Civil Service Squash - 6 Month Update!

Civil Service Squash - 6 Month Update

 

The squash season's been busy around the Civil Service, so we're just writing out to let you all know what's been going on over the last 6 months and some of the excellent results! A quick summary up top and the full details  of each event is below (all the results and photos will shortly be up on the website):

 

• September: The Civil Service Men's and Women's Teams competed at the Crown Services Quadrangular
• November: James Hodson and Becky Campbell named Civil Service Squash Champions
• January: HASSRA win the Civil Service Team Championship
• The next Squash Event will be the Squash Masters and Racketball Tournament in Nottingham on the 18th and 19th May 2018 – further details can be found on the CSSC website and on our   website www.cssc-squash.co.uk   

 

Keep Playing Squash! - All the best from the Civil Service Squash Committee

Civil Service Champions James and Becky!

 

 September 2017 - Crown Services Quadrangular 2017

 

In September the National Civil Service Squash teams competed in the annual Crown Service quadrangular tournament with the UK Armed Services, Fire Service and Police Force. The individual standard on show was exceptionally high again with ex world ranked players competing for both the UK Armed Services and Fire Service.

 

The men’s team had 3 very tough matches and ended up coming fourth. The event was won by the Police Force. The women’s team had 2 tough matches and ended up coming second. Their event being won by the UKAS. A full report for the men’s fixture is below.

 

This year the Men's Civil Service had put together a strong consisting of:

• James Hodson
• Tim Burrell
• Ethan Thornton
• Mark Aldridge
• Adam Lavis
• Jon McFarlane

 

The first match was against the reigning Champions, the Fire Service. First on were Adam Lavis and Ethan Thornton. Adam played well to win 3-1 and record his first with for the National Civil Service Team. Ethan had it tough playing at number 3 and despite working some good positions, especially in the 2nd game, he couldn't convert and lost 3-0. Next up were Tim Burrell and Mark Aldridge. Again, the 2 matches followed different paths. With Mark looking good at 1-1 and 10-7 up, he somehow managed to lose that game and the match 3-1. Tim fared better  and won 3-0. This left the match poised at 2-2 with the last match on – numbers 1’s with James Hodson against National Over 40’s champion Pete O’Hara. Despite a strong showing and winning one game, James couldn’t quite win the match. A close 3-2 loss to start.

 

Next up were the Police Force. The Police are always strong, particularly in depth and unfortunately the Civil Service had little to show for their efforts at strings 2-5. All put up a good fight but Adam the only player to win a game. Lastly James at number 1 managed to put the rest of the players to shame by winning his match 3-0.

 

Last up were UKAS. Civil Service needed a win to avoid coming last. First up were Ethan and Mark. Ethan had a marathon match, playing exceptionally well to come back from 2-1 down to win his match 3-2. Mark did not have as much success and went down 3-0 despite having some chances. Next up were Tim and Adam. Tim began slowly, losing the first game. By the second he had settled down and managed to win the match 3-1. Despite close games Adam could not overcome his opponent and went down 3-0. So once again it was down to James at number 1. Unfortunately, against another ex-world ranked player, he was unable to get the victory and the team ended with another 3-2 loss.

 

So, after 3 tough matches the Civil Service ended up losing all 3 matches very closely. The event was excellently hosted and run the Police Force, with the Police Force team also coming out as eventual winners of the event.

 

 QUADRANGULAR TOURNAMENT September 2017

 

 

CSSC NATIONAL SQUASH SINGLES COMPETITION – 2017

 

The annual CSSC National Graded Squash Singles, which took place on 24/25th November  2017, was again a highly successful event with many talented squash players from all over the country attracted to the excellent facilities at Nottingham Squash Club together with an impressive field of players in the top half of the draw. Being a graded event there was squash available for all levels and the event saw a friendly yet competitive two days of squash for the 26 men and 3 ladies who entered. It was again good to see several newcomers entering the men’s event. Confusingly some  matches were hard to mark when both players turned out in their identical free purple event T-shirts!

 

The number of lady entries was again disappointing, though the quality of the squash was excellent.  The Ladies Competition was held as a round-robin with the current holder, Becky Campbell retaining her title by overcoming Keeley Grindle and CSSC Squash Chairman Sian Hughes.

