20+ members of the Squash Tigers Team made the hour trek to the wilds of suburban Philadelphia in pursuit of ranking points, match play, experience and some very idiosyncratic throwback trophies for the third and final Philly Gold Tournament of the season.
The principal venue for this Gold was the Berwyn Squash Club, the oldest and most storied of public squash facilities in the country, coupled with the ubiquitous nearby Lifetime facility and Malvern Prep. Three venues made for various challenges, but all’s well that ends well and the event itself was a happy one for the Squash Tigers crew.
In an effort not to bury the lede toooooooooo much, congratulations to Maryam, Colten, Reghan and Chloe on winning the GU19, BU17, GU17 and GU11 respectively. Additionally and just as importantly, hearty congratulations and a world of credit and admiration for our younger crew who were just sticking their metaphorical foot in the water that is the Gold level of competition. Everyone’s on their own squash journey, some just starting off, some already recruited for college… but great to see everyone working hard and improving.
A special shoutout to the team for their excellent standards of sportsmanship and support of each other. I received several texts from parents who were deeply impressed with the class and respect shown by our players… the fact they were pretty good at squash was also mentioned, but it was the attitude and the ethics that were at the forefront of people's awareness. Well done to all!
Let’s wander into the report proper and look at the girls first… GU19 saw Maryam emerge triumphant in what was a good reward for a hard working April. Shout outs to Claire (playing up an age group) who was a semi-finalist and Anika who fought through an epic back draw to take 9th.
The GU17 saw Reghan, playing up an age group, win out in relatively simple fashion without dropping a game. Doesn’t get better than that does it…! Well done also to Tisha who overcame an early disappointment to finish 9th in only her third US Squash Tournament.
Madeleine was our highest finisher in the GU15 - running through the consolation with great skills to take 10th place. Additionally it was nice to see ST favorite Kayla competing and winning matches.
The GU11 was all about Chloe winning her first Gold! Congratulations to the young lady who has worked hard and added appreciably to her game in the last few weeks. Well done also to one of our favorite visitors, Miss Kaylee, who made the final of the GU13, despite playing up an age group.
The BU17 had Colten running away with the trophy without dropping a game. Not much to be said on that front apart from to congratulate the big guy!
BU15 had everyone in a down year. I mean, everyone. Well done to Jonathan, Andrew, Yidrew and Allen, who will all be better players for the experience. Jonathan was our top performer, coming away with that 13-16 place and there are bigger things ahead for all the boys. Remarkably Jonathan managed to play two team members in his four matches… not the end of the world, but we could have done with a kinder draw in that regard!
BU13 also had a relatively inexperienced crew of Leo, Lukas and Julian. Leo being the top finisher with epic marathon matches to finish 17th. Leo has improved significantly in the past few months and it was great to watch.
Finally the BU11 were, as always, studs.. Granted, 9 year old studs, but you get the idea. Evan finished 5th, backing up from his 6th place in the Silver Nationals. Yiden was in 7 /8 position, backing up from his semi final place in the Bronze Nationals and Tony fought hard for his 9 /10 place. Tony in particular kept having EPIC matches, 20/18’s, 15/13’s, five gamers… it is still Tony’s world, we’re just living in it…
Next week Jamie is contesting the National Championships, (catchily titled the S.L. Green Men’s Championship) at the Specter Center… Good Luck Coach! Following that, next weekend sees the US Squash Gold Tour moving up to Connecticut and we’ll have our Zoom coaching apparatus all ready to go! Finally the first weekend of May, the 6th, is home to our penultimate Rehearsal Event. It’s a Squash Tiger Spring and it’s still “all go”... see you all at training.
Comentarios