RLTSC Squash

Radlett Squash Club puts on around 5 graded tournaments a year, some mixed and some for girls only. All standards are welcome from county players down to those who are entering a friendly tournament for the first time, and players are put into one of four or five grades according to age and playing experience. As well as local Herts players, juniors from Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Beds, Bucks and Middlesex have taken part in recent events. After the squash there is tea afterwards with a raffle and over the last 9 years the 44 graded tournaments have raised £3645 for various charities; at present the money raised goes to the Peace Hospice in Watford where sadly Ron Worrell (who had been Herts Junior Secretary for many years) passed away recently.
The most recent event attracted 31 entries and was a Girls’ Graded on December 4th, congratulations to the following winners:
Senior A..Sarah Brown (Radlett), 2nd Helen Gibson (Harpenden)
Senior B..Aashni Chohan (Radlett), 2nd Sarah Scofield (Gosling)
Senior C..Ella Batten (Radlett), 2nd Rebecca Parrish (B Stortford)
Junior A..Charlotte Weener (Radlett), 2nd Lucy Clayden (Radlett)
Junior B..Sophie O’Keefe (Edge Grove), 2nd Heera Shah (Edge Grove)
Junior C..Chloe Liebmann (Radlett), 2nd Cordy O’Sullivan (Radlett)

Home game with Harpenden last week, our opening fixture at their place was a wake up call 3 months ago when we got a proper hammering 5-0. These are still considered to be the strongest team in the league, even if the league poistions don’t reflect that.

Fielding a very strong side we started off with Ian “The Vet” who has been studying hard for the next set of vets exams and obviously hadn’t had time to shave which clearly slowed him down with the additional wind resistance. Fatigue quickly set in and even after a furious start to the match where his opponent was left stranded in all parts of the court, the face fungus quickly got too much and Ian tired quickly. 3-1 loss

0-1

Next up was Luke who has struggled to find the form that we all know he has and the speed and flair was needed to be shown against a very strong no 3. Needing a confidence boosting performance, Luke powered through to a 3-0 win which we hope will give him the boost in the future matches – well done Luke, good to have you back!

1-1

Gary was up next playing at 2 against their usual no 1, Gary took control of the court against a player with speed and time to burn but a massive effort saw a very hard fought 3-1 win

2-1

Tony up against Pete, again, saw the usual exersion of effort, last moment pick ups and a furious pace (and probably a bit of complaining at the ref) but a narrow 3-2 loss resulted. Not bad for Steve Austin who has yet to have the last bit of re-building completed (in fact not sure some of it has even started yet!), great effort even though playing through the pain barrier each week

2-2

Last up in the deciding fixture saw Steve Lloyd finally playing as their no 1 against Duleep, who I understand has not previously beaten Steve. Duleep boasted, volleyed and dropped his way to a most impressive 3-1 win to complete a fantastic 3-2 victory. Well done all

Still just above the bottom 2 places in the table, the points spread between us and third spot remains a mere 4 points, so all still to play for. The coming weeks see us on the road mostly, so at least we don’t have the pressures of hosting and marking, just need to concentrate on the games so hopeing for great things

Jago recently won the Middlesex Closed and the South of England Open O35s beating Jamie Goodrich 3-1 in the final

This seasons Herts Closed is being held at Nuffield Health, St Albans Friday the 14th to Sunday the 16th of January

More information available here

Download the entry form

Bit of a drubbing up at Harpenden this week, but we competed well (even when they stick in ”injured” ringers at No 4) and good to see new faces in the team. All looks good to keep the squad numbers up and make getting a team out each week a little easier

Great performance from Luke at 1, just running up short against Chris who had to dig really deep to win in 5

Tony still manages to defy his injury list that exceeds Arsenal’s current list and the serious curry abuse last week in India. Great effort against Mr Motivator Burdett who never seems to know when to give up

Simba shows some touches never seen before on court (and a couple we asked about and even he couldn’t explain!) Few more matches to get back into it and great things will follow

Steve Lloyd at 4??!! I never stood a chance, even when he played me in!

Welcome in to Duncan from the wilderness of Next Gen, good steady stuff and match practice will catapult back to greatness

Next week is Home to Tring, who dropped down from Div 1 last season so expect a strong squad again. Along with another new face with Angus escaping from Hogwarts for the evening (thanks for arranging that Lorna), we have Gary stepping back in next week. Appreciate this Gary as I know you have other team commitments also this Winter

Over the next 3 months we’re going to try something different for Sunday Social Squash.

We’ll be running a monthly session that will focus on a particular group of players to try to help them onto the next level. Derek Thorpe, the Club Coach will run the sessions.

For more details see social squash

Radlett’s Jago Nardelli, James Ockwell and Phil Collins have all qualified to represent England in the Home International tournament taking place at the end of April