An interesting year - 2014

We've been an active Club for over seven years now and still we have a steady increase our Membership; many find us through the website. This, together with our on-line booking system,are a big influence in helping us recruit new members. The monthly leagues continue to be well supported.

Once again, our Teams continued to achieve during the 2013-14 season, notably our First Team who got into the NWCSL Regional Championship play-offs - see below.

Club's 2014 AGM

It was a disappointing turn-out for this years Annual General Meeting held at the Sports & Social Complex on 12 May.
At this meeting, for the first time our members got to view plans for a possible third court at the Club.

Other highlights were the agreement to amend subscription rates for the following year.
Member Subscriptionsfor 2014-2015 in the three categories are:-
Senior - £70;
- Junior / Student (in full time education) - £35 or £60 for 2 children from same family;
- Family (2 adults and children) - £100.

The meeting agreed that the court light fees should be held at current levels i.e. £3.00 per 45 minute session.

Click on the link below for a note of the meeting.

At the meeting, Officers for 2014-15 were agreed as follows:

Chairman - Mark Davies;
Secretary - Jim Tunley
Treasurer - Kevin Jones
Assistant Treasurer - Mannon Goddard
Teams rep. - Rob Evans
Ordinary Members - Geraint Jones & Darren Lee.

Some highlights from 2014 ...

Rules of Squash updated

From 1 January 2014 the Rules of Squash were restructured and the number of rules reduced from 20 to 15 - having said that, they contain only a few minor changes compared to the previous Rules.

The Interference Rule (Rule 8) has been restructured to help players, referees and others understand the central concept of interference better and reach the correct decision more easily.
Also, in the case of an injury or bleeding caused solely by the opponent, a distinction is now made between an injury or bleeding caused by a deliberate act by a player and an injury caused by an accidental act, where the opponent is unable to continue play immediately. Under the previous Rules, the penalty for an injury to the opponent caused accidentally was loss of match, under the 2014 Rules, however, the penalty is less severe (see Rule 14.3.3 & 14.4.2/3).
The same principle applies to a deliberate distraction and an accidental distraction (Rule 12.2).

At the Nationals ...

Five Club members were in Cardiff over the weekend 24 - 26 January to compete in the Welsh Closed Squash Championships 2014.

It was a tough shift but all our players performed well with, possibly, the outstanding result going to young Jack Hayes who won the Men's E event. Junior member Jack won his Final by 3-1 and was reward for all the hard work he's put in over the last year or so - an excellent result.

John Ashton and Darren Lee played in the Men's C event; Darren made it through to the Quarter Final stage, while John went one further only to be knocked out in the Semi Finals.

Mark Davies made it through to play in the Final of the Men's Over 55 event, but went down 3-0.

... and a busy time for Hannah

Hannah Davies also competed at the National Championships, in the Ladies A event and was seeded 3 in this competition with Tesni Evans at 1 and Deon Saffrey at 2.
All went to plan with the seedings as Hannah finished in third spot, however, in the Final Tesni lost to Deon.

As well as coping with the extra pressures of her final year at University, as part of the Welsh Senior Squad, all then attended a pre-Commonwealth Games event in Glasgow the following week !

Practical session for students

On 30 January, the Club hosted the first of two groups of First Year Sports Science and Sports Coaching students from Glyndwr University for a practical squash taster session as a part of their course.
The session was taken by Mark Davies and Senior Lecturer, Duncan Mascarhenas and great fun was had by all.

Elite company for Hannah at BUCS

Over the weekend 21-23 February, Hannah Davies represented Glyndwr University at the 2014 British Universities & Colleges Individual Championships taking place in Nottingham University and Nottingham Squash Rackets Club.

The Championships attracted over 300 entries with the Mens A event headed by the Elshorbagy brothers (Mohamed & Marwan) - ranked numbers 3 and 24 in the world.

Hannah did very well to get through to the Semi Finals of the Ladies A event but lost to the French player Chloe Mesic (ranked 91 in the world). Hannah finished the weekend by winning third place in a play-off - an excellent weekend.

