October 2013 lorem ipsum dolor Masters Awards Newsletter Issue 4 Congratulations to Inglewood s Len and Pauline Stachurski who were recently awarded with the Rob Roche Award for Meritorious Service to New Zealand Masters Squash. Pictured here with Wayne Seeback Masters Director of Squash NZ at the Annual Gala dinner. 2013 Champion of Champions Ohakune takes out the MWR Champion of Champion Trophy. This is the first time since 2004 when Wanganui won it that the trophy has not been won by SquashGym Palmerston North. Ohakune won the title with 5 wins, SquashGym placing second with 4 wins and Tararua in third with 3 wins. The Taranaki Trophy was not contested with only 1 entrant. The competition had 58 entries spread over 9 clubs. The competition is sudden death but it was great to see those knocked out in round 1 on Friday night return to support their teammates the next day making for a great atmosphere. The winners of each grade will now travel to Burnside, Christchurch on 1-3 November to battle it out for their grades NZ title. Central Squash 2013 Champion of Champion winners were: A Kashif Shuja Danielle Fourie B Luke Jones Sarina Budge C Michael McLean Jackie Douglas D Regan Calder Lauren Wikohika E Clinton Bennett Annaleise Faint F Sam Holtham Laura Griffin Central Squash AGM and Awards Dinner, Sat 7 th December The Central Squash Committee would like to invite all clubs and players to attend the upcoming AGM/ Awards dinner and exhibition matches. Wanganui Squash Club will host the Annual Central Squash awards and AGM on Saturday 7 th December 2013 at 4pm. The event starts with exhibition matches including a few of Centrals top players, followed by a quick AGM and then onto the 2013 Awards dinner. Be sure your club is represented. Nominations for awards, committee and remits close on the 7 th November. Further information and nomination forms have been posted to all clubs and can also be found on the website. Come along, celebrate our great district at this enjoyable evening open to all.
Central Juniors take on NZ Junior Nationals 18 Central junior players travelled to Napier to play in the NZ Junior Nationals last weekend. This tournament attracted 216 entries from all over NZ, and Central boasted players in every age group other than the U11 girls but that was only because Sophie Bell had to pull out due to illness. Players final placing s for Individual competition. U11 Boys: Sam Fletcher seeded 13 th finished U13 Boys: Jordan Bell seeded 6 th finished 5 th U15 Boys: Corbin Faint seeded 4 th finished 3 rd U17 Boys: Cameron Foster seeded 15 th finished 13-16 th Luke Jones seeded 2 nd finished 2 nd U19 Boys: Jake Tasker seeded 30 th finished 25-32 nd Daniel Foster seeded 28 th finished 25 th Brandon Keenan seeded 24 th finished 17-20 th Ben Calvert seeded 5 th finished 9-12 th U13 Girls: U15 Girls: U17 Girls: U19 Girls: Rebekah Turner seeded 14 th finished 6 th Annaleise Faint seeded 5 th finished 4 th Kaitlyn Watts seeded 1 st finished 1 st Ansley Koolen seeded 17 th finished 17 th Courtney Trail seeded 5 th finished Gina Bailey seeded 15 th finished 13-16 th Dominique Watts seeded 17 th finished 18 th Chanelle Salle seeded 15 th finished 15/16 th Emily Nash seeded 5 th finished 5 th Pictured above is Kaitlyn Watts winner of the U13 girl s title for the 2nd year in a row. Junior Nationals Teams Event After a tough NZ Junior Individual tournament, 10 of our top juniors represented Central Districts in the team s event. Our teams this year are very young, with 7 of the 10 players eligible to represent CD again next year. It looks even younger when you realise we took one 12 year old and two 13 year olds this all bodes very well for the years ahead. The players representing Central Districts were: Boys Luke Jones Brandon Keenan Cameron Foster Jake Tasker Corbin Faint Girls Emily Nash Kaitlyn Watts Courtney Trail Chanelle Salle Dominique Watts The Boys were seeded 7 th out of 8 teams and were in for a fight every time they took the court. First up they played eventual winners BOP, with the team going down 4/0. Jake Tasker put up a terrific effort against higher graded Daniel Ranger, taking Daniel to 5. Daniel Foster was playing Ben Thornton when he suffered a badly sprained ankle in this tie, which left the team having to play with no subs for the next 3 matches.
