2023 CSSC Masters Squash and Squash 57 Tournaments

Nottingham Squash Club was once again the venue for the 2023 CSSC Squash Masters Singles Championships and the CSSC Squash 57 (Racketball) Championships. A favoured venue for many CSSC squash events in the past, the club is now run by volunteers who gave up their time to provide a warm and friendly welcome to the players and guests.

We were pleased to welcome a number of new players to the events. Most notably in the Racketball where for a few of the players it was their first experience of having a referee controlling their matches.  

Squash

The men's O45 age group played in a small round robin group with the men's O55s and O65s combining in a similar larger group. Each competition was hard fought and played in the usual sporting and friendly manner. With numbers being slightly down for the O45's the format was changed from previous events with a best of 5 being introduced thus ensuring that entrants had more time on court. As at previous events the players assisted with marking and refereeing duties to ensure that nearly all the matches were clearly recorded.

The organisers would once again like to thank the competitors for helping to mark matches and, for their patience and good-natured acceptance of the inevitable last minute changes to the playing schedule that the cancellations necessitated.  We would also like to thank the experienced players for making the newcomers to the tournament feel so welcome.

 Mens O45

This year, the trophy went to Craig Webb a welcome first timer at the CSSC Squash Masters. The runner up was John McFarlane, a former regular at the singles and team events and last year's winner of this event.  The awards were presented by co-organiser and quizmaster Linda Parsley.

Mens O55

Ian Frampton a three times former winner of the Racketball
event and former winner in the O45 Squash category.  Ian has worked
his way through all the categories! 
.

Runner-up and a former winner in the O45 category, Geoff Watson receiving his runner-up trophy
from co-organiser Linda Parsley

Mens O65

Collis Sheik a previous winner of the O55s claiming the O65
trophy at his first attempt in this category receiving
his winners trophy.  Presented by Pip Northam CSSC Events
Team (Head Office)

Runner-up in this competition was last year's winner
Peter Fielding.

Squash 57 (Racketball)   

As with the Squash Championships this event was played as a round-robin with 8 players taking part in the one day event.
The players were kept busy on court, with the timed schedule allowing them to take sufficient/ adequate rest breaks between matches/rounds.

 
Neil Moore played solidly to emerge as the 2023 Squash 57
(Racketball) Champion, improving on his runner-up trophy in 2022.
.

Fred Sanders playing in his usual controlled style emerged as
runner-up in a very competitive competition.                                         

Social

All in all a very busy two days for the organisers and, in addition to the friendly battles on court, a very pleasant supper was served at the club. Two teams were formed from the players attending the Friday evening supper and they battled it out in the infamous and much anticipated Linda Parsley General Knowledge Quiz, accompanied by the requisite amount of friendly banter. Feedback from the group indicated that competitors had a busy and enjoyable experience, endorsing as ever, the equally important social element of this event. Lunch on Friday and Saturday was provided in the form of a cold buffet to allow players to watch the matches whilst eating if they wished. We were pleased that so many players remained after their games had finished to watch the final matches and trophy presentation.

As ever, although numbers were low this year due to cancellations resulting from sports injuries and illness, the event provided an opportunity for players to combine fitness and fun and to catch up with friends and make new ones.

Results Table