Viv Lambert

In February, it was with sadness we reported the death of Viv Lambert following a short illness.

Viv was a past member of the Squash Club and a stalwart of our Ladies Teams, playing up until the time when they were no longer viable in the North West Counties Squash Leagues.

Masters weekend in Swansea

Three players from the Club travelled to Swansea (weekend 7-9 February) to compete in the Bourse Welsh Masters Closed 2014.

All three took part in the tough Men's Over 40 Event:- here's how they got on:
Darren Lee - lost to the eventual winner (Matthew Crowley) in the Quarter Finals;
John Ashton - lost to the Runner-up at the Semi Final stage; and
Neil Rawlings - lost in the Semi Final of the Plate Competition
... but no doubt a good weekend was had by all !

No rest for Darren !

Following his appearance the previous weekend at the Welsh Masters in Swansea, Darren Lee played a first round match in the 2014 National Squash Championships at the National Squash Centre in Sports City, Manchester on 12 February.

Darren went on to win his first match (against Mark Webster, a seeded player) in four games; but lost his next match 3-0 to a 5/8 seeded player.

The 2014 British Champions are:
Nick Matthew who beat James Willstrop 3-1 and
Alison Waters who beat Madeline Perry 3-0.

New Juniors League was started ... and finished

During the Spring Term this year, our older junior players were invited to take part in a new Juniors League.

This initiative was started following discussions with some of the parents about how we encourage play other than at the weekly coaching sessions.

The new League was very similar to the Club's Monthly Leagues but, in this case, website based (via the Juniors Page) with all match results posted to Jim.

Importantly, it meant that those juniors who were not already members of the Club, would be required to join.

Two British World Champions ...

In 2014, Nick Matthew was the current Mens World Champion following his win in Manchester (November 2013).

He was then joined by Laura Massaro who won the 2014 Womens World Championship in Penang, Malaysia on 23 March - congratulations to both.

This was a great boost for British squash and, with both players due at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later in the year, there would be a great opportunity to showcase the sport and improve the prospects for squash to be included at a future Olympic Games !

Teachers training ...

On 7 April, the Club hosted a PESS (Physical Education & School Sport) Leaders Award course for teachers as part of the Maelor Cluster of primary schools.

Each will now receive equipment for the teachers to run Mini Squash in their schools; this, we hoped, would lead to them taking part in a Schools Squash Festival at the Club.

Champions for a second year !

Congratulations to our First Team on winning the North West Counties League Division 2 West for a second successive year and with a match to spare.

In their play-off match against Crewe Vagrants 1 on 10 April, the Team lost 4-1.

Wales announced their team for Glasgow

As part of the 2014 Team Wales Commonwealth Games Squad, Wales Squash & Racketball announced a seven member team to represent Wales at the summer games in Glasgow.

For us at the Club, there was huge disappointment that Hannah Davies missed out - only two ladies were selected, the Welsh numbers 1 and 2 players, Tesni Evans and Deon Saffrey.

Click on the link below for details of the full squad.

European Team Championships for Hannah

Over the week 28 April - 3 May, Hannah Davies travelled as part of the Welsh Ladies Team to compete in the European Team Championships 2014 in Riccione, Italy.

These were for the top two European Divisions (with the Welsh Ladies in Division 1).

Also representing Wales, from North Wales was Tesni Evans (Saints Club, Prestatyn) as well as Deon Saffray and Jenny Haley (both South Wales).
The Team Wales Men's Team was Peter Creed, Joel Makin, David Evans, Scott Fitzgerald, David Haley and Owain Taylor (they competed in the European Division 2).

The Welsh Ladies Team went on to secure their place in the elite European top Division - see link below for full details

Masters weekend for Mark

Congratulations to our Chairman, Mark Davies, who competed for Wales over the weekend 25-26 April in the Masters Home International Series at the Cardiff Squash Club and Sport Wales National Centre.

Mark played for the Wales Over 55 Team against England, Scotland and Ireland, winning one of his three matches.

Driveway improvements

On 2 June, work took place to improve access down to the Squash Club / Cricket Pavillion on the drive and on part of the car park.