Junior Nationals Teams Event continued Things did not get much easier later that day, taking on the strong Auckland team, with all the Akld players graded at least ½ a grade higher than our boys. Luke Jones played an outstanding game against A2 Sion Wiggin, beating him in 4. The boys went down 3/1 to Akld. The next morning they went on to play Eastern, and this proved to again be a huge battle. Two games went to 5 Luke beating fellow NZ Squad member Jordan Le Comte, and Jake Tasker losing to higher graded Rios Moleta after coming back from 2/0 down. The other 2 games were also shared with Brandon Keenan losing to another NZ Squad member Chapman Kuita in 4, and Corbin winning against Josh Maconaghie in 4. This left it all tied up 2 matches each and 9 games each which meant the dreaded points count back kicked in. Eastern won on count back 166 points to 156. This left them in a playoff for 7 th /8 th with Waikato. CD dominated this winning all 4 games keeping their 7 th seeding. The girls were seeded 3 rd, but there were only a handful of points between the 2 nd and 7 th seeded teams. We played Southland in our first match, and convincingly beat them 4/0. Later that evening they took on Northland, and this match proved to be a huge battle. Courtney Trail was made to fight hard after going up 2/0 against Zoe Dykzeul. Zoe did not give up, fighting for every point, and after 45 minutes of playing, Zoe won the 5 th 12/10. Emily Nash had a similar story against Jacinta Matson, battling for every point, and fighting for around 40 minutes, finally losing to the higher seeded Jacinta 11/8 in the 5 th. Kaitlyn Watts was the only winner, beating ever-improving Mackenzie Johnson, with the team going down 3/1. Northland ended up coming 3 rd. This made our final game against Wellington a must win tie to make the final. Kaitlyn was on first against Ellen Verry. They had played a number of times this year with Kaitlyn failing to take a game off her in the previous matches - but this is teams, and anything can happen. Kaitlyn fought, ran, lunged and dived at everything, making Ellen work for every point. Kaitlyn continued to fight, even when 10/6 down in the 5 th to eventually win the last 6 points in a row to close out the match 12/10 in the 5 th, and this set us up for an upset win. Courtney was on next against Vanessa Larsen. This again went to 5, but this time it was Wtgn who came out on top. Emily and Chanelle also both lost giving the win to Wellington 3/1. We then took on Waikato in a playoff for 5 th & 6 th. Kaitlyn was again on 1 st, and had to draw on all her experience to overcome Casey Owen in 5. Courtney also fought hard against Brittney Hill, unfortunately going down 14/12 in the 4 th. Emily fought hard without any luck, losing to Taylor Ashton in 4, and Dominique played well against U13 finalist Anika Jackson, losing in 3. This left the team in 6 th place, but a little unlucky not to have been playing for 3/4 th but that is how it goes in team s events! Well done to you all you represented Central Districts with pride, and your attitude and fighting qualities on court was a credit to us all. Central Squash and the players would like to thank Team coaches Grant Watts and John Keenan and camp mums Andrea Herbert and Robynne Trail for looking after the teams so well for the whole week. For the full results and write up from the New Zealand Junior Nationals, check out www.centralsquash.co.nz
