U11 juniors from Wigton and Windscale Squash Club’s joined the north west’s best talent at an annual squash festival.
The U11 Squash Festival took place on the 20th/21st April 2013 at the National Squash Centre. Over 60 juniors along with parents and coaches from around the North West spent the day in the company of the North West Regional Coaching Team as they put the aspiring young players through their paces.
The annual North West U11 squash festival was established with the aim of giving juniors playing at clubs and centres in the North West an opportunity to experience the world class facilities on offer at the National Squash Centre whilst enjoying a truly enjoyable day of squash coaching and competition. It also allows the North West coaching team to assess the abilities of the players participating on the day with the aim of potentially inviting them to be part of the North West Performance Programme. At the same time it aims to encourage players to enter and play in local competitions and particularly the North West Regional Closed Championships which takes place later this year.
A wide range of clubs were represented on the day with 8 players coming from as far as Wigton and 7 from Winscale in Cumbria, 6 from Merseyside with Liverpool Cricket Club, The Northern Crosby and West Lancs Club represented, 7 combined from Wigan & Preston Grasshoppers in Lancashire, there were 14 players combined from Manchester made up from The Northern in Didsbury, City of Manchester Club, Monton & Moss Side, and from Chester there were 8 from Bollington and Bowden combined.
North West Regional Lead, Chris Lengthorn said “This event is crucial to securing players of the future and engaging them into our programme. I saw some great little players throughout the day and am really positive about the future of Squash in the clubs across the North West of England.”
Kevin Stewart, North West Regional Manager said: “I want to thank all the players and parents that took part for making this a fantastic squash festival with a really fun atmosphere. Thank you to the coaches and volunteers who worked really hard to run the coaching challenges and mark the games. Thank you especially to Belinda Openshaw from Bowden Squash Club, John Honeyman, Liz Jackson, Valda Crawford and Molly Tweddle from Wigton Squash Club and Rosh Henricus and Brian Grimshaw from Manchester Squash, all of who’s efforts really went above and beyond what we could have hoped for.”