Juniors do well in national tournaments

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Coach Andy Longman with members of the Henley junior squad who played in the Four Counties Tournament, from left, Jonathan Betts, James Little and Freddie Borg.

Henley Squash Club’s juniors continue to excel in county, regional and national tournaments.

Over the last six months, Richie Hopkins has been helping the Oxfordshire U13 team through a series of qualifying games to reach the grand finals of the 2007-08 inter-county championships, which were held in Solihull at the beginning of April. In the semi-final, Oxfordshire were without their No. 1 seed and so struggled against the eventual winners Kent, eventually losing 4-1. The third and fourth place play-off against Gloucester was much tighter with Oxfordshire only just losing out 3-2. Nonetheless, fourth place out of the 38 counties was a great result for the team.

Richie, together with his older brother, Ed, went on to represent the Mid West Region in the inter-regional championships held in Birmingham in mid April. Ed played for the U17 team and through his strong play helped secure third place for the team with a 3-2 victory over the South West. Richie played for the U13 team that just lost out 3-2 to the East Midlands in the fifth and sixth place play-off.

Three further players from Henley were in action last weekend in the Four Counties Tournament held at LA Fitness in Burnham. U11 and U13 teams from Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire competed in the tournament, which was the brainchild of Henley club’s Peter Hopkins and is now in its second year. Freddie Borg and Jonathan Betts played at No. 2 and 3 for the Oxfordshire U11 team, respectively, whilst James Little played at No.1 for the Berkshire U13 team. Freddie and Jonathan both won two matches and lost one to help Oxfordshire to third place just behind Hampshire. James, who has just turned 11, found it tough going playing the other No. 1’s. He lost his matches but gained much valuable experience.

James was more successful in the U11 event at the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools’ national championship held near Ipswich at the end of March, where he was representing St Edward’s School, Reading. The 32 boys were divided into four leagues for a series of league matches over the first two days.

James won all his matches without dropping a single game and finished top of his league. He was seeded No. 1 for the knock-out stages of the tournament and continued his winning streak through his eight-, quarter- and semi-final matches to reach the final against Peter Berkley from Sussex. The final saw some excellent squash, with Peter securing a well earned 3-1 victory and the overall championship. Despite the disappointment of losing the final, James secured second place overall and returned home with a silver medal for his efforts.

For details of the junior club’s coaching programme, please contact Richard Little on 0118 9471187.

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Henley players had the chance to play on the new courts at Henley Leisure Centre this week as they reopened after refurbishment. The courts are considered excellent, and are glass-backed and block-built.

The club’s committee has decided to relaunch the club as the Henley Squash and Racketball Club, to reflect the growing popularity of racketball. Racketball equipment can be borrowed from the club and a fun doubles tournament will be run in the summer.

Squash will continue to be the main sport, and the leagues will be reissued soon, using a new on-line system developed by the club’s IT officer Kevin Wood. Club nights open to all members will be reintroduced, and the club championship and club handicap will be run as before. Team squash will continue with a third team being entered in the Oxfordshire leagues.

The Henley Veterans team finished their winter season with a loss to Burnham, but gained enough points to secure the Berkshire Division 3 championship.

The men’s 2nd team attended the Divisional play-offs in Abingdon but lost 3-2 with many regular players unavailable. Jez Willis made his debut at fifth string and played well. Chris Wallace and Roger Booker both secured 3-1 wins for the team, but Steve Berger, Peter Hopkins and Jez were unable to get the third win necessary to win the play-off between the winners of the two halves of the winter season.

Players interested in joining the club should look out for information at the leisure centre.