The South Island Quadrangular Tournament makes a welcome return this weekend at the Timaru Squash Club hosted by Squash Midlands after being cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19.
Canterbury will be looking to bring the trophy back up State Highway 1 after winning it in 2018 and 2019, and we look forward to seeing the team in action as they take on Midlands, Otago and Southland.
Thank you to the selectors for their time and efforts in naming the following players in the team. Unfortunately there have been a couple of injuries and illnesses so there are a couple of changes to the teams that were announced at the Linwood Open and Canterbury Junior Open.
The team is as follows:
Masters Men: Tim Preston, Chris Jarrett
Masters Women: Julie Brown, Liza Tonkin
Senior Men: Nick Burns, Brandon McHaffie, Ash Gilbert
Senior Women: Sarah Blair, Kate Fox, Kayla Brocks
Junior Boys: Tom Marshall, Ryan Ko, Chris Hebberd
Junior Girls: Petra Curd-McCullough, Moriya Karati, Tanisha Butt
Manager: Jess Wilson
Congratulations to those selected, and good luck for the tournament this weekend!
The end of May saw the anticipated return of the Canterbury Junior Open after it was unfortunately cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19. 60 of the up and coming junior players from all around the District participated in a great few days of squash at the Christchurch Football Squash Club, which is an increase from 48 players in 2019. 20 of the players at the Junior Open were J graders, so it goes to show the great work that clubs and Squash Canterbury are doing to bring new players into the sport, and we look forward to seeing those players progress through the grades. A big thank you again to Kirsty Whiteside, Aaron Warner and their club for hosting a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. These events don’t happen without the clubs, and we really appreciate everything that you do to facilitate these tournaments – especially when there are trying weather conditions on finals day!
Boys Open
Winner: Paul Moran - Marlborough Squash Rackets Club
Runner Up: Ryan Ko - Burnside Squash Club
Third: Chris Hebberd - Marlborough Squash Rackets Club
Girls Open
Winner: Leonie Marshall - Marlborough Squash Rackets Club
Runner Up: Anastasia Lim - Rangiora Squash Club
Third: Moriya Karati - Hoon Hay Squash Club
Boys Div 1
Winner: Tyrell Eden - Christchurch Football Squash Club
Runner Up: Harry O’Loughlin - Christchurch Football Squash Club
Third: Max Benge - Marlborough College Old Boys’ Squash Club
Girls Div 1
Winner: Jasmine McCoy - Christchurch Squash Club
Runner Up: Sofia Strange - Christchurch Squash Club
Third: Arihia O’Driscoll - Christchurch Football Squash Club
Boys Div 2
Winner: Ethan Forsyth - Marlborough College Old Boys’ Squash Club
Runner Up: Jude Lim - Rangiora Squash Club
Third: Ryan Chisholm - Marlborough College Old Boys’ Squash Club
Boys Div 3
Winner: Paddy Gould - Christchurch Football Squash Club
Runner Up: Fabian Cron - Christchurch Squash Club
Third: Sean Gillman - Burnside Squash Club
Squash Canterbury is delighted to welcome Ryan Frampton to the team as Participation Activator for Greater Christchurch, after Di McCoy finished her time with us at the end of last week.Ryan played squash throughout his time at Christchurch Boys' High School, and also played Interclub for his home club, Malvern Squash Club.
After completing a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation Management at Lincoln University, Ryan has come back to the sport and is excited to work with different ages and groups to provide them with positive squash experiences. He can be contacted at juniordev@squashcanterbury.co.nz
We are also lucky to have the services of Julie Brown as Participation Activator for Marlborough, who started in the role in April. Julie has already started engaging with schools in Blenheim to provide them with squash opportunities, and is also getting a junior after school programme and Junior U900 series up and running.
The Squash season is nearly back and for all the restless souls out there the OXFORD CLUB is hosting their OPEN in February this year. The club has undergone many repairs since the earthquakes and is now looking in tip-top shape and is hosting this open with the hope of making their club look even better.
Oxford is a welcoming and tidy 2 court complex 30min outside of Christchurch that includes fascinating views of the Canterbury plains along the way and has the famous Sheffield pie shop just around the corner (I've been told these pies are to die for) as a great food stop.
The Oxford Open will be a great tournament for everyone and if you want to sign up then go to https://www.squash.org.nz
Here's another new initiative coming out of Squash Canterbury - the WOMENS R18 D GRADE & BELOW SERIES. Its a great opportunity for women who wants to take up squash or get playing more, to play a tournament where everyone will be of similar ability.
This is the first of 4 tournaments in the series taking place at FOOTBALL CLUB and run by Kirsty Whiteside who is a D1 herself.
To sign up go to Squash NZ - https://www.squash.org.nz
