A GREAT WEEKEND
FOR OUR DUNNINGTON STARS!
This weekend (24/9/17) three of our Dunnington players reached the finals of their Tournaments. Matt Stephenson reaching the final of the over-45s masters in Norfolk, unfortunately losing 3-0 in the final in what was a closely contested match the No1 seed Jonathan Glidon (Devon). A great effort from Matt – well done!
The Yorkshire County closed-tournament was played at Pontefract SC this weekend with Poppie Jaram U19s and Ruby Batchelor U11s representing Dunnington SC in their respective age groups, both playing against the best players in Yorkshire which is renowned for being the strongest squash county in the country.
Poppie reached the Final of the girls U19 event to play Charlotte Jagger the No1 seed and ranked No4 in the country in a well contested match Charlotte coming out the eventual winner 3-0 with accurate volleying and few errors! Poppie would admit to being not quite at her best just coming back from injury but will get another shot at this title next year. Well done to Charlotte in her last season in the U19s.
Probably the outstanding performance from a Dunnington player over the weekend was from Ruby Batchelor (smiler), anyone who has met Ruby will know what a lovely polite girl she is and she’s just the same on court showing respect to her opponent and the marker. Her Mum and Dad Jo and Shaun must take credit for this. When Ruby goes on court with all the above attributes she still goes on with the determination and the will to win. In reaching the semi-final Ruby (un-seeded) met an up and coming young junior from Pontefract Fearne Copley No2 seed and ranked No16 in the country. Ruby progressed without dropping a game and coming out on top; but watch out for Fearnes name in the future! In the Final Ruby played Jas Kaur Nahal the No1 seed and ranked Nationally at No14; with Ruby now full of confidence and sticking to her game plan which she adhered to all weekend there was only ever going to be one winner. Serving well and hitting the back corners at will forced Jas into to many errors and Ruby without dropping a single game all weekend won the match taking the Title Yorkshire Closed Girls U11s Champion.
Our thanks also go to Gary our Head Coach who spends hours on court developing and mentoring many of our talented players.
After all the hard work and coaching that Poppie has put in over the last few months with her coach Gary Crossland ably assisted by Matt Stephenson, her development has not gone unnoticed as she has been offered a fully funded place on a 2 week squash camp at Amhurst College, Massachusetts USA this summer. The lead coach for this camp is Peter Nichol former world number 1. This is a fantastic opportunity for Poppie as well as being coached by one of the world’s best coaches she will be travelling out with Laura Massaro who achieved world number 1 ranking in January 2016 and in June this year won the Women’s World-Series final.
Last weekend (17th/18th June) Poppie played in the silver tournament at Hull playing up an age group in the girls under 19s where she finished in a credible 3rd place. In the semi- final she played the number 1 seed Charlotte Jagger from Sheffield who is ranked 5th in England in the under 19s category. In a battle that lasted over an hour in very hot and testing conditions Poppie narrowly lost 2 games to 3. (9 11, 16 14, 12 10, 8 11, 9 11). The next day she beat Gabriella Mawson the number 2 seed (ranked 9th in England GU19s) from Wakefield 3 games to 0.
On the 1st & 2nd of July Poppie has been selected to represent North East England in the Junior Regional Championships to be held at Leamington Spa. She is the only girl in the “A” team of 8 players. There are 8 different regions competing with each region entering 3 teams to compete in 3 different leagues, the North East comprises of players from Yorkshire, Northumbria, Durham & Cleveland.
On the 6th July she flies out Germany to compete in the Cologne Junior Open before traveling by coach from Cologne to Amsterdam on the 11th July to compete in the Dutch Open. She returns from Holland on the 16th for a few days rest before jetting off to Boston USA with Laura Massaro to attend the squash camp at Amhurst College.
These are wonderful achievements which show tremendous dedication from her. We should also recognise the effort of Gary and the coaching team at Dunnington who have worked with Poppie since she was 8. Finally, as with many sporting successes the parents, in this case John and Jean have made it all possible by giving their support, funding her and taking her to the many local and national tournaments.