Now into our second full year ...

 

On 1st March 2009 the Club celebrated its second anniversary and membership now exceeded 100 members, including individual seniors and juniors as well as family members, with enquiries received on a regular basis.

 

At the AGM in May, a recommendation from the Club’s Committee was agreed that Member Subscriptions for 2009-2010 be retained at their current levels for the three categories – Senior, Junior and Family.
The AGM did, however, agree a recommendation for court light fees to be increased by £1.00 to £3.00 per 45 minute session. This was still regarded as good value.

 

We attracted new members from Total Fitness as subscriptions there became due; some were also discovering the Club partly by recommendation but also via the Club’s website which was still being developed by Jim Tunley. Having the website has greatly increased the profile of our Club and has served to provide up-to-date information for existing members and juniors on what is going on within the Club.

 

Following a successful three month trial of an on-line booking system, in 2009 the Committee took the decision to go forward and commit to continue with this arrangement with HBI Consulting Ltd of Tunbridge Wells. This initiative, together with the Club’s website, has been fundamental to our steady progress this year.

 

This was a confident time and the members even began to look ahead at potential future developments. At our AGM we discussed, for the first time, our prospects for funding if the Club wished to consider a third court ! With the Olympics being held at London in 2012, however, it was understood that any capital grant funding for such projects were held in suspense. It was agreed that, at the appropriate time, we should make a tentative approach to both the Sports Council for Wales and Squash Wales, with a subsequent approach also to the Brymbo Directors, for their support to this vision.

 

Officers of the Club during 2009-2010 were elected as follows:
Chairman - Mark Davies ,
Secretary - Jim Tunley,
Treasurer - Kevin Jones ,
Team Reps - Garry Fisher and Sian Hughes,
Schools Liaison - Margaret Meadowcroft ,
Maintenance - Gareth Williams,
Ordinary Members - Craig Stevens and Geraint Jones.

 

As a Club, our priority is to try, as best we can, to keep on top of maintenance issues , particularly the two squash courts. Earlier in 2009 we carried out some repairs and re-decoration on one court and had plans to paint the front wall of the second court later in the year.
We also started to employ the services of a cleaner - to come in once a fortnight to keep the Club and courts cleen and tidy. Plans were also coming forward to approach the Sports Club with a view to improving the shower facilities in the coming year, especially in the men’s area.

 

This year we started an initiative to encourage Adult Squash Improvement within the Club’s membership. Despite difficulties in finding the best evening to do this, for the first programme we managed with 15 willing participants - all of them acknowledged their poor playing habits but were equally keen and prepared to have a go to improve both their squash and fitness.

 

North Wales Ladies Squash Challenge

 

Matches between Saints Club, Prestatyn and Wrexham Brymbo are proving to be both successful and enjoyable for all concerned.

 

During May / June, the Ladies competed over a series of four matches between Wrexham Brymbo & Saints with our Prestatyn friends winning in the very last point of the very last match - with Emily Strickland beating Margaret Meadowcroft 15-14 in the 5th game - to take the series.

 

Click on the following links to see the two teams

 

Wrexham Brymbo v. Saints

 

and read reviews from the first two matches -

 

First Report

 

Second Report

 

Christmas Tournament ... delayed until February ! - after some enforced delays to matches during this competition, sponsored by Darren Booth, there were two hard fought matched at the Semi Final stage on 6 February 2009, but these were eclipsed in a superb Final.

 

Friday the 13th proved lucky for the Club with a brilliant final match in which the youth of Hannah Davies overcame the experience of Darron Hewitt.

 

Our Tournament Finalists:-

Hannah & Darron with sponsor, Darren Booth

 

Over the weekend 20-22 November 2009, a number of Club players took part in the North East Wales Open, hosted by The Saints Club, Prestatyn.

 

The highlight must go to Hannah Davies and her friend Tesni Evans (from Saints) who, in the Welsh overall rankings are 74th and 27th respectively, but took on and beat the Tournament's two top seeded players Jenny Wright (ranked 3 in Wales) and Beth Winstanley (6th). These superb performances took the North Wales pair to the Final where Tesni won the title.

 

Other players finished as follows -
Darren Lee - 6th in Section B
Mark Davies - 3rd in Section C
Darron Hewitt - 4th in Section D
Perry Shoemark - 9th in Section D, and
Thomas Hewitt - 4th in Section E.

 

Our teams in 2009 ...

 

Our teams in the North West Counties Leagues had contrasting 2008-9 seasons - the Ladies Teams did very well in the 2nd Division with our First Team finishing in second place and just missing promotion on the last game of the season (losing to the team that won the league) and our Second Team finished mid way in the Division 3 table.