Jonathan Davies - 2014 Club Champion

Congratulations to Jonathan Davies on an emphatic victory in the 2014 Club Championship

Matches were played over the weekend 27 - 28 June and went according to seeding, as follows:

The 3/4 Play-off match was contested between Darren Lee and Rob Evans with Darren winning 9-5, 6-9, 9-5,9-1.

The eagerely awaited Championship Final then followed between the two top seeds, Jonathan Davies and John Ashton.
We were treated to a superb game of exhilarating squash but with Jonathan in determined mood to come through 9-0, 9-6, 9-1. Congratulations to both players on a cracking Final.

Sports enthusiast moving on !

At the end of this academic year, Terry (Tex) Walker, Head at Marchwiel Deiniol Primary School, took the opportunity for retirement.

Terry has been passionate about sport and has taken every opportunity to encourage his charges into a whole range of sports.

In particular, he has been a great friend of the Squash Club and key to the Club's successes in taking forward the Wrexham Schools Squash Programme - through outreach Mini Squash visits into a number of Wrexham Schools, as well as schools visiting us at the Club.
A number of pupils from Marchwiel have since continued with their squash development through the Club's Junior Coaching Programmes.

It is through this involvement that the Club successfully nominated Marchwiel Deniol as " Wrexham Primary School of the Year" in February 2012.

On behalf of the Squash Club, we wish Tex all good wishes for a long and happy retirement.

Lesotho Squash prepare for Glasgow

One young man, Engles Lechesa (age 17) comprised the Lesotho Squash Team for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games at the end of July.
Engles and his Coach, General Sentle, were part of the Lesotho Team based in Wrexham's Glyndwr University for training ahead of their move on to Glasgow.
They were part of a squad of 32 athletes and support staff that stayed at the University - during their time in Wrexham, the Squash Club in partnership with the University made courts available to the Team, with a number of our Club players and coaches keen also to provide Engles with some quality matches and training.

New front wall for Court 2

Work commenced on Monday, 28 July to upgrade the front wall on Court 2 to bring it up to a good standard.

Specialist contactors, CourtCare Ltd were employed to supply and instal a CourtTech front wall renovation system - as we've done previously on Court 1.

Work was completed within three days and the "new" court available for use from 1 August.

2014 Club Championships - Plate

The Plate Competition Final of the 2014 Club Championships was eventually completed on 2 September, between Mike Povey and Ricky Williams.

Mike stormed into the lead, winning the first game comfortably 9-1, but Ricky came back and gained in confidence to take the next three games and the match 9-3, 9-4, 9-3.
Congratulations to both finalists on a good contest.

Welsh Colleges compete at Club

On 13 October, the Club hosted FE students from across Wales who were competing for the right to represent Welsh Colleges in the 2015 British Colleges Championships in Bath next March.

The strength of the Llandrillo College students was evident as Emyr Evans won the Men's Event, with Elin Harlow taking the Ladies Event.

Good luck to them both in the National Finals.

A big week for Hannah ...

Over the weekend 25/26 October, Hannah Davies represented Cardiff Metropolitan University in their Regional BUCS (British Universities Sports) Team matches against Bristol, Birmingham and Kings College, London in Birmingham.
Playing at number 1 for the Cardiff team, Hannah remained unbeaten all weekend to help the University progress into the next stage of the Championships, in late November.

To cap off the week, Hannah, along with fellow Club member, John Evans, had their Graduation Day at Glyndwr University on 28 October - congratulations to them both.

Geraint's epic victory in Fast & Furious

Despite a disappointing response, together with a number of forced withdrawals from the 2014 Fast & Furious Tournament, we witnessed some outstanding squash played over the weekend 12 / 13 December.

Two stand-out matches were in the Finals of the Group A and B events. In the Group B Final between Gareth Williams and John Williams; over the best of three, games were 1-1 and in the final game, John led at 8-7 only to be pegged back by Gareth who went on to win it 11-8 - some really excellent squash from both.

