Tiger Tally: Mid-February Rankings Roundup

Mid-February Ranking check-in

THE BIG NUMBERS

21 Squash Tigers in the top 32 of their respective age groups!

7 in the top 8!

10 in the top 10!

13 in the top 16!

You get the idea!! Congratulations everyone!

DRILLING DOWN

Kicking off with the little ones! The U11 rankings see Yiden at #8, Katherine at #11, Evan at #18 and Tony at #31.  Our U11 brigade at the club are amongst our most enthusiastic and fastest improving! Looking forward to seeing who makes the jump into the top echelons next!

U13 has Meredith at #5 (Happy Birthday for next week Miss Meredith!), Eric at 9, Mimi at #20 and Chloe at #22.  Mimi and Chloe continue to work hard every day, and it's always good to remember they're still contesting their down year! - big things ahead!

BU15 sees perennial #1 standout JJ in at #3 currently and Jonathan, one of our greatest improvers, keeping his career high #24.  GU15 has Erika at #13 coming off a solid win in last weekends New York Gold! Madeleine continues to motor along in #31!

The powerhouse boys at U17 are always fun to check in on... led by Colten at #5, Parth #7 and Alex at #10 they're great leaders for the club. Shout out to Sean, our sole BU19, (in the top 32 that is...) coming in at #32!

Just as impressive are our GU17, with Reghan ranked #2 and Isabella #1 followed by Claire at #6 and Lily up to #18. Similarly we have our notional girls captain Maryam holding her ranking at #16.

AND ONWARDS

Texas JCT this weekend, which may shake up the numbers, so looking forward to a big contingent of Tigers going trophy hunting in the Lone Star State. Also a reminder, the program is not just about the JCT crew, every player is on their own journey. That being said, it’s always good to recognize effort, it’s always positive to recognize achievement, and well done to our top 32 Tigers - with many more to join them in the coming months! See you all at training!

New News!

Hard to believe it's already February!  Below you'll find some quick updates on our Squash Tiger World.  As always, feel free to reply to this email with questions and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Quick Hits:

1. Congratulations to the Tigers who performed so well in the NY Gold and Middle School Nationals last weekend - some great results in both events for the team

2. We have our next Rehearsal Tournament coming up on March 9, as usual entries are capped at 50 and signups here

3. We will have in person coaching available for the final JCT of the season in Texas - details are unchanged and I would appreciate requests should be made as soon as possible so I can organize logistics for the coaches

4. Although weather has been kind, a reminder that squads always runs to schedule and we have not had a single cancellation in our two years of operation - please note that if we have a weather emergency you will be emailed directly and with advance warning - please be safe, however training always runs...

5. Finally, never a better time to start SQUASH than today and we have the perfect entry program for novices, please feel free to pass on details of our Learn to Play Program to friends or give them my contacts and I can assist from there

See you all at training!

Paul and the team

January Rehearsal Tournament - Reportage

Our first Rehearsal Tournament of 2024 went off with a bang, with our younger players excelling!

Five Divisions were contested, with the full range of Squash Tigers experience represented!  At the top we had Coach Jamie, competing on the PSA Tour, showing the way and giving some of our more experienced players a look into the speed and skill required at the top end of the game, right through to some of our learners who are preparing for their future charge into the US Squash Tour!  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!

D4 was the home of Girl Power with a veritable gaggle (is that the collective noun?) of young ladies! Long story short, Kaileen came away with her first tournament victory, with Chloe and Audrina filling up the podium. Shoutout to Riyanshi, our littlest competitor, who was brave and effortful and will be quite an accomplished player before tooooooo long.

D3 was also a Future Stars bracket! We saw Ansh bounce back from a qualifying defeat to take 1st place! Riya and Dennis rounded our the podium after some solid wins. Vincent, who may well be renamed "Super Vincent", played a storming event to finish 4th and is virtually unrecognizable from the little player that walked into the club last season. Closing out the bracket was Dean, Noah, Yaseen and Celina, all getting qualify match play and behaving with high standards of sportsmanship and effort.

D2 was won by Neil, who travelled through the draw relatively untroubled and defeated Tony in the final. Tony looked a million dollars throughout and every bit his BU11 top 32 ranking! Will defeated the ever improving Alison for 3rd place in his first Rehearsal event. Rounding out the bracket were Matthew, Yohan, Ethan and Jesse who all continue to impress.

With the High School season in full swing, it was up to some our our youngsters to step up to the D1 mark, and thus it was so! Chloe deserves much credit for bouncing back from a qualifying defeat to Madeleine to take the D1 silverware! Chloe defeated Julian in the final, with Anika taking third over Mimi. Shoutouts to Dev and Evan, two of the coaches real favorites who rounded out the draw.

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, (when is it ever not fun with Eric?) with Erika and Edward rounding out the top 4. Excellent work especially from Erika, in her preparation for Texas where I'm sure she's primed for an upset or two! Madeleine was her usual diligent self and dominated the back bracket over Dhruv, Vaibhav and Sriya.

At training we walk into a "boasting week" and on a US Squash front, next weekend sees the Brooklyn Gold and not long after the Big Dogs are off to the final JCT of the season in Texas. School squash resolves itself soon, with Middle School Nationals this coming weekend and then the High School Nationals February 23! Big things ahead, much work on the courts and it’s all to be played for... see you all at training!