2008 Club
Championship
Information
Rules
Timetable
Names
Commentaries
Men's Tourn.
Ladies' Tourn.
Men's Plate
Ladies' Plate
Saturday 8th November - Finals Night - Victories for the oldest and youngest competitors
Plate Final
In the morning, I played Richard Chinn in the plate final. In each game, I
got off to a good start and then sat back and let Richard overtake. In the
third, I actually got to 8/3 - Richard had given up on that game - but then I
took a bit of a rest, Richard got a couple of points, and that gave him the
motivation to raise his game and win it 10/8.
Stand-in Plate Final
Ben Salcedo and I had an enjoyable stand-in plate final in the evening.
This was played in a good-humoured way which the crowd appreciated. This
was mostly due to the fact that they found it funny that as I've gone a bit deaf
recently, I couldn't really hear the marker, so I hadn't a clue what was going
on, what side I was serving from, whether I'd got a stroke or let, etc.
I'll be checking the wording in the Discrimination Act later to see if I can sue
any of you! Ben was a real gentleman and did his best to make me look good
by tinning off my worst shots. When I played properly though, Ben showed
some awesome retrieving which the crowd really appreciated, but which annoyed
the life out of me! I left the score sheets at the club, but I seem to
remember the score being something like 10/9 9/6 9/4 to me.
Ladies' Final
Once the crowd had been nicely warmed up, it was time for the long-awaited
ladies' final. This was between Clare Heneghan (1) and Lisa Hobbs
(3). Lisa, who professed to being extremely nervous about the match showed
no nerves in the first game, and got off to a really good start, leading
comfortably for most of the game. Clare took a long time to get her game
sorted out, and kept resorting to risky drops, most of which she tinned, the
remainder of which Lisa had a good chance of putting away. However,
eventually Clare played enough tight straight lengths to pressurize Lisa into
making a few mistakes, and edged through to take the first game with a score of
something like 9/7. I didn't see the second and third, but I heard that
Clare improved and made fewer unforced errors, and Lisa faded a bit in the
third, the good retrieving she had done in the match eventually taking its
toll. So, match to Clare - a new ladies' champion for the club.
Men's Final
The men's final was between Martyn Whiting (1) and veteran Gray Wilson
(6). We knew Gray was in good form as he had already knocked out Wayne
Hooper, Richard Leedham (3) and Mark Coppen (2). Martyn had also shown
good form in the way he despatched Mark Longthorn in the semi finals, so this
was going to be a good match. I've no score sheet, so this is all from
memory!
It was obvious from the start that Gray was determined to get his name back on the winners' board of honour, a feat he last managed in 1990. Gray got off to a very good start and built up a lead of five or six points before Martyn settled into the game and started working the ball properly. Gray got to game ball, but to cope with Martyn's improved shots and movement, he had to lower his margin for error and tinned a few vital shots. In the end though, the lead that he built up earlier carried him through, and he took the first game something like 9/7. The only worrying thing for Gray was that Martyn had won all but one of the last eight shots or so.
In the second game, Martyn was much more focussed, and Gray was just unable to reach quite a few of Martyn's short shots, and it was all he could do to get some of Martyn's drives back on the front wall. Martyn got to something like 8/2 up, and then when going for a boast in the back left corner, he pulled his hamstring (it later turned out he had tweaked it during the first game). He was obviously in a lot of pain, but decided after a few seconds that he should carry on. There were moments when he looked fine, but it gradually became obvious that he had difficulty pushing off. Gray didn't find it easy, and had to work hard, but he gained point after point by forcing Martyn deep and then dropping off Martyn's boasts. Gray reached 8-all, then 9/8, then attempted a cross drop off one of Martyn's boasts and tinned it. Martyn seized his chance and got the two points to take the game and level the match.
When they came out in the third, Martyn seemed to have made a partial recovery, but half-way through the game, he tweaked his hamstring again. Not wanting to hand Gray a walkover, he then changed his style of play - did a lot more anticipating and moved as economically as possible. This really worked and seemed to halt Gray in his tracks, but only temporarily. Gray took the third.
The fourth game was a repeat of the third. Martyn still put up stiff opposition, but when forced to boast, had to anticipate that Gray would counter drop. He was so successful in this tactic that he reached a large number of Gray's drops and even hit winning lobs off a few. Gray countered with mixing up drops and lobs, and gradually started getting perfect height on the lobs preventing a volley return. Full marks to Martyn for the effort he put in, but his loss of mobility meant only one outcome, and Gray took the game and match.
Nibbles and Prize Giving
As usual, the food was of a pretty high standard - I may have overdone it on
Christina's sausage rolls and Gray's mince pies though. Vic and Ian did a
tremendous job of the prize-giving, and may have earned themselves a repeat
performance at the handicap tournament next year. Gray made a very nice
speech where he dedicated his victory to his wife Mo who had let him out to play
squash so many times in the last few decades. He also paid tribute to the
sporting behaviour of Martyn in carrying on despite his injury. Martyn
followed suit by paying tribute to Gray, saying he would like to be half as good
as Gray when he reached 65. I'd like to be half as good as Gray now!