The climax of the weekend came with the Group A Final and again some superb squash from both finalists - Geraint Jones in particular played out of his skin to beat the number one seed, Darren Lee in straight games.

In a tight first game that went to 8-9, Darren lost the service to Geraint who held his nerve to take it 11-8. In the second game, Geraint was quickly out of the blocks to take a 6-2 lead; he regained the service and went 9-3 up then continued the pressure to win it 11-5.

This was an epic victory from the Siver Fox and there is now an unconfirmed suggestion that he may soon be sponsored by Purple Moose, without whose help this famous win may not have been possible !

A big week for Hannah ...

Equity Policy

The Wrexham Brymbo Squash Club Committee is keen to ensure all matters within the Club are treated with respect and fairness and, as such, has formally acknowledged and adopted the WSRB Model Equity Policy.

To view the Equity Policy, click on the link -

Equity Policy

Our Teams in 2014 ...

September saw the start of a new season, for our Teams; this year we would field three teams in the North Wales Leagues (Tuesday evenings) and two again in the North West Counties Squash Leagues (Thursdays).

Teams would be posted each week on the Teams Page.

MATCH BALLS:
A huge thank you on behalf of the Club to our match ball sponsors this season, Mr Malcolm Williams (Big Mal) of Redwither Ltd - a generous donation that is much appreciated.

December 2013 - Mid Season Report

Congratulations to all four of our teams over the first half of the season.

North West Counties - Our First Team ended the first half in 2nd place in Division 2 having surprisingly lost a couple of matches to lower ranked teams, but winning against the top team Neston.
Dave Cadwallader, a new member to the Club this year was drafted into the side and played very well. However, the absence of our No1 player Jonathan Davies through work commitments has been a problem but young John Evans and the veteran Mark Davies have both stepped in and performed admirably.

Meanwhile, our Second Team are third in the Division 3, having lost narrowly to the top team in the league, Heswall 2nds. Like the First Team they have also lost unexpectedly to a lower ranked side.
Both teams remain confident that they will be in the mix, come the end of the season.

North Wales League - Both our teams are playing in Division 2 and finished 3rd & 4th places, narrowly missing promotion to the 1st division by small margins.
A highlight has been the performance of two of our youngsters Jack Hayes and Aled Goddard they have played consistently very well and are improving week by week; both are benefiting from playing regular league squash with the teams as well as participating in the Club's internal leagues (all juniors please note).
If the teams are consistent and have good strength available on a regular basis, we hope that one or both may gain promotion in the second half of the season.

The North Wales 2013-14 Cup was drawn with the first round to be played on 5 November - click below for the draw and competition rules.

The North West Counties League [NWCSL] started up on Thursday, 19 September with two teams representing the Club - First Team in Division 2 West and the Seconds in Division 3 South West.

Following the success of our First Team last season, the Club had the opportunity of promotion to the elite Division One, however, this depended upon a decision at NWCSL AGM on 25 June. where there had been a proposal to move the 1st Division back (from Tuesday) to playing on a Thursday night.

In the event this was not accepted and we therefore reluctantly declined the promotion. [Playing 1st Division on Thursdays would have allowed the Club to commit on Tuesday evenings to the North Wales Leagues].

After careful consideration, this difficult outcome was reached based on the view of a majority of those players affected.

Our Juniors in 2014 ...

Our Junior Coaching programme started each Monday (from 1 September) with three groupings (beginners; intermediate and advanced), at the usual times from 4.45 pm.

Child Safety & Equity

The Squash Club fully supports and welcomes the work of its National Governing Body, Wales Squash & Racketball in the area of child safety and, as such, members and parents may be interested to see the WSRB Safeguarding Policy & Procedures in Squash document.

"Child Safety - Our Priority"

Eye Protection - our Policy

At the start of another season and a new Junior Coaching Programme, it is important for everyone to understand the Club's approach to Eye Protection - a policy which is also adopted by Wales Squash & Racketball (WSRB).

To view our policy click on either the link below or the graphic (right).

Eye Protection - our Policy

Calling all potential coaches . . .

Do you have what it takes to become a qualified squash coach - if so, your Club needs you!

