Grampian Squash 6th Junior FUN Tournament for ‘Futures’ players

The 6^th FUN tournament was held at ASRC on the 1^st of June 2008. A group of 7 Montrose players travelled up to ASRC to compete in the Grand Finale of the FUN tournaments for this season. Unfortunately, a bereavement prevented MacDuff from fielding their usual strong team of players. It was then down to the four players from ASRC and one from Banchory to force the visitors to play their best squash if they wanted to win. The contestants were split into two divisions, with 6 players in Argentina and six in Brazil. Each match was best of three games first to 9 British scoring.

In the Argentinean division, the finishing places went surprisingly with seed. The experienced, hard-hitting Maddy (ASRC) Won her 1^st and 2^nd round matches 2-0 against both Finlay and Calum (both Montrose), respectively. It was only in the final, which was played best of 5 games, that she lost the first set, but her tactical change in using her looping serve exposed Robin’s Achilles’ heel and she ran-out a deserved 3-1 winner. Robin (ASRC) also won his first two matches against Sally (ASRC) and Finlay without losing a set. His strong play and non-stop running disconcerting these two opponents. Calum’s first match was against Jamie (Montrose), who put up a spirited fight throughout the two games but could not convert his courageous effort into more than one point. Calum’s next match was against Maddy, and although he wrested the serve from Maddy on many occasions he could not translate these chances into enough points to trouble Maddy. The match for 3^rd and 4^th position in this division was fought out by Sally and Calum. Sally had lost to Robin in her 1^st match and won her 2^nd tie 2-0 against Jamie, but she found that Calum had the ability to return her thumping serves with sufficient control to run her all over court. After a spirited fight back in the second game Sally was eventually beaten 2-0 by Calum. Jamie and Finlay fought it out for 5^th and 6^th positions in Division Argentina. This was a great, closely contested match as the two lads tried to wrestle control on court. Jamie went into an early lead, only to have Finlay peg him back. After a series of changes of serve, Jamie gradually got the bit between his teeth and pushed through for a 9-4 win in the first game. In the 2^nd, Findlay was first on the board, but Jamie fought back to 4-4. Thereafter, it was nip and tuck to 8-all, with Jamie opting for ‘set 2’, then 9-9. At last, with a straight volley, followed by a back-court boast Finlay won the game 10-9. The decider opened up with Finlay in the driving seat as he romped into a 3-1 lead, but Jamie grimly clawed back point by point until he finally broke through. Although Finlay doggedly scrapped every step of the way, he finally lost 9-5 in the 3^rd, and the match 2-1.

The final placing in the Brazil Division upset all the seeding in this group, with only Jack (Banchory) and Emma (Montrose) finishing in their seeded position. Morven (ASRC), in her first competition beat all her opponents without dropping a game. Her opening game against Alex B (Montrose) was a hard fought struggle throughout, with Morven slowly managing to grind out the points despite a tenacious defence from her opponent. Her 2^nd match against Jack proved to be equally hard, with both players matching one another in the first, going to ‘set 2’ and 9-9, before Morven finally won the match, 10-9, with a delicate drop reply to a back-court drive from Jack. In the 2^nd game Morven read Jack’s serves very well as she ran-out a comfortable 2-0 winner. In the final, Morven met Alex C (Montrose) in a closely fought contest that she won 9-4 and 9-6, respectively. Alex C and David (Montrose) had a ding-dong battle in their 1^st round match, with Alex C winning the first 9-4, David winning the second 9-2 in a 15 min thriller, and then Alex C romping over the finishing line with a 9-0 win against the tired David. Alex C’s 2^nd round match was against Alec B, with Alex B winning 2-1 in a tense, hard fought match. The 2^nd game in this match was a real nail-bitter with both players seizing the initiative at different points in the game, however, with Alex B stuck on 6 points, Alex C pulled ahead finishing as winner 9-6. The 3^rd and match winning game of this contest went to Alex B, who again seemed to find the scoring shot, while his opponent narrowly missed getting the points. Alex B finished his final match playing the young competition debutant Emma (Montrose). Emma was no match for the hard-hitting forceful play of Alex B who gave her little opportunity to settle into her game as he closed out the match 2-0. Emma’s first competitive match was against the ‘old’ FUN tournament campaigner Jack, who gave her little chance to find her feet in the match as he lob served his way to a comfortable 2-0 win. The 2^nd round matches saw Emma and David drawn together, and this was a more even match for the plucky Emma. David, although looking tired from his exertions in his first round match, rattled up 4 quick points, before Emma, more relaxed than in her first two matches, broke his serve and dug-in to secure her first three points in competitive play. David revived as he tried to stamp his authority on court. While struggling slightly, David gradually racked up the points, dropping several serves on the way, but he held his nerve to win the first 9-3. In the second game, David had something to prove, and he quickly and confidently rattled up the required points to win 2-0 from an improving competitor. David and Jack met in their final match. David grabbed a couple of quick points before Jack’s relentless serve saw him lob his way past his tired adversary.

Because of the availability of so many courts and markers, there was sufficient time for a bonus round of matches with some of the players from the two divisions being mixed. Maddy played Sally in a contest of the hard–hitters. Maddy was quickly into her stride scoring in the early phase, and while Sally chased every ball, the wily Maddy commanded the ‘T’ picking her opponent off with telling shots. The valiant Sally got 4 points on the board in the first game, but ran out of steam in the 2^nd game, losing overall 2-0 to Maddy. Calum obviously felt that he had something to prove against Robin, but although he battled hard in the 1^st he lost it 9-4. Robin again had the edge in the early part of the 2^nd game, leading 5-1 at one stage. However, Calum never gave up chasing every ball and his heroic efforts gradually paid off as he relentlessly overtook his opponent winning this game 9-5. Calum was the early leader in the 3^rd, until Robin made a spirited fight-back to bring it to ‘set 2’, and then 9-9. The game could then have gone either way at this point, and it was an unreturnable hard drive from Calum that sped past Robin to give Calum this thoroughly merited match win. Morven and Jamie were the first cross-division match. After a stuttering start, Jamie halted Morven’s relentless acquisition of points, but he failed to stifle her completely as she controlled the lion’s share of the play. After a spirited fight, Jamie went down 2-0 to this unbeaten debutant competitor. Finlay and Alex B were the next two players from opposing divisions. In this case the result went to form, although, Alex B gave Finlay a real fright by comfortably winning the 2^nd game 9-3. Finlay had already won the 1^st game by the same score, and he showed his competitiveness by holding his nerve in the early stages of the critical 3^rd game as serve went to and fro between the players without a score. Findlay eventually made the breakthrough and then he relentlessly racked up the points to win the match 2-1. The final inter-division match was between the lobber Jack and the runner Alex C. Unfortunately, Alex C had given his all in his previous matches and found Jack’s hanging lob serves just too accurate for him to return with any precision. In the middle phase of both games Alex C halted Jack’s accumulation of points, but he could not snatch more than a single point from his ebullient opponent and he lost this match 2-0.

This concluded the competition with the end result that a good time was had by one and all. The impromptu picnic in the galley with lashings of Capri-Sun, crisps and fun bars rounded off an excellent competitive day for these young squash players. I would like to thank Aberdeen Squash Racquets Club for allowing us the use of their club to run this last FUN event of the season.

Thanks are due to the team of coaches and helpers who assisted in the running and organisation of this FUN tournament, Gerry Towler and Jackie Riches who conceived the concept and set it up, to the clubs for hosting these competitions, and to Grampian Squash for their support in this venture. To the parents who taxied and supported their children in this series of tournaments and most of all to the young squash players who competed with such enthusiasm and skill in these events. Thank you.