Category: Sports News

YOUNG Ben Hedger’s preparations for the British Junior Open Squash Tournament in Manchester this coming weekend, are on track following his win in the under 19s boys category in both the Abingdon Junior Open and the Southampton Junior Open last weekend (24/09).

Ben, who is a pupil at Lord Williams ‘s Upper School in Thame, plays and trains at Racquets Fitness Centre in Thame, and plays for the men’s First team in the Oxfordshire leagues. He has been playing squash for about eight years.

Although the Abingdon Junior Open was a fairly local, Oxfordshire event, which Ben won without dropping any games, the Southampton tournament involved Ben in pitching his skills against players from further afield. One of Ben’s coaches, Simon Martin, said: “We are so proud of Ben’s determination in coming back from behind in both the ‘semis’ and the final to win both matches.

The semi-final was against the number one seed, Adam Sindall-White, ranked 63 in England, who had travelled all the way from Somerset. The final was against the number two seed from Sussex, Julian Standish who is ranked 113 in the Under 19s in England.

Ben is hoping this determination will be strong enough this coming weekend to create some upsets, as there will be players from all over the world.

Another of Racquets’ young squash players, Nick Harbour, also played in the Abingdon tournament coming a very respectable third, having recently moved up to the Under 17s.

On behalf of the club, a proud Simon Martin said: “Well done to both of them and good luck this weekend!”

CHINNOR RFC, based in Thame, have chalk up their first victory of the season in style with a 15-11 win over Canterbury on Saturday, October 24.

Chinnor kicked off with the slope in their favour reputed to be worth at least a 10 point advantage to the team playing with it. This proved to be the case as Chinnor piled on early pressure to earn a penalty, converted by Will Millett. Chinnor counter attacked through a Jones/Millet interchange to take play back into Canterbury’s half allowing Junior Fatialofa to carve through the opposition only to be tackled short of the line.

A technical foul resulted in a yellow card for Canterbury’s flanker. Chinnor capitalised on this weakness with the back row of Vandermolen, Tyas and Wright combining well with hooker, Townsend, to provide the forwards with a driving maul to the line. Birthday boy, Daz Oliver, drove over for Chinnor’s first try converted by Millet to give the visitors a 10 point lead.

From the restart Chinnor gave away a penalty converted by fly half Kingsman. This gave Canterbury renewed vigour to attack but the Chinnor’s defence stood solid with relief from several driving runs by Vandermolen and Tyas.

In the second half Canterbury used the slope to their advantage to gain position and then to convert another penalty to close the gap to a 6 -10. Ben Manning and Danny Wright’s workrate took play back up the slope into Canterbury’s 22m area where their ill-discipline resulted in two of their players being yellow carded in quick succession. Again Chinnor capitalised on this advantage with a scintillating solo try from Junior Fatialofa weaving his way through the defence to score an unconverted try, living up to Canterbury’s programme prediction as being the ‘player to watch’.

In the last 20 minutes Canterbury were back to 15 players and used the slope well. They kicked deep into the corner and drove over from the resulting maul allowing Green to score an unconverted try and reduce their deficit to 11-15. But, in the last 10 minutes, Chinnor were on the back foot yet defended their line superbly well to win their first game of the season. Canterbury will be rue their three yellow cards which lead to Chinnor scoring both of their tries.

ARE you 11-16? GLL Better Leisure Centres, which includes Thame Leisure Centre, are offering an eight-week coached sports programme, with a variety of sports being offered in centres at just £2 per session, or £16 for the whole eight-week course, starting from Saturday, October 17, 2015.

In addition, GLL are also offering 14-25 year-olds a six-week Sportivate membership in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse to support young peope in getting more active and acheving a healthier lifestyle.

Sportivate is a Sport England funded project to engage more young people into sport and activity and the leisure centres are joining forces with the project to encourage more people to improve their health and engage in physical activity.

The Gym, Pool and Group Exercise Classes Membership costs £20 and entitles you to eight visits to the gym, pool and group exercise classes within a six-week period. After eight visits have been redeemed, you will be entitled to a discounted membership. Any additional visits within the six week period will be priced at £2 per activity.

– See more at: LINK HERE

CHINNOR RFC were well beaten on Saturday (Oct 17) in their encounter with Old Albanian, going down 50-14.