If any Club member has an interest in committing to become a qualified coach, the Squash Club may be able to assist with necessary fees and mentoring.
Please contact either Mark Davies or Jim Tunley to chat it through.

January 2014

Master Class with Andrew ...

For members of the Club's advanced group (members of the APC), a Squash Master Class with Andrew Evans was organised on the afternoon of 19 January.

Andrew, a Wales Squash and Racketball Performance Coach, delivered the session focussing on the importance of length in your game.

APC Master Class with Andrew Evans

Under 11 Talent ID Squad

Congratulations to Poppy & Matthew Green, Josh Davies, David Thomas, Cameron Dennis and Ellie Robinson who were all invited to join a new series of North Wales Under 11 Talent ID sessions.

The first squad session took place at Brymbo on the morning of 19 January.

Talent ID Squad Whole Group

Talent ID Squad - Wrexham Brymbo players

Junior Coaching starts ...

Our juniors coaching sessions started again on 6 January from 4.45.

February 2014

North Wales Junior Open

Well done to our juniors who took part in the 2014 North Wales Junior Open Championships over the weekend 1-2 February at the Saints Club, Prestatyn.

This was a great opportunity to play at a different Club against other young people from across the region and there were some excellent results, as follows:

Boys Under 19 event: Perry Shoemark - 5th and Jack Hayes - 7th.
Development One event: Jamie Roberts - Champion.
Development Two event: David Thomas - Runner-up; Josh Davies - 3rd and Katie Hayes - 5th.

Jamie, Josh and David with Mark Davies (Sponsor)

March 2014

A new APC Block started this month

A four week block of Area Performance Centre (APC) sessions commenced at the Club on 17 March (from 6.15 until 7.45 pm); these were overseen by Margaret Meadowcroft.

By invitation only, these longer sessions were being delivered in conjunction with Wales Squash & Racketball and designed for those juniors who show promise and would benefit from the additional coaching.

Juniors League - well played Owen

All members of the Area Performance Centre were invited to take part in a new Juniors League. The winner of our first Juniors League was Owen Platt.
It is a pity that not everyone was able to play their games.

This initiative came following discussions with some of the parents and is about encouraging play other than at the weekly coaching sessions; it would allow these juniors the opportunity to play each other in competative matches during a given period and to show who is really playing well !

All juniors taking part in this web based league were required to be members of the Club.

April 2014

Central Wales success for Katie

This month, we congratulated Katie Hayes on her second place in the 2014 Central Wales Junior Open held at Newtown on 5 April.
Katie took part in the Girls 'A' event, sponsored by Severn Trophies.

It was really encouraging to see one of our juniors developing their game and taking part in such tournaments; well done Katie.

Easter break for Coaching

The Junior Coaching sessions at the Club will took a break during the Easter school holidays and resumed again at the usual times on 28 April.

May 2014

Juniors League ...

We were disappointed to report that not a single game was played during the last league period !

However, to continue our encouragement, the Juniors League was extended for the rest of the term i.e. until 18 July.

June 2014

Maelor Cluster Squash Festival

The Squash Club hosted a Squash Festival for Primary Schools in the Maelor (Penley) Cluster on 27 June.

In the event, however, only two of the five schools were able to send pupils [Bangor-on-Dee Primary and Marchwiel Deiniol Primary].

The Festival idea is about the youngsters getting on court to develop their skills, representing their schools while enjoying some competition.

Bangor-on-Dee Primary School

Marchwiel Deiniol Primary School

Tri Tournament on 21 June

We arranged a Juniors Tri Tournament between Llanfyllin, Newtown and the Wrexham Brymbo juniors, at the Club on 21 June (between 10.00 and 3.00) - as a great opportunity for some of our Juniors to represent the Squash Club.
The following juniors played:-

Under 8 - Lewis Davies and Matthew Green
Under 11 - Josh Davies, Matthew Green and Poppy Green
Under 13 - Finlay Ashworth, Thomas Koscinski and Chloe Green
Under 15 - Owen Platt, Ben Thomas andNia Johnston
Under 17/19 - Jack Hayes, Aled Goddard and Jazmine Hughes

RESULTS: Wrexham Brymbo retained the trophy with 32 games won & 462 points,
Newtown were second with 25 games won & 399 points,
Llanfyllin were third with 19 games won & 351 points.

