National Junior Squash Tournament hosted by Racquets
Racquets juniors show top form and extreme potential in National England Sanctioned event held at Racquets Fitness Centre.
On the weekend of the 18/19th March, Racquets Fitness Centre was proud to host a Bronze England Sanctioned squash tournament, which attracted top juniors from all over UK to participate and compete in. The ability of juniors was expectedly high ranging from county level to regional and national level. All in all the tournament received 45 entries. Racquets had many juniors competing in the tournament and for most, it was their first ever England Sanctioned Tournament. Four juniors from Racquets really stood out and achieved remarkable places in their age categories; Ollie Ralphs in the boys Under 19s, Ollie Cartwright in the boys Under 15s, Artie Shrimpton in the boys Under 11s and Allegra Michoplou in the girls Under 11s.
In the boys under 19s, Ollie Ralphs competed in his first ever England Squash tournament. Ollie has always been keen and determined to better his game and reach his full potential. Not that long ago Ollie suffered a terrible sports injury which put him out for months, leading to him not being able to train or even get on court and hit a ball. However, he has made a fantastic comeback and is playing some of the best squash he has ever played. Ollie played out of his skin and was keen to show what he was made of and ended up coming runner up in his age category which is a fantastic achievement. Ollie’s coach Sue says, “I am extremely proud Ollie has made it this far in the game and expect him to progress even further in the near future.”
Competing in the boys under 15s was Ollie Cartwright. Ollie is a more experience player in terms of National Junior tournaments however, he has only recently moved up an age group meaning he was to face older, stronger and more conditioned opponents. Ollie is forever improving at an alarming rate, training at racquets 5/6 days a week and striving to become a better player. Ollie was unfortunate to draw the number one seed in his first round but gave the top player a good run for his money. Ollie’s mindset is impeccable and didn’t let this phase him. He continued to play his own game throughout the tournament and ended up placing third in his age category. Ollie’s coach Ben says, “I am overly impressed in the way Ollie dealt with more accomplished opponents, and he shows high potential to do well in his age category.”
In the boys under 11s was Artie Shrimpton who placed runner up in the plate and in the girls under 11s was Allegra Michoplou. Artie and Allegra joined Racquets at the same time and are both in the racquets academy, due to their raw talent for the game and their willingness to learn. They are both down at the club nearly every day receiving free coaching from coaches Ben and Sue due to being in the academy, alongside 10 other juniors. This was also their first ever England Squash tournament. They have both only been playing properly for about 4 months which goes to show the rapid rate of improvement they are achieving and show to be great prospects for the future and are great role models for other juniors at Racquets.
For more information about playing squash from young age or starting later in life, please contact Sue, Simon or Ben at Racquets Fitness Centre on 01844 261754.
