SLIDE 1
Evening All, I’d like to start by welcoming everyone to this evening’s presentation night to celebrate the end of what has been a positive season on many fronts. I’d like to start with a quick thanks to Alex Rook who has taken the bull by the horns in organising tonight. Since taking over as Chairman last August the committee has worked really hard to move things in a positive direction. It’s been good to build some relationships with many clubs and people that I haven’t been involved with before. Lincolnshire is a huge county but its been great to see clubs develop events independently but also support each other (and the county) in trying to deliver as many positive events / experiences as possible. We’ve seen some fantastic performances around the county this year and some of the highlights in team squash include Grantham finishing 3rd in the National Club Championship, Eastgate 1 finishing 2nd in the Notts Premier and more local to that Eastgate G made it 3 league / cup doubles in the Lincoln weekend
- league. In the midweek league Horncastle retained their title in the last match of a compelling season and
won the league on points difference!! In other leagues Meg C are promoted as champions whilst also getting to the cup final losing a hard fought 3-2 against the premier league champions. Individually we’ve seen some fantastic achievements, Katie Wells finished Runner up in the English Open whilst Ben Smith went one better and won the entire event. Both have achieved No.1 rankings in their respective age categories (in the country) which is a fantastic achievement and a really positive benchmark for other juniors to aspire too, I know them both and whilst talent plays a part their dedication and hard-work to improving is a huge contributing factor to their success. Ben especially seems to be adding tournament victories as fast as he eats a post-match McDonalds! Harry Falconer has also made great strides this season and his run to the Semi-Final of the Israel Open was a great highlight, whilst Adam Auckland cemented his place at the top of the Lincolnshire squash tree with a massive return to form and fitness. 3-2 defeats to Marwen El Shorbagy and Daryl Selby were
- bvious highlights and show that on his day he is a match for the best in the world!
In the last 10 months the committee have focused largely on developing & delivering junior events. Martin Gibson and Nigel Jubbs have supported and worked hard with the committee to deliver the Squad days for selection of our inter-county teams. We’ve also seen a return of the Grand Prix series for juniors which Lincolnshire Squash have sponsored alongside Onyx Trophies. As I type this we had 40+ entries in event 1 and 50+ entries in event 2, a big thanks to all the host clubs for stepping forward on this. As a committee we’re driven to push Lincolnshire Squash forward but it’s a bigger job than I ever thought, please encourage / challenge your clubs to be involved in the committee (even if it’s just as a club rep), those that attend will no doubt have a better understanding and a bigger say in the direction / future we take Squash in Lincolnshire. If you’re interested in been a part of this then have a chat with me tonight…. It’s never too late to jump on board! The committee is made up volunteers and without them many of these positive things just don’t happen. My final thanks tonight is to the committee for their support, commitment, dedication in the last 10 months in delivering many of the positives, but primarily for jumping in feet first and getting on board with some of the big ideas / plans that we have for 2018/19! Have a great Evening Chris