Our Rehearsal Tournament (RT) Series has been one of the highlights of our inaugural season programming and this event certainly didn't disappoint. Conducted on April 1st, the players had to first navigate the Coaches cunning prank which gave them white balls to warm up with on the white courts... leaving them somewhat unamused but attuned to a great day of match play and rehearsal for the bigger things ahead!
The 8th installment of our Rehearsal Tournament Tour featured a range of player experiences, again led off by resident pro Jamie, who is always more than happy to remind the kids how much work is required to compete at the very top of the game, right down to some of our youngsters who are building up to their first US Squash events later this Spring! Truly, as always, we surf an eclectic spectrum!
As I have written before, a huge, huge, huge (struggling for adjectives here, but you get the general notion) thank you to Coach Claire who constructed the draws and directed a picture perfect scheduling display, keeping everyone happy and engaged. Like many things in life, competitors frequently only notice scheduling when it goes awry, and as Coach Claire makes no mistakes, it often goes unseen! Thanks Coach!
As is custom, we had a qualifying round to place competitors into their appropriate draws, then the real business of the day got going in earnest!
Premier Division saw Coach Jamie defeat JJ, Arjun and Tyler win the title. Too big, too strong, too good, but patient with the kids and as he frequently does, Jamie gave the boys just a little glimpse, without being unduly harsh, of what pro squash looks like. There were many other quality matches, JJ defeating Eric in one semi-final - another instant mini-classic as they so often produce, and Meredith persevering in a tough division after her qualifying win over Kevin. Edward won the coveted 5th position in the top division for the first time over Tyler (who appears to be growing an inch taller every day) and Jason made a welcome re-appearance to add some maturity to the draw...!
After Isabella's (don't call me Bella) victory in D1 in March, girl power continued to reign with Alice H. defeating Kevin in the final and Chloe defeating Mimi to take third. As always, there were hidden gems in D1 matches, with Sriya, Evan, Alice and Lillianna all producing some solid work after winning through their respective qualifying! Breakout effort of the tournament this time was Alice W., who motored around the court and played remarkably solid squash for the U11 world!
D2 as it so often does, delighted Coach Colin! The draw showed more character development than a Grisham novel and more teachable moments you could shake a mixed metaphor towards... By way of results, Dev defended his title, rebounding after his qualifying loss to Alice W., by a 3/0 margin over the ever improving Ronnie. Jesse and Dean fought out the three/four with a smile on their faces and very speedy feet. Shout outs to Ethan, Kaileen and Ansh who are gaining that much needed experience and composure day by day! Well done D2 - the future is bright!
Only two Rehearsal Tournaments left this season and the next one will be May 6th, (a small part of me wishes it was May 4th with the accompanying Star Wars puns... but alas) and you can enter via via our dedicated webpage ... until then, see you at training!
