2023 CSSC National Individual Open Championship - 17/18th November

A NEW CHAMPION FOR CSSC SQUASH

CSSC Squash were back in action in November 2023 at the Nottingham Squash Rackets Club (NSRC) for their National Singles tournament.

Regrettably only one lady entered the event, as a result of injury and other priorities, so the Ladies event was cancelled.

The men’s event, however, was well supported. 20 players entered with a range of standards. This enabled a combination of Knock Out and Round Robin events to be run, which provided good competition for all levels. For those who follow the England Squash ranking system, Squash Levels were from “unknown” to 11,000.

Among the entrants was the current 7 times CSSC Squash Champion, James Hodson, taking his place as the number one seed and aiming for an 8^th win. Looking to challenge him was a newcomer to CSSC Squash, Tom Trott, who slotted in as the number 2 seed.  These two were all set, if seeding was correct, to meet in the final.

Along with many of the regular top CSSC players an encouraging number of newcomers had entered, and there were players across all grades A to E.   Unfortunately, by the start of the event, injury and illness had reduced the men entrants from 20 players to 12.

The first round in the Knock Out resulted in the losing players dropping down to the B grade event. The successful first round players played a further series of knock out matches with the next round losers going into the A Plate event.

In the top half of the main A grade, James Hodson had a Bye and then won his first 2 matches against Chris Mason-Thom and Matthew Sampson to put himself into the final. Chris had previously beaten regular entrant Dan Willets and Paul Atkinson.

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In the other half of the draw, Frazer Richards had probably the hardest time on court with a 3-1 win over last year’s finalist, Craig Webb, followed by a 3-2 loss to newcomer Tom Trott.

Losers in the first round of the A grade event went into a B Grade event, initially intended to be a Knock out format, but numbers determined that a Round Robin format would be a better option. Here Dan was joined by seasoned Squash player Collis Sheik and newcomers Nigel Jubbs and Kevin Walters. This was tough group with many of the matches going to 5 games. Dan won the group with just one game loss to Nigel while Kevin Walters took the Runner Up slot.

Losers from the Main A Grade 2^nd round then played a Plate event. The four eligible players were reduced to three with the retirement of one member, so a Round Robin was played. This resulted in Andrew Symmons taking the A Plate title, beating both Chris and Paul, with Chris taking the Runner Up prize.

The CSSC Squash section took the opportunity of the presence of regular players to hold their AGM in the Saturday lunch break. This was followed by the final match of the main A grade event between James Hodson and Tom Trott. This final was a stunning match with both players playing incredibly tight shots and making amazing retrievals from every corner of the court.

The outcome was in doubt right up to the last rally – narrow margins. Well played to both players and we have a new champion in Tom.

It was good to see some new players and we hope all were able to enjoy the experience of playing and marking different people. We hope to see them in other events.

The squash matches were spread over the two days, Friday and Saturday and, as usual, a light hearted Quiz was held at the club on Friday evening with the club providing supper, giving players and organisers a chance to relax.  All in all it was a very successful event –a lot of good squash played in a good spirit.

Final placings:

Men's Champion Tom Trott receiving his trophy from event organiser Linda Parsley                                  Runner Up James Hodson receiving his prize from Linda Parsley

James and Tom with B Grade winner Dan Willets

The next event in the CSSC Squash calendar will be the Team Tournament in February/March 2024. Teams are to consist of both male and female players and can represent a department, office or any group. Individual players who cannot raise a team should contact the organise Peter Lee (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07715 452 434), who will try and allocate players to a team.

Ladies especially welcome. Information and entry details will be on the CSSC website, under 'Squash'.

Following this the Masters (Age Groups) and Racketball Tournaments will be held in April/May 2024. Location to be advised.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

See you all in 2024