 

With a full 16-man draw in the men’s A/B event,  this was held as a knock-out competition with 1st round winners forming the A event and the losers forming the B event. The A grade event had a strong field. There were a lot of good matches with only CSSC Champion James Hodson and former Champion Tony Webb reaching the semi-finals without dropping a game.  However despite the 3-0 score line in Tony’s quarter final match against James Whelan it was a very tight and hard-fought match. It was a contrast in styles with Tony’s fluid movement, gliding around the court versus James’ more brutal hard hitting. A very determined James chased down every ball as Tony moved him around the court, with Tony just about edging every game to take a 3-0 win. In the semi-final Tony came up against Tim Burrell, someone he has played many times before. The outcome was a 3-0 win for Tim to put him once more into the final.

 

Possibly the closest match in this group was Marc Aldridge’s quarter final against Adam Lavis, which he won 3-2. Marc led 2-1 before Adam fought back to level at 2-2. Adam looked a likely winner when he took an early lead in the 5th but Marc used all his experience and guile to take the game and match 11-8 in the 5th. In his semi-final match against James Hodson, Marc started well taking the first game 11-9, but was not able to hold off James from reaching his 6th successive final with a 3-1 win.

 

The men’s A final was a repeat of many years with Tim battling against James Hodson for the title. The second game was especially crucial with Tim fighting back from game point at 7-10 to make it 10 all. Unfortunately for Tim, James was able to hold off the challenge and take the game 12-10. James then stormed off at the beginning of the 3rd game and Tim was not able to prevent him taking his 6th title before a full crowd who had stayed to watch the final - a fantastic display of squash. The A grade Plate event was won by James Whelan who certainly earned success with his energetic squash with close matches against both Mark Bangs (3-2) and Adam Lavis (3-1).

 

All first round losers in the initial AB grade draw went into the B grade competition in an 8 man knock out. Here Imran Bashir came through to the final, after a strong challenge in the semi-final from Dan Willets. With games see-sawing between them the outcome was undecided up to 7all in the 5th game when Imran managed to secure the match. In the other half of the draw Chris Thom and Dave Netherton both had tough first round matches against Paul Lane and James Hewitt respectively. In the final Chris was able to overcome the challenge from Imran with a 3-1 win.

In the B grade Plate James Powell emerged successful after a hard fought match against Craig Blurton, when he came back from 0-2 down to win 3-2 followed by a 3-1 win in the final over Paul Lane.

 

Initially 10 players were entered into the CD event so a first round knock out was held. With one entrant failing to arrive and one player obviously in the wrong grade (and moved up to the AB event), this, after some hard fought first round matches left 4 winners to play in the C grade event and 4 losers to play in the D grade event. These were held as Round Robin competitions with all playing all. The C grade produced some close matches with the eventual winner being Micky Gallacher over Matt Thomas in 2nd place.  The tightest matches, in fact were between Micky and John Frankland and Matt and Fred Sanders – all in all a very tight group. The D grade competition was equally hard fought with Paul Armstrong emerging the worthy winner over CSSC Squash Treasurer Jim Fay in 2nd place.

 

The customary social evening was held at the club on the Friday evening to relax everyone after a hard day’s squash. The club provided supper and organiser Linda provided a light hearted quiz. Fortunately the winners took this light-heartedly as Linda managed to miscalculate the scores and awarded the wrong team 1st prize!

 

The CSSRA held its AGM on the Saturday, which enabled players to comment and discuss relevant issues. Ideas for improvement, alternative venues and a social team match were discussed.

CSSRA President, Marian Holmes, who had been in attendance throughout the tournament (though not playing this year as a result of injury), presented the prizes and thanked the Squash Club for their hospitality and Linda and Ian Lockey for their effective organisation of the event.  Finally, she thanked all the players for their excellent attitude that helped to make this such a friendly but competitive occasion.

 

 

HASSRA “Top and Tail” all the Opposition at the 2018 Squash Team Championships

 

The late withdrawal of two teams from this year’s Squash Team National Open Championships left four strong teams to contest the prestigious CSSC Trophy. HASSRA had again arrived in numbers bringing two teams to defend the trophy they had deservedly won in 2017. Strong opposition was however to be provided to HASSRA’s quest by both DSTL and North West teams. All teams consisting of both men and ladies would play each other in a “Round Robin” format over two days starting on Friday the 26th January 2018 and finishing on the Saturday. 

