Novice FUN squash event - ASRC

The second novice Fun event took place at ASRC on the 14^th of February. Because it was the holiday weekend several players could not attend, and the event attracted a total of eleven players from Montrose, Banchory, Aberdeen Sports Village and ASRC. Two Divisions were drawn up with 5 players in the Alaska league and 6 in the Bahama league. The format was a round-robin draw, best of three games, PAR 11 scoring. Only two courts were used, with Chris Leiper scoring the Alaska matches and John Leiper the Bahama matches.

Once again there were a many close matches and the quality of play from each player improved with every game. Maddy Reader won all of her matches without dropping a single game; however, she found several stiff opponents in her draw. Jamie Smith and Morven White had a titanic struggle before Jamie won through to be runner up in this division. Ronan Valentine played steadily throughout the tournament to finish in 4^th place. Iona McIvor, who graciously stepped in at the last minute to fill a position vacated by a late call-off, put up a sterling performance to push her opponents all the way.

In Division Bahama, Scott Lorimer showed his class as he also won all his matches without dropping a single game. Both Jamie Gordon and Adam Doney gave Scott his stiffest tests in this event. Jamie Gordon, produced a battling performance to finish as runner up in this division. He dropped one game against Jack Thomson and won 12/10 in both games against Adam Doney. Jack Thomson appeared a little ring-rusty in the opening matches, but manage to come from behind in the later stages to secure a 3^rd place in his division. Adam Doney, was the unluckiest contestant as he had chances to win against both Jamie and Jack – he will have his day at other events. Max Koster and Gregor Curtis, playing in their first squash tournament, showed pluck, determination and not a little skill in all of their matches. Once they have overcome their initial shyness, they will be able to challenge in these events. In a closely matched competition, Max just shaded ahead to beat Gregor 2-0 in games to finish in 5^th position in this league.

Well done to all the participants, and a big thank you to the parents for allowing their children to take part in this event. I thank ASRC for arranging that we have the court time for this event. I must also give a special Valentine's day thank you to my wife Rosey for giving up her usual 'day to be pampered' in order to help me out with this event.