 

Our NWCSL Thursday Team, however, suffered with injuries all season (old age playing its part !) and, with the Leagues being restructured, were close to relegation.

 

The North Wales Leagues Tuesday Teams all finished the 2008-9 season in respectable positions. We also fielded a Junior Team in North Wales, to give our youngsters the competition needed to develop their game and particular thanks go to Paul Gowing for all his help in the organisation and transportation of team members.

 

Notable of our Juniors who stepped up to team play in the North Wales Leagues this season (and performing really well) were Perry Shoemark, Alice Jones, Emily Jones and Aled Goddard.

 

2008-09 Season Special Awards
Female Team Player of the Year - Alice Jones
Male Team Player of the Year - John Evans
Most Improved Junior Player of the Year - Perry Shoemark
Best Team Captain of the Year ! - Paul Gowing.

 

Congratulations to all our award winners !

 

Our Juniors in 2009 ...

 

We acknowledged the following successes by our Juniors - some fine individual performances:
Hannah Davies, a European Championships Bronze Medallist;
Emily Jones, played for Wales at the Home Internationals;
Perry Shoemark on winning his first competition at the Deeside Junior Tournament;
Thomas Hewitt on his second place in the Bethesda Junior Open Tournament.
Well done to all our Juniors !

 

In January 2009, the Club had three representatives in the Girls Inter Counties matches and thanks to Margaret Meadowcroft who travelled up to Newcastle with the North Wales Under 19 Girls, however, due to an unfortunate late withdrawl by one of the girls the Team was always going have a tough time. Playing teams from Yorkshire & Northumbria, Hannah Davies and Llinos Evans both performed really well (considering Llinos was suffering with a back injury) with Hannah winning her two matches.

 

The same weekend, Mark Davies travelled to Barnsley with the North Wales Under 15 Girls Team which includes Wrexham Brymbo's Emily Jones. The North Wales Team lost to Northumbria & Yorkshire but did well to beat Lancashire. Well done to Emily who played particulary well at No.1 in the Team against very strong opposition.

 

The British Junior Open is the most prestigious and longest-established junior open on the world calendar and attracts up to 500 of the very best players from all over the world - it is considered to be the World Championships of Junior Squash.

 

It was pleasing that four local girls flew the North Wales flag at Sheffield over the weekend 2nd to 6th January 2009 - Llinos Evans, Hannah Davies, Emily Jones (all Wrexham Brymbo) and Tesni Evans (Prestatyn) and they did us proud.
Tesni finished in 11th position having had an excellent win against the current European No1 Cyrill Peltier (France) but eventually losing to the runner up in the event Nour El Torky (Egypt).
Hannah was unfortunate to be drawn against the No1 seed in her second round, Nour El Tayeb (Egypt), but put in a very creditable performance against an Under 17 girl who is already on the pro circuit. Nour confirmed her status as World No 1 winning the event without dropping a game.

 

Llinos Evans, also in the U17 girls, was in her first British Open and finished 28th. Llinos came up against the No 2 seed from USA early on, an extremely strong player who reached the semi final. Llinos continued to perform well in further matches.
Emily Jones in the U 15 girls finished 34th having met the Scottish No 1 in the first round but put in a creditable performance - an experience in such a quality event that will do no harm !

 

Hannah Davies represented Wales in the Under 18s Home International Test Matches in Cardiff over the weekend 17 / 18 January and won 3 out of her 4 matches. In one match she beat the English No 5 Under 17 Lucy Townly in a very exciting 5 set match; a girl Hannah had not beaten before.

 

On 29 March 2009, our Juniors played host to a team from Llanfyllin with Hannah Philpott, Jazmine Hughes, Joseph Newnes, Thomas Hewitt, Aled Goddard and Edward Avery representing our Club.
Llanfyllin were a new club and had a number of very keen juniors who wanted to test their squash prowness against a selected Wrexham Brymbo side. However, Llanfyllin were no match for our juniors, who all played exceptionally well and recorded a resounding victory.
Young Hannah Philpott at age 8 made her debut and won two out of three matches against girls a lot older. The young people from both Clubs thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we hoped for a return match soon.

 

In March & April, Perry Shoemarkcontinued his steady progress in not only representing North East Wales in the English Under 13 Boys Inter Counties Team, finishing a creditable 4th at finals weekend in Northamptonshire, but also claiming his first tournament victory.
Perry came thorugh in a tough five set match to win the Under 13s final of the Midtown Open Tornament, held at the Deeside Leisure Centre, beating his close rival George Thomas (from the Saints Club).
Perry played some real quality squash throughout the weekend, keeping it all together for the final game to take the title.