 

The first Round saw the two HASSRA teams square up against each other with the “A” Team firmly showing their class with a convincing five love result. Jackie Codman however playing for the “B” Team at Number Five put up a strong fight against Ruth Sleigh before finally conceding   in their fourth game. HASSRA B’s disappointment was made worse by the injury to their Number Two player Sanjay Kain who suffered an ankle injury and was unable to continue in the Event. The other match between DSTL and North West however was a much closer encounter. The DSTL Team already one player down due to the late injury withdrawal of their Number Four player Helen Midgely had to now win three of the remaining matches to keep their Team in the hunt.  The early matches were all very close with North West’s Shena Ferrie defeating Carol Stone in their fifth game. The next match again went to five games but this time DSTL’s David Nethercott was the victor with a fine win over Dan Willets. With North West’s Jim Fay having been pegged back from a two games lead, DSTL were now optimistic of another win. Somehow however the North West player found the extra yard in the final game and just managed to cross the line ahead of his opponent Paul Armstrong. This left Paul Lane from North West the task of cementing his team’s overall victory by playing the experienced DSTL Number Two player, Stuart Scourfield. Stuart however had other ideas and with an impressive display of squash dispatched his opponent three games to love. A close encounter, the Tie just going North West’s way three matches to two.

 

The Second Round matches saw the holders HASSRA A and DSTL teams face each other.   HASSRA’s Number Four player Keeley Grindle got her Team off to a good start with a win over Carol Stone, quickly followed by her Team mate Chris Beldon dispatching the valiant Paul Armstrong. DSTL’s Number One David Nethercott could not stop this trend and bravely went down three games to love to the talented Marc Thomas. The match between the Number Two players Adam Ward (HASSRA) and Stuart Scourfield (DSTL) was a quality affair and keenly contested. Stuart however could not find the answer to his opponent’s speed and fitness, losing a close encounter in the fourth.  HASSRA A were looking good!  The earlier loss to injury of HASSRA B’s Sanjay Kain meant they would start their match by giving North West’s Jim Fay a “walkover”.  The HASSRA ladies soon came to the rescue however with Team Captain Sian Hughes just beating Shena Ferrie by three games to two and Jackie Codman beating Deb Atkinson three games to one. HASSRA’s Number Two Kevin Mulligan could not replicate his team’s success losing to Paul Lane three games to love. HASSRA’s Number One player Imran Bashir however got his Team over the line by defeating his opponent Dan Willets in straight games.

 

With the scores now so finely balanced, Saturday’s play would decide the overall results and which teams would triumph.   The first tie saw HASSRA B play DSTL and with both teams being short of a player in different Team positions the outcome would be decided on the three remaining matches being played. HASSRA’s Sian Hughes again got her Team off to a flying start by defeating Carol Stone. Imran Bashir however was unable to repeat this success against DSTL’s David Nethercott who put his side on level pegging by winning in straight games.

 

This left DSTL’s Stuart Scourfield and HASSRA’s Kevin Mulligan to decide the outcome. The experienced HASSRA player however could not quite match the skillful DSTL man, losing a close match three games to one to concede the overall Tie. The other Tie between HASSRA A and North West would now decide the winner of the Championship – North West would however need to inflict a heavy defeat on their opponents to take the Trophy away from the holders. The first two matches soon put the writing on the wall when both Ruth Sleigh and Chris Beldon chalked up wins for HASSRA by defeating Deb Atkinson and Jim Fay. Things didn’t get any better for North West when their number two players Sheena Ferrie and Paul Lane both lost to their opponents Keeley Grindle and Adam Ward. The final match between the Number One players Marc Thomas (HASSRA) and Dan Willets (North West) was all about pride and in a long and hard fought battle, the tired Marc Thomas finally conceded victory to his determined opponent. It mattered not – HASSRA had retained their winners Title.  Other placings, with three teams each level on one Tie each, were not quite so obvious and needed to be assessed on “count-back” scores. It was North West who became runners up by winning one more match than their opponents and the Plate winners were DSTL who had won by only three games from the defending Plate Champions, HASSRA B Team.

 

Congratulations go to HASSRA A for retaining their Championship Title and to the Runners-Up North West, their best ever placing and also to DSTL for winning the Plate Competition.

 

Prizes were presented by the Civil Service Squash Rackets Association Chairman Sian Hughes.  A social evening and quiz was held on the Friday for players to relax and enjoy. The quiz was organised and hosted by Linda Parsley and was won by Team North West. Thanks were extended to all the participating players and to Nottingham Squash Rackets Club for the use of their fine facilities.