The first weekend of July saw four of the clubs junior players compete in the 2011 NSW Juniors Championships at the MAASH Centre in Sydney;

• Connor McDonald
• Kane Lugwig
• Sarah Keen
• Ben Ken

This was the first time in many years that our juniors have played in this tournament, and all gave 100%.  The tournament featured highly ranked NSW and Australian players, and the standard of play was very impressive.

Given our players limited experience, expectations for the weekend were modest, Sarah picked up a game and Connor, Kane and Ben all gave glimpses of their potential and displayed a positive attitude in all their matches. I am sure the experience will stand them in good stead for coming tournaments, and if they maintain their enthusiasm the results will follow.

I should also mention two of the clubs newly signed junior players who were also competing; Matthew Hall and Adam Fleming-Wilkie.  These players are local div 1 juniors and displayed remarkable skills on the court - hopefully some of these skills will rub off on our newer juniors over the coming season/s.

We got stroked at QBN/Bega Squash Challenge

There was more than one case of Déjà vu as many of the club’s more dedicated players and their partners travelled to Bega for the second (now annual) Queanbeyan /Bega Squash Challenge;

·         assembling at the McDonalds Queanbeyan at the crack of dawn

·         the pink shirt of shame

·         sampling some of the world’s best pies at Nimmitabel

·         Bob Martin’s penchant for BLT’s

·         checking into the Commercial Hotel (although some chose The Bank, just down the road)

·         playing in sweltering conditions

·         and driving home in pouring rain – just to name a few.

Most notably though, the people of Bega are incredible hosts and a great deal of fun was had by all.

A new, but somewhat familiar game was added to this year’s challenge – plastic animals were handed out to all players and fines issued for not showing due diligence protecting said animals. Serious breaches meant the guilty party had to either wear the shirt of shame, or look after a large teddy bear.

Despite the heat, we took out the honours in all four divisions, though there were some challenges.  Bega’s Troy Northey was too strong for our club’s best squash players and few from either side managed to keep a hold of their plastic animals.

In the end, we retained the tournament shield, Tom Rueger was voted Queanbeyan’s most valuable player, Craig Bassett was voted Bega’s MVP and we raised more than $300 for Camp Quality through fines. Other highlights included:

·         Andrew Bomm travelling all the way from Wagga Wagga to participate

·         Gavin’s camera envy when the Bega District News arrived with a bigger lens

·         Witnessing a Lunar Eclipse – the Moon’s disappearing completely on Sunday

All in all it was a terrific weekend and it was great to see so many partners come along for the fun.  Big thanks to Trev and Jeremy from Queanbeyan, Dennis, Dick from Bega and anyone who helped make the weekend such a success.

We hope to see you at the next trip!

Written by Mitch Fox

Photos by Gavin Jackson

Fifteen of the club’s players made the two-hour journey down to Cootamundra on the weekend for another inter-town challenge.

The club’s more dedicated players arrived in Cootamundra on Friday evening to scout out the competition and talk strategy. These discussions went early into the morning – unfortunately the only strategies discussed surrounded the dollar amount for each hit on the pokies and whether or not one should take the win or gamble.

When those more dedicated to a decent night’s sleep arrived on Saturday morning, they were greeted to tales of Bob Martin’s penchant for BLT burgers and the Moon boy’s inability to take care of their toy soldiers (this is not a sick euphemism, toy soldiers were handed out to all players. Fines were issued for those who did not have their toy soldier on them at all times).

With less then adequate scouting reports and our toy soldiers to protect for dear life, we all ventured to the Cootamundra Squash Club to let the battles begin.

Cootamundra is a town with a rich squash heritage, forming more than 50 years ago. We were all keen to don the blue shirt and represent Queanbeyan.

Play kicked off around 10:30 as each group played in an ACT Pennant format, best of five hand out system.

Queanbeyan came out on top, so the locals tried to fatten us up. It was a cunning strategy as several players forgot how hard it is to play on a stomach full of sausage sandwiches and steak. Despite this, Queanbeyan also came out on top in the day’s second session, this time in the point and rally system.

Our reward for winning was all the meat pies one could stomach – we were informed they would be thrown out if not eaten. Bob Martin again cemented his status as a lean mean eating machine, downing several while muttering ‘dinner isn’t for another couple of hours.’ 

A couple of hours later Bob’s stomach gave us directions to the Chinese restaurant where we would dine with the Cootamundra Squash Club before sampling the town’s nightlife.

Sunday morning came too soon for some (apparently the Moon boys aren’t anything like their namesake, preferring to sample the Central Hotel’s beds not beverages) and prospect of squash seemed more like a chore than anything else.

Taking inspiration from Trevor Scorer – looking like death warmed up, we all soldiered on for the last few sessions. Queanbeyan again came out on top, winning the timed, best of three and skins formats.

Following the skins, the challenge’s results were revealed. Queanbeyan had won the challenge 45 matches to 13. Cootamundra voted Chris Moon as Queanbeyan’s Most Valuable Player, while we selected ‘King’ Kerry Malone as Cootamundra MVP.

The club’s Social Director then compiled the list of fines for the toy soldier challenge and for other discretions over the weekend. The clubs raised an astonishing $325 for Camp Quality. Chris Moon also took out the inaugural Camp Quality Most Fined Player Award.

The score line does not reflect how competitive and hospitable the Cootamundra Squash club were over the weekend. A big thank you to our own Trevor Scorer, Cootamundra’s Tony Sheedy and all those who made the weekend possible.

Article written by Mitchell Fox, Photographs by Gavin Jackson (http://www.canberraphotography.com.au).