 

Follow the link to see Perry following his victory:
Perry Shoemark

 

Our other juniors played well in the Midtown Open Tournament and congratulations also to the following:
Hannah Davies who won the Young Girls event – with Llinos Evans 3rd. Well done to Thomas Hewitt who came 3rd in the Boys Under 11 event. To Joseph Newnes who came 3rd in the Boys Under 15 event, with Edward Avery and Oliver Green achieving 5th & 7th places respectively in that same event. Also to Emily Jones who was Runner-up in the Girls Under 15 event.

 

Always on the look out for our future stars, in May we visit Wat's Dyke Primary School in Garden Village as part of the Club's Wrexham Schools Mini Squash Programme, run in association with Squash Wales.

 

Mini Squash visits Wat's Dyke Primary School

 

Also in May 2009,Thomas Hewitt had a superb 2nd place in the Under 11s competition at the Bethesda Open Squash Tournament.
This is fantastic result for Thomas who won 3 out of 4 matches to achieve his 2nd place finish - his highest place to date. This excellent result means that he also rises to 5th place in the Wales Under 11's rankings.
To see Thomas with his trophy, follow the link:Thomas Hewitt

 

The European Team Championships took place in Girona, Spain from 7 - 10 May and we congratulated Hannah Davies on her selection as part of the Welsh Under 17s Team.
The Welsh Team's European third seeding proved correct as they achieved third place overall.
Flying the flag for Wales -The Welsh Under 19 Team Squad

 

Congratulations to all our juniors who took part in our 2009 End of Season Tournament on 16th May.
All who took part played really well and it was a good indicator that the future for our Club looks most promising.
The Club was grateful to sponsorship from Darren Booth who formally presented the trophies at the Presentation Evening on Friday, 19th June. See the photos below.

 

Tournament Results:
Main Event - Winner: Perry Shoemark; Runner Up – Alice Jones; 3rd – Jason Slater
Main Plate Event - Winner: Edward Avery; Runner Up - Oliver Green; 3rd Jasmin Hughes
Young Boys Event - Winner: Thomas Hewitt; Runner Up - Luke Griffith
Plate - Winner Adam Cartwright; Runner Up - Edan Jackson
Young Girls Event - Winner: Hannah Philpott; Runner Up - Natasha Jackson.

 

Follow the links to see some of our future stars !

 

2009 Junior Tournament

 

Presentation Evening 2009

 

During June 2009, the Club was heavily involved with developing junior squash and the Under 11 squads held in Deeside with players coming from Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham.
Three coaches, Andrew Evans, Mark Davies and Margaret Meadowcroft organised these to check out in some detail the cohort of up and coming players and talent spot those with potential and who would benefit from a move into the North Wales squads.
The final session involved a mini tournament, however, due to holidays and absence only Wrexham Brymbo players were involved - Adam Cartwright and Luke Griffith contested the final with Adam beating Luke for the first time !

 

Follow the link to see our Under 11 squad of players:North Wales Under 11 Squad

 

Our Junior Coaching programmes continued well in 2009 boosted with two of our members gaining their UKCC Level 1 Coaching Qualification - Darron Hewitt and Hannah Davies and both made regular contributions to the coaching sessions.
New youngsters were encouraged into the Club’s Coaching arrangements through the Wrexham Schools Squash Programme (supported by Margaret Meadowcroft).

 

With thanks to the staff and parents of pupils at Marchwiel Deiniol Primary School, in September 2009 they were involved with a squash taster session as part of the Wrexham Schools Squash Programme.
A group of twenty youngsters, all Year 4 pupils at the School, were superb as they took part in a range of skills and fitness fun exercises. Subsequently, all were invited back to the Club for a more specific squash session and some have continued with their coaching.

 

Follow the link to see the Marchwiel youngsters with their Coaches:Year 4 pupils

 

It is important to note that the Club's squash coaching programmes are geared to Squash Wales structures - to view these, follow the link:
Junior Coaching Structures

 

In October we were pleased to report the Club's coaching programmes had been rewarded by our Juniors achieving the following successes.

 

[1] From our younger players at the Club, some have been selected for the North East Wales Under 11s Squad. For this they would receive additional coaching throughout the season at Deeside Leisure Centre, playing with Juniors from Flintshire and Denbighshire.

 

Wrexham Brymbo coaches Mark Davies & Margaret Meadowcroft took the sessions.
The Wrexham Brymbo players involved were: - Tyler Hughes, Adam Cartwright, Owen Cartwright, Isobel Griffith, Natasha & Edan Jackson, Morgan Williams, Nia Johnson, Rebecca Thomas, Harley Steele, Owen Platt, Rebecca Parrish and Benji Parrish.