Individual Results for 2013 Senior Rep Team Nationals Results The first week of August saw our Central Men s and Women s Senior Teams travelled to the New Zealand Nationals, which was held at the Royal Oak Squash Club in Auckland, and both returned with great results. The Men's team was Kashif Shuja (SPN), Joseph Watts (SPN), Matt Nation (SPN), Tom Nash (SPN), and Regan Smith (SPN). The Women s line up was Danielle Fourie (SPN), Alison Whyte (SPN), Jackie Tapp (Taihape), Emily Nash (SPN) and Kaitlyn Watts (SPN). Jason Fletcher (SPN) and Grant Watts (SPN), along with Kent Darlington (WG) as the Manager, coached the team. In the individual open Men s draw we had Kashif Shuja keep his seeding of 3 after some top performances against NZ team members. After making his way through to the semi-finals he lost to Martin Knight the 2nd seed, 11/8 in the 4th set after taking the 1st. He then put in a gutsy display to beat Paul Coll the 4th seed in 4 sets 5/11, 12/10, 12/10, 11/6 for 3rd place on the finals day. Joseph Watts got knocked out after the second day of play, however he managed to get through to the top 16 again. Matt Nation lost a tough first up match & with his Achilles injury that he had picked up prior still hindering him. Tom Nash knocked him out in his 3rd match. Tom played out of his skin and just about pulled off the upset of the 1st round, narrowly going down to the 8th seed 11/7, 11/4, 11/2 in a one sided match. He unfortunately couldn t repeat the same form on the Sunday for the finals and lost to Aaron Kopittke (2nd seed) 11/9, 11/1, 9/11, and 11/5. On the Women s side of things, our top 2 Women were in the Open. Danielle was our highest seeded woman at nine. She had a good second round win against Ellie Epke 11/7, 11/8, 11/9 in the Classic plate. Alison found it tough going and lost a couple of big five setters narrowly which could have easily gone her way. In Women s Div. One we had our other three women, Jackie was seeded at three and she eventually lost to Anna Hughes (4th seed) 12/10, 11/2,11/7 in the playoff for 3rd/4th. Emily Nash after losing her first round match played well & went through unbeaten to win against Rebecca Ellmes 11/7, 11/6, and 11/6 in the plate final. Kaitlyn Watts after pushing the 6th seed to a 5th set in her first round match eventually got knocked out by her teammate Nash in the Plate Semi. 2013 TEAMS EVENT RESULTS Men Seeded 3rd Finished 3rd The Men were playing off for 3rd/4th spot against Bay Of Plenty the 4th seeds and managed to keep their 3rd spot by beating them 3/1. Matt Nation & Tom Nash both had matches that on paper they were expected to win, they duly did so, but still had to work hard to close them out and along with Kashif Shujas win in 4 sets, the team came away knowing that they had given it their all. After a grueling five days of squash the Men s team could be proud of keeping their seeding of 3 as many players had brutal matches late on the Saturday & Sundays finals and then had to back up for the teams event over the next two days. With a number of players starting to knock on the door, next year s team selection will be well contested Women - Seeded 7th - Finished 5th Finals day, the Women were in the Plate Final against Waikato the 8th seeds. Here they produced another superb effort to finish this year s Nationals off in style by winning 3/1. Emily Nash & Jackie Tapp again produced solid results down the order; with Jackie pulling off a great five set win after 5 days of squash. This meant the Women finished 5th for 2013, two spots better than their seeding and also backed up lasts years runner up Plate spot by another solid team effort. With the team having a few youngsters in it the future looks bright.
