Philly Gold - Tiger Reportage!

Setting the scene

Philadelphia hosted the catchily entitled 2024 Main Line Junior Gold this past weekend at three clubs down the length of Montgomery Avenue.  The main venue was the salubrious 3 court Philadelphia Country Club (PCC), led up by one of the ever helpful and courteous Coach Russell, with nearby schools Haverford and Shipley used for several draws.  One can only remark that the countryside around PCC was sufficiently picturesque to make anyone wish to take up golf, a sentiment that is seldom uttered by Squash Tigers coaches!

The BIG numbers

213 players from all over the country contested the ten draws

21 Squash Tigers competed

12 Quarterfinalists - 15% of all quarters had a Squash Tiger Representative!

4 Finalists

2 Winners

Congratulations to everyone who competed on what was a memorable weekend for the program.

The BOYS

Leading from the top, congratulations to JJ and Jonathan on winning the boys U17 and U15 respectively.  For Jonathan this was his second BU15 Gold win of the season, backing up from his triumph at the Episcopal Academy in Winter.  Big shout out to one of our big dog U11’s, Tony, who made the final of his event, losing a fifth game tie breaker but winning everyone’s admiration!

The BU17 is a draw worth delving into, with five of our players contesting the bracket.  JJ won out, Eric achieved 5th, Shrikar 7 / 8, Edward with a solid win making 13/16 and Dhruv getting some valuable experience having recently aged up.  JJ defeated his fellow Squash Tiger Eric in a quarter final, Eric going on to finish an impressive 5th, having defeated another Squash Tiger, Shrikar in a tough five game consol match.  Shrikar recently won the Silver Nationals Title, played an epic quarter final match and had little left for the remainder - bigger things ahead!

The BU13 saw Leo, Evan, Dev and Jesse in the draw.  Standout performance was Leo, fresh from his Silver Nationals fifth place, he achieved 6th in what was a tough event and Evan achieved 11/12 having aged up just a few days ago!

Our sole BU19 was Arman in a 6th place finish.  Always wanting more, the big guy wasn’t thrilled, but played tough and will be better for the weekend's experience.

The GIRLS

Leading the pack was Meredith in the GU15 with her Silver Medal.  Having just aged up from her top 3 GU13 season, she continues along her winning ways.  Also deserving recognition was ST favorite Anya, who pulled into Bronze in the GU19 - well done Miss!

The GU13 was filled with action, giggles and five of our competitors!  Chloe finished 5th, Sriya 7 / 8, Siddhi 13-16 and Anya and Shona in  19/20.  All in all a formidable set of young ladies, getting better and better every week.

Finally a huge thank you to Coach Lyall who helped our Squash Tigers crew at Haverford and made everyone’s tournament experience just that little bit better!  Next weekend brings the Boston Gold, so good luck to the dozen or so Tigers making the trek to the North.  In squads we’re embracing (?) a LOB week and Spring training is well and truly in full flight.

Bigger things ahead and see you all at the club soon!

Spring Training Thoughts

Spring is an extraordinarily important season for a squash player looking to move to the next level of achievement.

Read that again for me. Spring is an extraordinarily important season for a squash player looking to move to the next level of achievement.  In brief, Spring is a time of year that gives coaches an opportunity to improve an athletes overall athletic profile, hone technique and gain a jump on opponents.

Three things to unpack in this statement.

1. Spring has less competitive pressure, allowing coaches to be more concerned with technique and the long term - rather than just winning the next match.

2. As Spring has less competitive pressure, we can do more physical training to progress an athletes physical profile, without taking away from their winning chances due to fatigue.

3. Many others “rest” from squash in the Spring - making it the ideal opportunity to move up and past them.

A variety of pressures are ahead, whether they be performing well at college camps, Summer Golds, European Tournaments or even preparing for the the Egyptian Junior Open in August. All I know for certain is that the weeks between now and the start of the "real" season in September will go quickly and we want to make the best possible use of them!

Questions on your Spring? Email me via paul@squashtigers.com to make a plan!

April Rehearsal Tournament - Reportage!

Our April Rehearsal Tournament was another solid one for the history books, with our novices in particular shining out!

Five Divisions were contested, with the full range of Squash Tigers experience represented!  Coach Jamie was top seed in Premier Division and happy to work the kids around the court while he prepared for this weeks St. Louis PSA Open - good luck to Coach! As always the event ran the full gambit, with our pro on top court, our mid-experience crew contesting the middle divisions and some our favorites in D5 preparing for their charge into the US Squash Tour! 

Our usual preamble, for those of you new to the Squash Tigers world, as background, Rehearsal Tournaments are:

“ … in-house events conducted at SQUASHTIGERS! For the 2023-24 season (Sep 2023 thru May 2024), the Rehearsal Tournament Series comprises 9 tournament events. The Rehearsal Tournament Circuit attracts entries from top juniors. It also provides a great home for beginners to gain rehearsal before they step out into the US Squash ranking world. Players play a minimum of three and a maximum of four matches on a Saturday, commencing first thing and concluding early afternoon. The event does not count towards rating or ranking, so players may be relaxed enough to develop their games in a friendly environment, yet serious enough so that they will be ready for the wider world when they get out there!

As has become our custom in reporting, let's start with the future... so to speak!

D4 saw Jonah over Ansh in the final. Both finalists had solid performances, Jonah winning his first event and Ansh playing arguably his best squash ever. Ethan rounded our the podium, only losing out to Ansh on countback! Shoutout again to Riyanshi, our littlest competitor, who was tough and resolute and a pleasure to coach through the day.

D3 saw Ronnie emerge as the #1! D3 had one of our real coach favorite players, Ronnie take out the top position over Shona and Yohan. Shona and Yohan had a great 3/1 fight for Silver of which they should both be proud. To digress for a moment, Ronnie has had a great season, making top 32 as a BU11, aging up and winning through to the quarter finals of the Bronze Nationals U13 draw, all while moving his rating 0.8 inside a year! What a guy... :)

D2 was won by Mimi, who played some great squash, with Neil and Jesse bringing up the placings. Mimi, always very fond of our bagels on Rehearsal Tournament weekends, rebounded from an unsettling qualifying loss to regain her equilibrium and win out. Congratulations to our Nationally ranked #18 GU13 superstar!

D1 was tough, really tough. Showing the benefit of his recent hard work in the Performance Program, Leo won out over Chloe and Jayden. Shout out to Sriya who played strong and focused squash all day. All four have much of which to be proud. Spring is conventionally time to work on fitness and technique, so sometimes tournament form suffers, but all played remarkably sharply and should be congratulated.

The Premier Division was won by Coach Jamie, who entertained the crowd and gave the players some valuable high tempo experience.  Coach defeated Eric in a fun final, some of which you can see here on our Insta Page, with Madeleine and Ayona rounding out the top 4.

At training we are into a "Boasting Week" and on a US Squash front, next weekend sees the Main Line Gold just down the road in Philly. We will have coaches on the ground, so contact Paul if you would like to be mentored through the event. Please remember that much of next season's success is determined by the hard work we put into our games throughout Spring and Summer, so let's stay "on the ball".

Big things ahead, much work on the courts and it’s all to be played for... see you all at training!