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    Glos Junior Squash Newsletter Sept 2018

    Dear Player and Parents

    Welcome to the new squash season!  It was great to see so many of you involved and entering the Gloucestershire Junior Closed and that junior squash is thriving!

    We would like to extend a warm welcome to all of those who entered the County Closed and I would like to extend an invitation to the players to join the Gloucestershire Junior squad either as an intercounty player or a development player (with the aim of obtaining a place in an intercountry team in the future). 

     

    Coaching

    As part of the squad we will arrange 12 hours of coaching over the season.  The coaching programme will be led by Sophie Lane and will be finalised with the coaches over the coming week (we need time to split the players into the relevant groups)

    Please note that all squad players should attend the first coaching session at Cheltenham Ladies College on Sunday 30 September as follows:

    • Up to and including U13 age groups: 1.30pm -3pm
    • U15 age groups and above: 3.15pm-4.45pm

     

    Intercounty Squads

    We will be entering intercounty teams into all age groups again this year.  This is an opportunity for the top players in each age group to play as a team to strive to become the national champions.

    Key dates for this are:

    Date

    Tournament

    Age Group

    Venue

    Sat 17 Nov

    Intercounty Stage 1

    U11, U15, U19

    Brighton

    Sun 18 Nov

    Intercounty Stage 1

    U13, U17

    Brighton

    Sat 23 & Sun 24 Feb

    Intercounty Finals

    All

    Nottingham

     

    Team Managers 

    Under 11:         Boys – Jeff Blumberg (TBC)                    Girls- Charlotte Elgood
    Under 13:         Boys – TBC                                            Girls – Charlotte Elgood
    Under 15:         Boys – Ashton Goymer-Brown               Girls – Sophie Lane
    Under 17:         Boys – Kate Hall
    Under 19:         Boys – Kate Hall (TBC)

     

    Five Counties Weekend

    Date

    Tournament

    Age Group

    Venue

    Sat 8 & Sun 9 Dec

    Five Counties

    U11, U13

    Wycliffe

     

    Frantic Squash and Christmas Event

    More details to follow: but this will be Friday 21 December. 

     

    Squad Trip

    I am looking to arrange a trip to the British National Squash championships (week of February 12th).  More details to follow.  Fiona has kindly donated her County junior coaching fees from last year to go toward the funding of this trip:  so a big thank you to her!

     

    Cost

    The cost for being part of the squad is £75 for the season. All of the above is included within the squad fee:  so I hope parents can see this is a great opportunity J

    This can be paid directly into the Glos Junior account by 30 Septembrer 2018:

    Bank Account:  Gloucestershire Junior Squash Association
    Sort-Code:  30-95-72
    Account:  00372506

    Please include in the reference box name and age group of child

     

    Cadbury Tournament

    Date

    Tournament

    Age Group

    Venue

    Sat 8 & Sun 9 Dec

    Cadbury

    Open to all juniors who are not county champions or part of the England Aspire squads.

    Wycliffe

    The highlight for many of the kids is the chocolate (as well as the squash of course J)

     

    Squad Kit

    We are just finalising the squad kit going forward and aligning with the senior intercountry players so that Gloucestershire is all playing in the same colour.  We will share more information with regard to cost and where this can be purchased from shortly.  Please do bear with us.

     

    Volunteers and Sponsorship

    I have to say a thank you to the many parents that already support:  but if there is anyone else that would like to become involved please feel free to ask.  It would be great to get some further support on these key events… and we are a very friendly bunch J

    On a similar note if there is anyone that would like to sponsor any of the events above please reach out:  we are happy to rename events, put names on kits or any other ideas anyone has!

     

    England Squash Events

    As ever, there are also a number of England Squash tournament throughout the year.  Please go to the England squash website to get more details. 

    For those of you new to the tournament scene and for those that are interested, Copper events are the entry level tournaments and Bronze events are the next step up but, in all honesty, anyone who is playing in a county team is more than capable of playing in a Bronze event.

    Please find below some events that are close and ones in bold are clearly on the doorstep. Parents would need to enter these events directly with England Squash if interested.

    All county players who want to be considered for Aspire Squad (and have really good tournament) should also look to enter South West Regional Closed on 6 and 7 October in Avon (venue TBC)

    Tournament

    Date

    Venue

    SW Regional Closed

    6 & 7 Oct

    TBC

    Copper

    14 Oct

    Lansdown Elite, Bath

    Bronze

    20 & 21 Oct

    Edgbaston

    Copper

    28 Oct

    Riverside, Gloucester

    Bronze

    10 Nov

    Manor Park, Malvern

    Bronze

    2 Dec

    Devon & Exeter Squash Club

    Bronze

    22 & 23 Dec

    University of Birmingham

    Copper

    27 Jan

    Lansdown Elite, Bath

    Bronze

    17 Feb

    Sutton Coldfield

    Copper

    5 May

    Cheltenham Ladies College

    Bronze

    11 May

    Wycliffe College

    Bronze

    29 June

    Sutton Coldfield

     

    Coaching Courses

    There is also an opportunity for players (age 14 and over) and parents to take England Squash qualifications for coaching.  We have some courses scheduled at Cheltenham Ladies College:

    Leaders course:age 14 and over Sat 9th March 1.30 start
    Level 1:             age 16 and over Sunday 24th March
    Level 2:             Sat 27th April, Sunday 28th April and Sat 8th June 

    All to be booked through England Squash website.

     

    Apologies for the length of this letter:  but as you can see it is going to be a busy season and I am sure more events will be added as we move forward!

    Finally, I would really like to say a massive thank you to everyone who supports us in delivering all of these great events.  But also a special mention to Jonny, Sophie, Charlotte, Mandy, Ash, Alice and Kate Hall who give up much of their precious time to arrange/organise many of the initiatives above and of course have been instrumental in supporting juniors over a number of years.  You guys are amazing!

    Kind regards

    Kate