Old Albanian started quickly, working the ball straight from the kick off through many phases to score the first of their eight tries, this one from Bate. Slick and rapid back play gave the visitors a 10-0 lead with a try from Speirs on 10 minutes. The third came from Bate again and then Chinnor worked a neat inside ball from a penalty line out drive to see Blewitt dance through for their first score, Millett converting for a 17-7 lead to Old Albanian. Just before half time, Albanians scored their bonus point try to go in 24-7 ahead at the break with a scything break from the pacey Gallagher

Old Albanian continued their dominance with scores at regular intervals with tries from Malins, former Chinnor player Morgan Thompson, Johnson and, finally, a pushover try on 78 minutes from Lunnon. With the last play of the match, Chinnor’s Jack Adams broke through midfield for Chinnor’s second try to finish the match with a 48-14 win for Old Albanian.

Old Albanian were a quick and well drilled side, always looking dangerous when they had the ball. Chinnor, although with a dominant scrum until the last quarter, struggled to match the speed and accuracy of their opponents

Chinnor
Marcus Beer, Robbie Martey, Jack Adams, Sam Angell, George Blewitt, Will Millett, Greg Goodfellow, Andy Darlington, Mark Darlington (c), Andy Berry, Danny Wright, Sam Blewitt, Adam Balding, Ryan Long, Joe Vandermolen

Interchanges: Jamie Townsend, Joe Pickett, Ben Manning, Junior Fatialofa, Jack Partington

Old Albanian
Matt Gallagher, Jimmy Speirs, Chris Lombaard, Chris Gay, Mike Allan, Max Malins, Morgan Thompson, Hayden King, George Warner, Karl Garside, Ross Hamilton, Billy Johnson (c), Oliver Cooper-Miller, Harry Bate, Sam Lunnon

Interchanges: Josh Taylor, Ollie Wallikar, Jason Billows, Mark Evans, Nick Foster

Scorers

Chinnor
Tries (time): G Bllewitt (25), Adams (80)
Conversions (time): Millett (26, 80)
Penalty goals (time):
Drop goals (time):

Old Albanian
Tries (time): Bate (5,15), Speirs (10), Malins (45), Gallagher (33), Thompson (54), Johnson (66), Lunnon (78)
Conversions: (time): Malins (23, 33, 55, 67, 78)
Penalty Goals (time):
Drop goals (time):
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Attendance: 223
Half time score: 7-24
Full time score: 14-50
Star Player: Max Malins

YOUNG squash player, Luke Hayes from Barley Hill School, took first place in the beginners grade at the Racquets October One-Day Junior squash tournament on Saturday, October 10.

Coach at Racequets Squash Academy in Thame, said: “Luke practices four times a week so we expect to see him move up the grades fairly quickly. Jaco Peacock, also from Lord Williams’s School was second in this grade – not bad for someone who only started to play regularly a few weeks ago.”

In the next grade up, Matt Harper (Lord Williams’s School) played well to beat a couple of rivals who started playing about the same time. Sue explained: “Matt is starting to get some consistency to his game so we will see him rising through the ranks too. Chris Watts (Lord Williams’s School) was runner up.”

In the Silver grade, a player who had only been playing regularly for four months took the title. James Portsmouth of Lord Williams’s Lower School won convincingly against players who had been playing for a couple of years. “This was a great result for James,” said Sue. “He is very keen and a great ambassador for the game.” Evan Littler from Abingdon School was the runner up.

Sue went on: “In the top grade many of the players had to leave to get their serious loads of homework completed, but of the games played, a surprise win by Ollie Dudley-Heidkamp and some good wins by Jamie Mather – both of Lord Williams’s School – gave us tied winners.

“The tournament was run brilliantly by Oliver Cartwright of Lord Williams’s Lower School who took over the reigns while I was on duty around the club. It’s just great to see the improvement in many of the players since returning from the summer holidays. Those who continued to play during the holidays have come on leaps and bounds, but even those that took a break came back focussed and appeared to be enjoying playing, training and competing.”

The Racquets academy is looking for new young players to join the team of hard working, keen, dedicated sports people who care about their sports facility and about squash. Young people are selected for the academy by coach Sue. Interested? Contact Sue at Raquets by calling: 01844 261754 or emailing: info@racquets-fitness-centre.com

CHINNOR RFC had a dream start to its match against Redruth on Saturday (10/10), despite its squad being depleted by 20+ players unavailable through injury and other commitments.

