Junior Squash: Gloucestershire players compete in U11 Championships
By Sophie Lane, Head Squash Coach
Two Under 11’s Gloucestershire girls teams travelled to Grantham and one boys Gloucestershire team made their way to Nottingham on Saturday 18th April 2014 to take part in the National Finals of the England Squash Inter-County Championships.
Each team first played in a group box and then play-offs were held to determine the overall finishing positions.
The Girls Under 11 Gloucestershire A team, Bhuvana Senthil Kumar (9), Hannah Rowley (9) Poppy Lane (10) started extremely well. Once the nerves had left the girls they settled down and won their group box and moved into the semi-finals. The team fought hard but the Yorkshire Girls were too strong for them and Glos A Team found themselves playing for the Bronze position. This didn’t dampen their enthusiasm and they finished with a fantastic match and beat Warwickshire 2-1 to gain a well-deserved 3rd Place.
A very young Gloucestershire B Team (pictured right) comprising Jess Johnson (10) Daisy Hartson (9) Izzy Johnson (8) took every team on with vengeance and had some brilliant games. The girls worked very hard and played some amazing squash beating the Derby A Team, which meant after a very long day the girls finished a very respectable 12th place overall.
Billy Bedwell (10), Harry Bloomfield (8) – both East Glos members – Kian Bloomfield (9) represented Gloucestershire Boys Under 11 team who had a very long hard day in front of them with 29 teams all hoping for that gold medal.
The young Gloucestershire team encouraged each other through some very competitive matches against Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Essex, Buckinghamshire, Cumbria and Durham & Cleveland. The boys worked hard all day against some very tough opponents,. They held their composure and with some outstanding squash they finished fifth place overall.