 

[2] Six players, Thomas Hewitt, Hannah Philpot, Luke Griffith, Morgan Williams, Harley Steele, Owen Platt and Benji Parrish (some of who have previously taken part in the Under 11 North East Wales Squad) were also selected to join the Under 11 North East Wales Talent Identification Squad at the Saints Squash Club Prestatyn.
This higher level coaching is a reward for these players who have consistently worked very hard at their game and shown great improvement over the previous year. It was hoped that this progress would continue through to the Area Performance Centre and Excellence Squads.

 

[3] The Area Performance Centre was generally a mix of our older junior players. This squad was based on players from Denbighshire and Wrexham with sessions held at Prestatyn.
Wrexham Brymbo players involved were Alice Jones, Perry Shoemark, Oliver Green, Edward Avery, Aled Goddard, Thomas Hewitt and Joseph Newnes.

 

Over the weekend 10/11th October, Hannah Davies & Llinos Evans played for theNorth Wales Inter Counties Under 19s Team against Cheshire and Lancashire, both winning their matches.
The other players involved were Tesni Evans, Ceri Clark (from Saints) Chelsea Thomas and Charlotte Edmundson (Towyn). The Team won overall and went on to play in the quarter finals.

 

Over the same weekend, Emily Jones played for the North Wales Under 15s side against Cheshire, Lancashire, & Leicestershire. This Team were also overall winners of their series, with Emily winning one and losing two matches.
Other players involved were Elin Harlow & Beth Williams (from Le Sport), Maddison Khan (Bangor) and Lowri Roberts (Llanwrst). This success meant they also progressed to the quarter final matches [to be played in January 2010].

 

Wrexham Brymbo coaches Mark Davies & Margaret Meadowcroft were selected to coach the two successful teams over the weekend.

 

Meanwhile, Perry Shoemark played for the North Wales Under 15s Boy’s Team against Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria, playing in two of the matches and winning both. Other team members were Emyr Evans Alex Pendleton and George Thomas (from Saints).

 

In November 2009 we congratulated Hannah Davies who did so well in the National Squash Centre, Manchester as she provided a glimpse of her great potential by achieving a top four place in the Girls Under 17 section of the British Junior Closed Championships. To reach the semi-finals of such a prestigious competition is superb and great reward for all of the hard work put in week after week.

 

Hannah at the British Junior Championships

 

Hannah with Tesni Evans (Saints)at the British Junior Championships

 

Also in November, the Coaches report an excellent response from all of the Wrexham players involved with the North East Wales Under 11 Squad at their training session at Deeside.

 

Everyone enjoyed the challenges and we are fortunate to have some real talent within this squad from our Club - well done to all concerned !

 

For John Evans, one of the Club's most promising young players, it was a day to remember in November 2009 as he meets up with two of his childhood heros !

 

Click the following link -

 

John's big day !

 

In December 2009, Hannah Davies travelled to Langnan am Albis, Nr Zurich Switzerland and won the Swiss Open Girls Under 17 Title beating a French girl, Oxane Ah-Hu. [11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10]- a fantastic personal result and for North Wales squash.

 

2009 Swiss Junior Open title for Hannah

 

The Swiss Junior Open Trophy

(In this second photo, Hannah wears a new Club shirt that was introduced in December 2009).

 

As part of the Welsh squad, Emily Jones narrowly missed out in the play off for 11th place, in the Girls Under 15 event. She lost to Gabriella Caoasi from Hungary [11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 9-11, 7-11].

 

Welsh squash was rewarded with five of the eight Swiss titles being played for - an amazing weekend.

 

The 2009 Juniors Christmas Tournament was a super evening with some excellent games of squash from our younger players.

 

The Club acknowledged the on-going support from all parents and to John Williams, our sponsor, who made the presentations, to members of the Coaching Team for their work in developing our juniors and to Margaret Meadowcroft for her superb organisation.

 

The results:

Group One - Winner: Perry Shoemark. Runner-Up: Alice Jones. Third: Joseph Newnes. Fourth: Aled Goddard.

Group Two - Winner: Luke Griffiths. Runner-Up: Owen Platt. Third: Ryan Davies. Fourth: Harley Steel.

Group Three - Winner: Hannah Philpot. Runner-Up: Natasha Jackson. Third: Nia Johnston. Fourth: Rebecca Parish.

 

Well done to all of our Juniors in taking part and playing some very good games.
Click on the link to see all our young players -

 

2009 Christmas Tournament Players

 

Acceptable Behaviour ....

Finally, all members were reminded of the Club's Acceptable Behaviour Code for our Junior Members; this is particularly important when selected to represent our Club at Performance Centre or matches.

 

Acceptable Behaviour Code for all Junior Members

 

 

 

 

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