When I get to 65, I'd be happy to be playing any kind of squash, or bowls, or
even still have my own teeth!
Thanks
Thanks to the organisers Granthan and Lisa. It was particularly gratifying
that we got a record turnout this year.
Support for Finals
What happened the attendance of the finals though? There were so many
team players who were not there to support our premier squashing event.
There were lots of good excuses, but out of the two men's teams (10 players),
only five attended, and three of those were playing and one was marking.
Out of the thirty players who entered, I only counted 11 at the men's finals
tonight, and seven of those were playing or marking. That's pretty
poor! Enough said. I'm sure we'll get a record entry for the
handicap tournament next year, and you'll ALL come along to the finals night.
Presentation to Mark Longthorn
We had a presentation to make to Mark Longthorn (the only men's team player who
turned up purely to support this event). Over the last few months, Mark
has managed to persuade a large number of Leisure Centre players to join, so on
our recommendation, the Executive Committee has sanctioned giving Mark some bar
vouchers to the value of £50. Thanks Mark - remind me to pass over the
envelope!
Signing out,
Paul Heneghan
Squash Section Secretary
Friday 7th November - Semi Finals Night
Richard Avery had to pull out due to illness, so Paul is now through to the plate finals.
Richard Chinn got off to an exceptionally good start against Ben Salcedo with a 9/0 win in the first game. Ben then settled into the game and started making some inroads, but couldn't stop Chinny taking the second game 9/6. In the third game everything changed. Ben's tactics were retrieve, retrieve, retrieve and then throw in a drop which Chinny was struggling to reach. Chinny had four match balls, but couldn't convert any of them, and Ben took the game 10/8. Ben was flying in the fourth, and Chinny had nothing left in the tank resulting in 9-0 to Ben. The fifth game alternated backwards and forwards, but Ben kept winning the serve, but not any points, whereas Chinny was getting runs of two or three. Ben also let a few decisions get to him, Chinny scented victory and took the fifth 9/2. Excellent game!
Martyn Whiting (1) played a steady game against Mark Longthorn (4). It was neck and neck up to six-all in the first and then Martyn got a run of points to give him game. Martyn also took the second game, but in the third, Mark raised his game, Martyn played a bit loose and had a couple of wrong choices of shot and let Mark through 9-4. In the fourth, Martyn's accurate boasts and lobs began to take their toll, and Mark began to struggle to reach some of them giving Martyn the fourth game and match. Martyn won 9/6 9/43 4/9 9/1.
The most exciting game of the evening had to be the superb match between Mark Coppen (2) and Gray Wilson (6). Gray was obviously on form, as he had removed the #3 seed (Richard Leedham) fairly easily, and had shown some devastating form in his match against Wayne. Mark put a couple of points on the score board straight away, and looked to be in control as Gray started of a little sluggishly. But after a couple of minutes, Gray adapted to the pace, and started picking his winners and took the first game 9/5. The second game was a different story. Mark was more focussed, and Gray attempted far too many risky winners, some of which were hitting the bottom of the tin. Mark took that game comfortably 9/2.
Mark kept up the quality of the squash in the beginning of the third game and shot off to a 3/0 lead. Gray was having difficulty getting a racket on some of Mark's shots, but kept scraping back the ball making Mark hit yet another attempted winner. Eventually Mark tinned a couple of easy shots and let Gray back into the match. Then Mark got distracted by a decision and his concentration evaporated allowing Gray to get eight points in a row, and the game. Mark was now under pressure as Gray had a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth, the atmosphere was electric as the advantage went backwards and forwards between the players. Mark looked to have that game in the bag serving at 8/6, but couldn't convert it. Gray pulled it back to 8-all, and then the fun started. Gray got to 9 (match ball) straight away and threw everything he had into his attempt to get that last point. He played brilliantly, he played riskily, he lobbed, he dropped, he reverse angled. But he couldn't get that last point. Mark was more focussed than he had been at any stage in the match and with some really good squash he got to 9 (game ball) and then we had alternating game and match ball from the two players. Mark then did a foot fault so outrageous that it had to be called as a fault. In the next point, Mark hit a really loose forehand - Gray scenting victory, decided not to ask for the stroke, and played a powerful forehand drive hitting Mark on the follow through, nearly taking his arm off. Mark temporarily lost interest in continuing the rally and concentrated on clutching his arm. After a very short injury break, a let was awarded and after another couple of exchanges of serve, Gray put away a loose shot from Mark and took the match. Gray is now in the finals of the Club Championship after an break of 23 years!
Wednesday 5th November
Thomas Heneghan gave his dad a bit of a shock on several occasions in this match, as he matched him point for point, but unfortunately, his concentration wavered a few times and let Paul get some easy points. Paul won 9/4 9/2 9/0. I predict a very different score next year!