Wrexham Brymbo players (some) at Tri-Tournament

Tri-Tournament Group 1

Tri-Tournament Group 1

Master Class for APC Juniors

Members of the Club's Area Performance Centre were invited to attend a Squash Master Class with Andrew Evans (Wales Squash & Racketball High Performance Coach) on Sunday 1 June from 10.00 until 12.45.

July 2014

Farewell to Hannah

The Squash Club would lose an important member of the Coaching Team in September when Hannah Davies goes off to Cardiff for twelve months on her PGCE (Teacher Training) Course.

Hannah's last junior coaching session was held on 14 July - all juniors and members of the Team will certainly miss her but wish Hannah every success in Cardiff.

Off to Cardiff in September

Last coaching session !

Schools out for Summer !

The final Junior Coaching session for last term was held on 14 July - but our APC Juniors were all invited to take part in a North Wales APC event at the Saints Club that evening.

The Junior coaching would start again on Monday, 1 September.

August 2014

Prestatyn Junior Open

The 2014 Prestatyn Junior Open took place at the Saints Club on 23 August and we were pleased that some of our players were involved.
In particular, congratulations to Jack and Katie Hayes who had a good day to come Third and Seventh respectively.

September 2014

Welsh Junior Open Grand Prix

Three juniors from the Club competed in Cardiff over the weekend 19 - 21 September, in the Welsh Junior Grand Prix - they were Jack Hayes, Josh and Lewis Davies.

It was a strong field of players with countries such as France, Nepal, Poland, Malaysia, Canada and India represented, as well as the Home Nations – the event was a showcase of some of the best young squash players around, with five age-category competitions for both boys and girls (u11, u13, u15, u17 and u19).

By playing in such a quality competition, it gives these juniors some invaluable experience.

Junior Coaching - a new season begins !

For our juniors, the new coaching season commenced, with the usual three groupings, on 1 September from 4.45 pm.

October 2014

North Wales Academy Squad 2 Training starts

Several junior players from the Club were invited to join the 2014-15 Academy Squad 2 Training.
This was a new series of squad training night sessions put together by Andrew Evans (WSRB High Performance Coach) and Mark Davies - they would be held at both Newtown and The Saints Club, Prestatyn.

These Academy Training sessions have an important place in the Wales Squash & Racketball (WSRB) programme to develop junior squash in North Wales and this, ultimately, should help to strengthen local clubs.

The Academy training sessions will be at The Saints Club on Fridays - 24 October; 28 November; 16 January 2015; tbc in February; 20 March; 8 May and 12 June - all sessions will run between 6-00 and 8-00 pm. .

Half term break for coaching

There will be a one week junior coaching break for half term (week commencing 27 October).

The coaching programme resumed again on 3 November.

Mini Squash at Overton

The Squash Club continued to widen the reach of its Wrexham Schools Squash Programme when Mark Davies and Jim Tunley took the Mini Squash Experience to Overton St Marys Primary School.

Over two weeks (26 September and 3 October) we met some 50 pupils from Years 3 and 4 and most pleasing is that that some have expressed an interest in our junior coaching programme.

Overton Year 3 pupils

Overton Year 4 pupils

November 2014

Christmas preparations being made .... !

This month, all of the coaching sessions for junior players concentrated on match play, in anticipation of our annual Juniors Christmas Tournament, held on Monday, 15 December (4.30 until 7.45 pm).

December 2014

Juniors Christmas Tournament

There was some excellent and competitive squash played by our juniors at this year's Christmas Tournament on 15 December.

We had a good turn-out, with the Beginners Group undertaking a skills test and the second and third groups playing matches; to 11 points and the best of three games with point a rally scoring - congratulations to everyone who took part.

Beginners Group

Intermediate Group

Advanced Group