Masters Nationals Recently the Central Masters team competed at the New Zealand Masters National competition in Henderson, Auckland. It has been several years since Central last entered a Masters team, Central was determined to get back into the competition in 2013 and hopes to grow masters interest over the next few years within the district and strengthen the Masters Rep team. In the Individual event Rod Bannister added to his Australian Masters 45+ men s title, by winning the NZ 45+ men s title, a unique double. Other minor plate winners were - Ant Rountree men s 35+ Cons Plate, and Grant Smith men s 45+ Plate. The Central team were seeded 6th in the team s event, and were up against some stiff competition from Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Southland. Central eventually lost to Auckland 8/2, Waikato 7/3 and Wellington 8/2. While Nationals is a serious competition the team had a lot of fun between games. 2013 Masters team: Men Ant Rountree Wanganui Jason Fletcher SGPN Rodney Bannister Wanganui Mark Gunning SGPN Peter Souness Kawaroa Park Grant Smith SGPN Mike Jack (Mgr) Kawaroa Park Women Kaye Elliott Sally Stantiall Sherryl Curtis Janice Trevathan Jill Brown Aroha Beattie Kawaroa Park Rangitikei SGPN Kawaroa Park SGPN Patea In the main event, Central came third in the Skits, voted ahead of Auckland, Wellington and Waikato, by a well educated and knowledgeable panel of experts. MWR Masters Inter club The final round of MWR zone Masters Inter club will start on Wednesday 23rd October 2013. Men 4 Players per team Ladies You will be put into teams and all women play at same club each week Competition running for approx. 6 weeks Entries close on the 13th October. This round is free as covered in Round 1. Entries or enquiries to: Marilyn Dolan, 06 3687517 or 0275791018 or madolan@inspire.net.nz
Prince series winds up for 2013 Prince Series Results Competition has been tight amongst the juniors this year and final saw some very close 5 setters especially in the boys division one. At the completion the top 8 boys and top 8 girls all received Prince racquet bags. Results were: Boys 1. Caleb Armstrong on 135 points 2. Tom Bowie 3. Richard Bell 4. Nico Lieffering 5. Josh Brownrigg 6th equal. Tomas Lieffering and Matthew Adshead 8th equal Nathan Swanson, Reece Holmes and Matt Brownrigg Girls 1. Abbie Tankersley on 118 points 2. Eilish Oliver 3. Claire Shi 4. Abbie Holmes 5. Jenna Bowie 6. Emma Patrick 7. Lara Hockley 8th equal Sophie Bell and Alana Ryan Winners Abbie and Caleb Throughout the series at each tournament 3 juniors were chosen for a coaching scholarship draw. These juniors demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, promise in the sport of squash and excellent attitudes both on and off court. The $100 dollar Central Squash coaching scholarship recipients were: Thomas Clarke, Nathan Swanson, Celeb Marshall, Jade Connell and Emma Dowman. On behalf of Prince and Central Squash congratulation to all the winners we hope to see you back next year in either the junior or senior Prince series. Seniors The final of the 2013 Senior Prince series wrapped up at Kawaroa Park, NP with 90 entries in the tournament. The top 10 placing who will all receive cash prizes are 1. Liam English 2. Rory Mortleman 3. Hollie Wham 4. Aroha Beattie 5. Lucas Hey 6. Kelsey MacKay 7. Shannon Cox 8. David Surgenor 9. Sam George 10. Robert Boot Congratulations to the top 10 and all those that won spot prizes throughout the series.
Central Squash Committee Central Squash PO Box 1764, Palmerston North 4442 Grant Smith President grant@gsa.co.nz Rob Brownrigg Treasurer Rob_Brownrigg@bnz.co.nz Alastair White Committee whitehouse34@hotmail.com Michael Bailey Committee Michael.Bailey@contactenergy.co.nz Kaye Elliott Players Representative Kayeelliott@hotmail.com Diane Tasker Junior Convener di.tasker@xtra.co.nz Marilyn Dolan isquash Admin/Com madolan@inspire.net.nz Kent Darlington HP/Rep Teams/Com kent_paula@vodafone.co.nz Jason Fletcher District Coach coach@centralsquash.co.nz Adam Lyall Committee adam@inspire.net.nz Kelly Faint Juniors/Committee faintlanders@xtra.co.nz Andrea Herbert Juniors/Committee andrea.ross@ihug.co.nz John Laurenson Committee jlaurenson@ruapehucollege.school.nz Lindsay Petterson Committee lgp@clear.net.nz Jeff Ansell Committee jedamana@xtra.co.nz Mike Jack Committee mikejack@xtra.co.nz Kelly van den Burg Committee Kelly@squashgym.co.nz Pauline Slovak Admin/Secretary pauline@centralsquash.co.nz Have a great squash photo on or off court? We would love to see it. Email it to pauline@centralsquash.co.nz For more details on these stories and more go to www.centralsquash.co.nz