New Year, New News

Happy New Year and with it, the promise of bigger things ahead!  Below you will find my usual brief updates and all contacts/link here!

The Top 5

1. Last call for in person coaching at this weekends EA Gold in Philly

2. A reminder that our weekly schedule has returned to normal post our stellar Winter Camps - it was a great time, but it’s back to school for now!

3. Our next Rehearsal Tournament is scheduled for January 27 and it promises to be a bumper edition following up on an awesome New Year event.  Early entry is always advised as we cap entries at our first 50 players

4. Welcome back to Coach Colin who is resuming his lesson schedule.  You may contact Coach directly for lesson bookings or reply to this email for any private lesson inquiries

5. If you have friends or family who would like their child to begin their journey in the squash world, we have our Learn to Play Starter Pack that sets the foundations - email me or pass on this link to help them in their first steps

The New Year is upon us and with it, the busiest stretch of the competitive year.  Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist your child to make more effective use of their time.

See you all at training. 

Paul and the Team

New Years Rehearsal Tournament - Reportage!

Our New Year Rehearsal Tournament, our final event of 2024 was one to remember!

Four Divisions were contested, with the full range of Squash Tigers experience represented!  At the top we had Coach Jamie showing the way, through to our JCT boys and girls and on to our learners who are preparing for their future charge into the US Squash Tour!  Truly the full gambit! To catch up on some of the highlights check out our Insta Story and for the big photo dump of the day, our Squash Tigers FACEBOOK page.

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!

Let's start with the future... so to speak!

D3 was truly the Future Stars bracket with Dean bouncing back from a qualifying loss to Ansh to push Vincent into the Silver Medal place!  The standout match of D4 was almost certainly Audrina and Vincent who ground out a five gamer on the glass courts that had everyone enthralled!  Shout out to Claire who is home from school through the Winter and has been one of our most diligent camp participants!

D2 was won by the ever improving Chloe who has settled well into her position as a Nationally ranked top 24 at GU13 and showed good composure in her driving game throughout.  Chloe defeated Evan in the final, and similarly, Evan is settling well into his season as a top 24 BU11 player!  Dev defeated Tony (another top 32 BU11) in the third place playoff and continues to show his improvement through hard work! The five through eight positions had solid matches, with Matthew, Ansh, Ethan and Dennis rounding out the placings.

D1 was a high standard bracket and Sid deserves credit for bouncing back from his qualifying defeat to Lily to take the title.  Sid defeated the resurgent Erika in the final, Erika showing signs of coming back to full fitness and looking good before the UVA JCT next month.  Anika defeated Angela to take third, with both young ladies looking in exceptional form throughout the day.  In the five eights, Madeleine showed good form in preparation for the January JCT, Henry never fails to give his all and showed the benefit of a hard working winter camp, Caroline was delightful in her debut in the club and Jayden rounded out the draw after his solid qualifying win.  All in all, D1 was on fire!

The Premier Division was won by Coach Jamie, who entertained the crowd and gave the players some valuable high tempo experience.  Coach defeated Parth in a final in which Parth had solid moments and made into a contest (you can see game 3 here).  Arman had a good day also, defeating Henry, JJ and Will on his way to 3rd - nothing to be sneezed at there!  Jonathan, Lily and Eric were our remaining D1’ers and truly “looked the goods” - bigger things ahead!

We have another few days of our Winter Camp before normal squads resume on Wednesday!  On a US Squash front, next weekend sees the EA Gold and not long after the Big Dogs are off to the first JCT of 2024.  School squash resumes also, with January being a bulk of clutch matches garnering seeding positions for the February Nationals.  Big things ahead, much work on the courts and it’s all to be played for... see you all at training!

Tiger USJO 2024 - Reportage!

The U.S. Open, one of the highlights of the Squash Tigers season, was conducted in Philadelphia this past weekend. The big numbers were:

• Over 1,000 players across ten draws contested the tournament

• Players from 45 countries competed

• 32 Squash Tigers represented the program

• A spectacular 16 Tigers made the top 32

• An even more remarkable 7 enjoyed a top 20 finish and

• A big 3 achieved a top 10 placing!  

Statistically our most successful divisions were the U15’s with Reghan making a semi-final, Isabella the losing finalist and JJ fighting through the consols into 10th place.  Shout outs to Jonathan, Tyler, Yidrew and Madeleine who all enjoyed good success in their respective down years - bigger things ahead!

The U17’s were truly the “big guns” of the program, on paper Claire in 13-16, Alex in the 21-24 slots were our best finishers.  Colten and Parth as always were hard to beat and did us proud, as did Eric and Shrikar in their down years.  For the girls Lily was outstanding in finishing 35 after some great squash, with Anya and Steph competing hard as always.

The U11’s had all four players, Yiden, Evan, Tony and Katherine in the top 24 of the boys and girls draws.  Top finisher was Yiden who played out into the 13-16 slot and defended his national ranking of #14!

The U13’s saw Meredith lead the girls in 11-12 and Eric lead the boys in 13-16.  Shout outs to Leo, Mimi, Chloe and Sriya who will all be so much better for the big time experience.

Last but not least, some of our favorites in the U19’s.  Our hard working seniors played a great event, led by Maryam, finishing in 13-16. Sean enjoyed some big wins in his 49-64 finish - (see a big highlight from Sean on our socials here) and Anika enjoyed some solid success and again demonstrated some real improvement.  Arman battled hard against the odds as the youngest man in the draw, enjoying his birthday on the third day of the event!  Happy Birthday Arman!

A final congratulations to all our competitors who displayed great skill and even better sportsmanship.  A thank you to the parents who fostered such an encouraging and respectful environment and lastly, thank you to my coaches who worked tirelessly in Philly and at the club to make sure the kids enjoyed the experience they deserved.

You may view all the best Tiger Memories via our Story - and stay tuned to our Facebook Page for the inevitable photo dump from the weekend.  Back at the club we are now fully in Christmas Camp mode and preparing for the second half of the season.  See you all at training!