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KENT SQUASH & RACKETBALL
ASSOCIATION
SQUASH FOUNDED 1932
RACKETBALL ADDED 2002
ANNUAL REPORT
2002-2003
COMMUNICATION
Clubs and Individuals complain that posters, Entry Forms and reports are not
received or are not placed on notice boards.
This lack of communication results in poor and late entries for our Closed
Championships. All clubs have been circulated with a request to submit the
name and address of a contact person but, sadly, few replied! I have
compiled a list of known individuals who are officers or team captains and
it is to these persons, rather than to the actual clubs, that mail is to be
circulated until further notice.
It is in the interest of all concerned that you keep the records up to date
so that ALL mail will be received by a responsible person. If documents are
addressed to the wrong person, please advise the office immediately so that
records can be updated.
MEMBERSHIP
It is very pleasing to report that Kent is the ONLY County in which EVERY
Club and Team has affiliated to England Squash & Racketball and to the Kent
Squash & Racketball Association under the revised format of Registration Fee
and £6 per Adult and £4 per Junior Squash/ Racketball member.
A total of £26,500 has been collected, £3,750 retained by the County and the
residue of some £22,750 passed to England Squash & Racketball. This payment
to the Governing Body is in excess of £10,000 more than in previous years.
Unfortunately there is no increase to the County as our own scheme of the
past three years required a minimum payment by individuals based on 30 per
court for clubs and 20 per court for teams without own facilities. In the
main, the Clubs estimated payments were on budget but many teams (without
their own courts) fell well short of 20 members so the income to Kent fell
from £750 to £500, from this source, and we lost CUACO, Sidcup, Price
Waterhouse, Brenchley and Dartford Finn Clubs. We had hoped for around
£4,500 to service all our clubs and county teams. As a result, the County
cannot pay fees to its leading players UNLESS there is specific sponsorship
forthcoming.
As a result of the revised membership scheme, as anticipated, it decimated
our own Kent SRA Individual Membership. We had just THREE individual members
join last year and NONE this year so now, probably, is the time to
discontinue individual membership of the County Association as Kent is
unique in having such membership. Naturally the nineteen whose ten years
membership concludes over the next two years will continue to receive the
limited benefits.
NAMES & ADDRESSES OF ALL
PLAYERS
These details are required by England Squash & Racketball in Manchester.
They are not retained by the County nor are they passed to a third party
UNLESS there is an Insurance claim by an individual. In spite of several
requests, a few clubs have failed to submit the names and addresses of their
members although they have paid the £6 and £4 fees!
The Governing Body constantly reviews the benefits to members and it is
considering posting, free of charge, copies of the Squash Player magazine to
ALL. Obviously, this is impossible if the name and address is not
forthcoming so please check that your club has submitted your name and
address to England Squash & Racketball , via the Kent SRA Office. All those
adults playing for Kent have their Individual Membership of £40 reduced to
£6 and Juniors from £20 to £4 so it is essential that these players are not
penalised because the club fails to comply with a simple request for names
and addresses !!
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Kent was well represented in the National Squash Championships in the new
National Squash Centre in Manchester. We achieved no less than five
finalists in the thirteen events. Colin Payne (Over 40), Candy Wilton (Over
35), Mandy Preuss (Over 40), Karen Hume (Over 45) and Becky Czuczman (Over
50) were the finalists but found the opposition too strong with the
exception of Becky who won her first National Championship. Well done!
JUNIOR SQUADS
Our thanks are extended to the following who organised our Junior County
teams:
Phil Harris (U19), Alan Stone (U17), Steve Garrett (U15), Ralph Shaw (U13),
Peter Morgan (U11) and Mary Scott-Miller (All girls).
Without the assistance given by parents, we could not field all of these
teams. In addition, Allam Soliman, Adham AbouTaleb, Rae Anderson, Paul
Johnson, Matthew Beattie and Steve Broadbridge have coached and trained our
young players.
The attendance of the boys' training sessions on a monthly basis, throughout
the winter, has been good with the average being twenty-six. The format is
under review and the likely changes for next autumn are to have 1000 until
noon on eight Sundays as feeder squads with two elite squads from noon until
1700 hours. The latter will be selected by the coaches and Paul and Adham
are visiting all clubs and schools with known junior sections to locate the
talented young players.
VALEDICTORY
At the Annual General Meeting, in July, we say farewell to some of our
Officers.
Barry Matthews is retiring after serving as our Chairman since 1991 and
before that as Secretary of the Welling Cup from 1984. He will be missed as
he has been very much the hands-on Chairman, helping with every day matters,
attending Meetings, County Championships, Inter-County Championships,
transporting teams and getting the junior boys finances in working order.
Even when he was very poorly, awaiting a transplant of his new heart, he was
more than active. Of course, outside of squash he has won gold, silver and
bronze medals at World, European and National Transplant Games. He assures
us that he will retain more than an academic interest in our Association.
Oliver Pollard is bowing out after no less than twenty-five years of loyal
support. His main contribution has been with the organisation of the
Inter-Club Championships but he has assisted with the Senior and Junior
County Closed Championships and Inter-County. We will miss his colour coded
documentation and "errror freee excelantt tipying"!
Peter Morgan, whose son Tom is rapidly moving from the junior ranks, feels
that he should step down from office as the Parental Representative for the
boys. Peter has undertaken this task since 1999 and over a difficult
transitional period, has been very supportive of the various changes. In
addition, he has assisted with the organisation of the South East Area
Inter-County event run by Graham Stevenson.
Alan Thatcher has been nominated as Chairman to take over from Barry and
Graham Moscrop (Secretary / Treasurer of the Priory League) to represent
North West Clubs in lieu Oliver.
Steve Hazzard has agreed to take on Peter's role as representative of the
parents of the boys.
Phil Harris is replaced by Martin Dunn as one of the Parent Captains with
Alan Stone, Steve Garrett and Ralph Shaw moving up age groups with Martin
Dunn taking on the U13s.
CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS
An encouraging sign, this year, was increased entries in the Championships
and young players entering the senior events.
Colin Payne equalled Paul Johnson's record of six wins in the Men's Squash
Championships and Keeley Johnson retained the Women's title. Mike Stead and
Jo Stabler are the County Racketball Champions. Other champions are as
follows:
Squash :
Men Over 35- Colin Payne
Men Over 45- Clive London
Men Over 55- Steve Sherren
Women Over 35/40 combined Candy Wilton
Boys U17- James McMeckan
Boys U15 - Steven London
Boys U13 - Robert Shaw
Boys U11- William Frankson
Girls U17 -Stephanie Shaw
Girls U15 - Natalie Coombs
Girls U13 - Jennifer Bryant
Racketball :
Men Over 35 - Ray Jennings
Men Over 45 - Dave Worrall
Men Over 55 - John Prowse
Women Over 35-Jane Frizoni
OUR OWN WEBSITE
We have a new and revised website being organised by Steve Cubbins so send
e-mails to kent@cubbins.com if
you have anything to record or via the County
Office.
We have TWO addresses:
www.kentsquash.co.uk and
www.kentsquashracketball.co.uk
INTER-COUNTY
Teams fared less well than in previous years with relegation for the Men's
Over 45s, and Boy's Under 13. However the Men Over 55 have returned to the
Premier Division, the Womenıs first team was placed third and the Women's
second team was runner-up - both women's finals were played in the new
National Squash Centre in Manchester.
Ian Wright
Honorary Secretary for the Management Committee.
March 2003
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