Martyn Whiting (1) had a reasonably comfortable victory against Jonathan Bomford, but Jonathan never quit and at 6/4 up in the third had a good chance of taking a game. Martyn won 9/3 9/0 9/6.
Mark Longthorn (4) played really well against Rupert Kinder. Rupert played pretty well and got to shots that were almost ungettable, but Mark made him work so hard that he had nothing left for the third game. Mark won 9/4 9/6 9/1.
As predicted, the match between Mark Coppen (2) and Granthan was a bit of a humdinger. Mark put tremendous pace on the ball; Granthan whizzed around the court retrieving everything and playing his usual attacking drops off everything he could. Mark won 9/6 4/9 9/5 9/7.
Tuesday 4th November
No games tonight (as far as I am aware).
Monday 3rd November - 2nd Round Catch-up
An emailed report just in:
Only one result from tonight - Jonathan Bomford played Chris Pryer and won 3-1, scores were 9-6,9-3,7-9 and 9-4. Great game to score and watch. Two vets going head 2 head and producing some fine squash. I was very impressed with Chris's retrieving abilities, he ran and he ran and he ran! But Jon always seemed to have the upper hand and produced some great shots when he needed them most. Chris put a huge effort into winning the 3rd game and I think in the end that was a push too hard for him. Very entertaining.
Sunday 2nd November - Quarter Finals
I wasn't there today, but here are some comments that were emailed to me.
Rupert beat Dave Potter 3-1 (7/9 9/6 9/2 9/2). The only comments I can make about the game between Rupert and Dave is that Rupert just kept running like a whippet. He just never stopped running!!!
Rich Leedham beat Kevin Price-Ward 3-0 (9/4 9/4 9/1). Rich's experience and powerful shots were just too much for Kevin. However, Rich did arrive drinking a can of red bull!
Gray beat Rich Leedham 3-1 ( 4/9 9/2 9/4 9/2). Close game. Gray played some very tight shots and Rich just ran out of steam! Gray played quite a few reverse angle shots which put Rich on the wrong foot. Probably didn't help that Rich had just returned from a week's holiday last night so probably not quite got his eye on the ball just yet! (I think the referee was kept busy in this match - lots of decisions to be made).Chinny beat Steve 3-0 in the plate, score was 9-1 9-1 9-1 !
Not a lot you can write about this one as it was over pretty damn quick !
Ben played George and won 3-0, scores were 9-5, 9-1, 9-1.
Richard Avery submitted this:
I played Rohan at around 3.30pm. I still had a
splitting head ache, and was sipping Resolve before we started! Anyway,
Rohan, having seen my poor condition, dropped his guard, allowing me to win 9/4
9/6 9/2 - I did feel truly dreadful at the end, but the head ache was gone!
I'm hearing all kinds of rumours about a wild Halloween party on Saturday night. I've been promised some photos (strong enough for blackmail material apparently) for the website!
Saturday 1st November - 2nd Round
The ladies played their semi finals in the morning. Clare (1) beat Vic (4) 3-0 and Lisa (3) caused the first upset of the tournament by beating Ros (2) 3-1. Later that afternoon, Vic and Ros played the plate final, and Vic was victorious with a 3-1 win.
I had a cracking game against Mark Longthorn (4). I got off to a really good start with a 9/3 first game and leads of 4/1 and 8/6 in the second, but faded a bit and let Mark take it. Then I got tired and stopped following in my short shots, and Mark took full advantage and took the next two games.
Gray Wilson (6) showed Wayne Hooper what an extra 20 years' experience can do. Wayne felt the pressure from the beginning, and although he built up a useful lead in the first, he tinned a few easy shots and let Gray back in who then took the game 10/8. The second game was also close, but Gray was now reading Wayne's game and this anticipation let him put away anything loose. In the third, Gray played some really good attacking squash and forced a few errors from Wayne and took that game with a convincing 9/4.
Neil Healey got off to a good start against Granthan and took the first two games. Unfortunately, his back then played up and he wisely decided to call it a day. Unlucky for Neil. Lucky for Granthan.
Mark Coppen (2) justified his seeding with a 3-0 win over Martyn Beck. Mark used the simple tactic of hitting it as hard as he could and although Becky still produced some magic touch, his percentage rate just wasn't high enough.
Friday October 31st - 1st Round
The competition got off to a fine start with young Thomas Heneghan taking on speedy Rupert Kinder. Thomas's strategy in the first game was to hit continuous dropshots into the tin (eight in the first game, another sixteen in the rest of the match), and for a bit of variety he would serve out (six throughout the match). To be fair, apart from that, he played exceptionally well, and actually took the third game despite Rupert's best efforts to claw it back.
I have no match reports for the rest of the evening, but there were two 'interesting' games. Becky beat Chinny 3-0, and Chris Pryer beat Richard Avery 3-0.
Wednesday 29th October
Just done the draw. Please contact Granthan or Lisa if you have a problem with any of the scheduled times.