the Region’s coaching team, for all of the hard work that has been going on behind the scenes. They would also like to thank the team coaches, parents, Junior Convenor and RDO for all their support in making this once again another fine campaign. The generous support from ASRC, Lawrence Milne of Ellon, Shell UK, and Thistle Sports for the Grampian-Inter Regional team is gratefully acknowledged.