Redbridge Squash Tournament, Essex

Steve Mason, Paul Jordan, Nayera El-Refee, Nadine El-Refee, Tayla Mounter and Tiaki Loza entered the Redbridge tournament, with James Powley as the team coach. With the boy's matches starting early at about nine, it was an early start for all. It was Tiaki's first major tournament, and he was scheduled first to play (in the under 15's). He put in an outstanding performance, however his opponent got the better of him and won, which unfortunately put Tiaki in the plate of the under 15's. Then it was Steve Mason's and Paul Jordan's turn to play their first matches (in the under 17's), regrettably starting at more or less the same time. Both played very well but once again it was a disappointing end with both players suffering the same fate as Tiaki. Steve lost 0-3 (4-11, 8-11, 5-11), and Paul lost 1-3 (11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11). This meant the boys were all in the plate, but how would the girls fair in their first matches?

Nadine started it off for the girls and came up against a tough opponent, the game was very close and the two had met before, unfortunately this time her opponent clinched the game. Then it was Nayera's turn, and she too had a very tough opponent. I would like to say that one of the team won, but unfortunately it was a bad start for Hunts County with no wins in the first round. For the boys this meant that they were now in the plate, but for Nayera and Nadine it was a round robin competition as less girls entered the competition, so they still had a chance of winning the main event.

The next matches for the boys would start at around 3 o'clock, later for Steve and Paul. This meant long wait for them. However Nadine and Nayera had more matches to play before then. Both girls played extremely well and Nadine…… Nayera had two more matches to play, and won the first 3-0, but regrettably lost her final match against a tough competitor who won the main event.

Although squash was constantly taking place with some of the most talented youngsters, the team found themselves with little to do, and so with some great initiative, we found a table tennis table and bats, and then bought a ball for 35p. We then played some memorable matches of table tennis in between watching some great squash of course!  It might even be said we played more table tennis then squash.

Then it was back to the boys with their next games. Once again Tiaki kicked off with his match, and unfortunately lost after a hard fought match, which put him out of the competition. Steve started his match next, but only a few minutes before Paul's next game, which was lucky as no more than a few hits of the ball later, Steve had broken the strings on his racket that he had only bought 2 days ago. As he had broken the strings on his other racket a few days before, he was left without a racket, and so borrowed Paul's spare. Steve was the victor though, and manage to win 3-1 (11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5). Paul had already started his game, where he played well, but lost it 0-3 (2-11, 3-11, 8-11), which put him out of the competition. Shortly after it was Steve's next game, and he was put out by the same opponent 1-3 (2-11, 11-4, 9-11, 7-11).

That meant that the team were all out in this competition and it was time to head back home, but the journey home also had it's mishaps when Tiaki opened the car window to throw out his apple core, little did he know that the suction pads of James's sun screen for his baby were still on the window, and they got stuck causing the window to remain down. This meant that a coat had to be held to stop the cold air from getting into the car, and James had to call the RAC to his house. It was a funny end to a fun day.