Newsletter 2016...Mid Wales Squash Volume 1, Issue 1 July 2016 2016 Awards Flying Start. Powys squash was once again showcased at the Montgomeryshire Sports Awards at the start of 2016. The 2016 awards held at the Hafren in Newtown witnessed a surge of nominations in all categories with Llanfyllin Squash club bagging a number of top awards! League play Juniors from across North Powys continue to dominate the Junior Winter and Summer Shropshire Leagues, under the stewardship of Kevin Morgan & Rachel Smith, with juniors also securing top spots in the adult Shropshire Leagues; Max, Matthew, Ryan & Dan have all being playing exceptional league squash across the County during the season. Sports Awards: Mark Bellamy, following in his daughter Hennie s footsteps scooped the RU award as volunteer coach of the year a very well deserved acknowledgement of his work at the club. Rachel Smith was recognised for all her efforts in supporting Junior development at the club with Ryan Lewis and brother Dan securing junior sports personality spots in the U14 and U11 category; the 2 nd time that Ryan s talents have been acknowledged on the regional stage. Newtown Squash club was also nominated for club of the year, along with Emily Powell as young coach of the year, Llanfyllin s hot shot Georgie Lincoln was also nominated for a junior award. Tri Series 2016 Mid and North Wales Juniors turned out in force for the 4th Annual Tri Series Event at Llanfyllin Leisure Centre on Sunday 12 th June. Bymbo, Newtown & Llanfyllin all fielded strong teams across the age groupings, with some tight matches throughout. The local derby is now a regular feature and a much coveted title in the region, with teams battling it out in U11 s, U13 s, U15 s & U17 s. As always there was some excellent play on show across the age groupings with some new emerging talent shinning through in under 11 s. Squash across the region is always well profiled at the awards ceremony with previous titles taken by WSRB Development Officer Clair Miles-Owen as the 2013 Coach of the Year Award and Hennie Bellamy in 2014 taking Young Coach of The Year award, both ladies later went on to achieve recognition at the national WSRB awards ceremony in 2014 & 2016, alongside Jayne Kirk and Kevin Morgan of Newtown. Newsletter 1
Tri Series... Newtown Juniors managed to secure the title again, with Wrexham taking 2 nd place and Llanfyllin 3 rd spot, club coaches Mark Davies, Mark Bellamy, Jayne Kirk & Kevin Morgan all supported the event, alongside volunteer Rachel Smith Matthew Kirk & James Smith both U15 National Squad members closed the event with an exhibition match, with James securing the victory for his home club Llanfyllin! Clair Miles-WSRB Officer for the region said, This event has been the culmination of a lot of hard work over the years, which has had the full backing of WSRB and Powys Sports Development Unit. In many ways it has acted as a springboard for many of our National Players, the Lewis Brothers, Huw Williams, Thomas Peate, Max Miles-Owen, Matt Kirk all started out in this tournament four years ago, they now play all over the country, in Europe and have many have national caps. It s therefore vital that we encourage this sort of multi base, multi team and multi agency event as it gives many of our younger club players competition experience in a fun and friendly environment. Mark Bellamy with winners at the TRI Kevin Morgan, Newtown s top coach! Brymbo s Mark Davies & Newtown s Jayne Kirk, WSRB 2016 Volunteer of the year Schools Programme North Powys school s programmes continue to encourage all our youngsters to get involved in racket sports and have some fun! Jayne Kirk leads the schools programme via 5x60 initiatives and sports festivals with the help of young volunteers and club coaches across the region. 2016 has seen 100 s of youngsters from age 5+ experience mini squash, sqush and racketball. We now look forward to many of our young players accessing the 12 and under fun series events that are running across the region over the summer months, in North, Mid, West and South Wales. Newsletter 2
2 0 1 6 W S R B A W A R D S Powys volunteers and coaches continued to receive recognition for their hard work at the July WSRB Awards held at the Angel Hotel Cardiff. Young Coach Emily Powell was recognised for her excellence and hard work within the region, alongside her mentor and local Level 2 Coach Jayne Kirk. Opposite...Mike Workman, Jayne Kirk and Emily Powell at the 2016 WSRB Awards Ceremony. Home Nations 2016 Congratulations also to our local players who were selected to represent Wales recently at the Home Nations. Ryan Lewis, Dan Lewis & Thomas Peate all earned their Welsh Caps this year after a phenomenal season which showcased their talents within the Domestic, National and European scene. Powys now has a proven track record in Talent ID, Player Pathway Support, Coaching Opportunities and of course parental input! Powys County Council, WSRB and High Performance coaches have worked in unison to create opportunities for local club players over the years. Many of these youngsters started out as club Juniors and benefited from the input of their own club coaches, parents, Brymbo s Mark Davies, Mike Workman, Greg Tippins, Nick Birk and Andrew Evans along the way! We are all incredibly proud of our local players and the success they have achieved in a short space of time. Newsletter 3
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