From the kick off, their forwards drove Redruth back. Junior Fatialofa made a 20 metre break and from the resulting ruck Robbie Martey sped through a gap to give Chinnor a five-point lead. Redruth replied immediately with a penalty converted by fly half Mankee.

Chinnor bounced back with a Jack Adams break, feeding the elusive Martey who split the Redruth defence with his dazzling pace to put full back, Bertie Hopkin over and convert his own try.

Redruth began to tighten up the game, keeping the ball among their forwards and driving into Chinnor’s 22 metre area enabling lock, Hattam and hooker Cowan – Dickie to score two tries within five minutes of each other. Mankee converted one of these to give Redruth a 13 – 12 lead after 20 minutes.

Again Chinnor responded with centres Fatialofa and Adams combining well to break the gain line and put winger, George Blewitt, over for an unconverted try. Then the lead switched back to Redruth when a counter attack found a weakness in Chinnor’s defence putting centre Parsons over for a try converted by Mankee.

The second half saw Redruth maintaining their tactic of keeping the ball tight among their forwards, then flanker Buzza drove from a loose maul and broke through Chinnor’s defence to score under the posts. Mankee converted for a 29 to 17 lead. The Chinnor pack responded well, following long kicks into the Redruth half and driving into the opposition’s pack, sucking them in, then spinning the ball out quickly for winger Blewitt to score in the corner. Then fly half Will Millett touched down near the posts for Hopkin to convert and draw the score level at 29 – 29.

Redruth came back in a similar fashion with a deep kick to the corner and a rolling maul from the lineout giving hooker, Cowan-Dickie his second try, unconverted, with 15 minutes left and a 34 – 29 lead.

Replacement Sam Angel kept Chinnor in the game with deep kicks into Redruth’s territory, followed by forward pressure giving Chinnor a penalty converted by Hopkin. In the last eight minutes Chinnor forwards were camped in Redruth’s 22 metre area but were unable to penetrate their defence and so suffered a 34 to 32 defeat.

All Chinnor tries were scored by the backs including man of the match, Robbie Martey, whereas Redruth’s tries were mostly scored by their forwards reflecting the different tactics of the teams. At least Chinnor came away with two bonus points to help their cause.

RAQUETS’ Junior Squash players showed real character and determination to take top positions in the Oxfordshire Squash County Championships recently.

Oliver Coulcher-Porter became the Under 11s boys champion winning the tournament fairly comfortably, proving that all the coaching and practice definitely pays off. Last year Oliver entered the tournament for the first time and wasn’t placed. Oliver’s mum Jane, said: ‘We are extremely proud parents’.

Oliver’s little sister Emily also did her parents and Racquets proud by being runner-up in the Under 11s girls competition. Emily has only just turned seven and was beaten in the final by a 10 year old. This was Emily’s first tournament and winning any matches in a first tournament is a remarkable achievement. Emily’s coach Sue Martin-Downhill said: “‘Emily was really up for playing in this tournament so I wasn’t surprised by her achievement. She is a very determined young lady who plays with much older boys and girls at Racquets and holds her own extremely well.”

Sue went on: “Ben Hedger, who has just turned 17, now has to play in the Under 19s competitions.  Fortunately he has worked very hard over the past year and is knocking on the doors of the top senior men in the county.  Ben has brought home the U19s boys trophy.  This is a great result as quite often the first tournaments after moving up an age group can be devastating.  Ben has succeeded where many fail.  Well done Ben.”

One other junior from Racquets Squash Academy who did well but couldn’t quite take home the trophy this year, was Nick Harbour.  Playing up an age group from last year, he lost narrowly in the final of the Under 17s.

“We, at Racquets, are extremely proud of all the kids playing here,” said Sue, “and hope that we will have more playing  in the County Closed Championships in 2016.  If you would like to be one of them, then please do come down to the club and see what coaching is available to you.” Visit Racquets’ website for more informtion

ANOTHER junior one day squash tournament will take place at Racquets Squash Academy in Thame, on Saturday, October 10. The tournament is open to all standards, and prices include chips and cheese for lunch.

Young squash players have the choice of arriving either at 11am or 12pm, depending on which is most convenient, and the tournament will last until 4pm.

Prices are £6 for Junior Gold members, £8.50 for Junior Silver members and £11 for non members. Book your place either at Racquets’ reception (at the rear of the Cattlemarket) or over the phone on 01844 261754.