Squash – An Exciting Game For All

Squash has been really buoyant down at the courts – leagues are being played, competitions entered and hotly contested, friendlies are competitively played, mix-ins and courses are well attended and the matches are fiercely battled. We now have 5 teams in the Shropshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire leagues, playing a great standard of squash and giving lots of our club players the opportunity to play different teams from across the various counties.
What a hive of activity, and this is just the adults!

The junior scene is also picking up and we have a wonderful group of budding youngsters taking the courts by storm. The junior coaching sessions are well attended and good fun, with 5 sessions over the week welcoming juniors from 6-15years, we’re getting some great advancement in squash ability. So much so, that some of our youngsters took part in Staffordshire Junior County Closed Championships, with great results! In addition, some of our junior players are competing in one of our Shropshire teams and already notching up some fantastic wins and building their confidence. Half term holiday camps are introducing more children to squash too, so there is an opportunity for all juniors to try out squash.

After the success of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Wolverhampton Roadshow that took place here in July, Mike Harris is developing a Squash outreach programme with local schools across Wolverhampton. Delivering both curriculum term time activities and ‘After School Clubs’, with 4 schools, we are #takingsquashtothepeople

External tournaments bring in players who benefit from using our 6 squash courts and great club facilities. We regularly welcome RAF squash players, run a Tri-service Competition (Army, Navy & RAF) hold England Squash Junior Bronze events and most recently, welcomed 190 England Squash Masters players from all over the UK and even Sweden! Many of our members entered with varying results but both of our coaches reached their age category final with these words from tournament chair, summarising how lucky we are to have these amazing players as our coaches.

Men’s Over 50: Yorkshire’s Matt Stephenson was top seed here having won the previous event. An interesting semi as multiple Champion Eammon Price (HFD) dropped down an age group to compete. Stephenson proved too strong, however and won 3/1 to book his final with the local professional Mike Harris (SPE) himself a three times Champion. A very good crowd were there to watch the local hero in action, but Stephenson rocketed through from 2/1 down to take the match in five and his third Regional title.

Men’s Over 40: Darren Lewis (LEC) is a former professional player and seems to have more talent than is fair. He plays a beautiful game with some shots that are breath-taking. County teammate Paul Stroud is also a very fine player and he reached the final with 3/2 wins over England players Keith Timms (HFD) and Tony Webb (SRY). Some great squash but Lewis, with three British Opens is one of the best Masters players ever and in spite of a 15/13 second game, Lewis took his eighth Regional. If he keeps playing, he could win 50!

Masters feedback

“Thank you for providing an excellent venue and fantastic support from you and your team over the weekend. You have set a new gold standard as a benchmark in the level of support and professionalism provided to us and that all clubs need to aspire to at our England Squash Masters Events.”

The Squash year finished with our Carver Cup tournament where members, old & new, competed with various handicaps as their starting point. This tournament has been kindly sponsored by Carvers and the cup presented by Henry Carver to all our winners.

So if you are looking to try squash out for the first time or already play and are looking to join a vibrant club, please get in touch with us, we would love to welcome you.

Call 01902 755 265 or email club@wltsc.com