After a while out in the cold with no-where to pen down my thoughts after attending a squash event, I’m made up to be back with a one-off guest blog here on 305. If you have read my stuff before on Dodgy Knees and Dirty Balls and are hoping the time out has helped me hone my match analysis or form a more in-depth rigor in my approach to the write-up, I’m afraid you may be disappointed! I’m back with the same amateur but (hopefully) vaguely humorous take on the goings-on in the squash world.

Bringing the community to squash
Over the week, ESR worked really hard to get 2,000 local school kids at the centre, watching the squash, having a go and basically enjoying the atmosphere. I have to say, I enjoyed the enthusiasm they brought to the event!

Armed with their clackers, they cheered, clapped and stomped with gusto and excitement watching the matches, even approaching the players after games to get autographs on their handmade, glitter-glued and felt-tip designed banners.

They fidgeted waiting in line to have a go on the mini squash wall, anxious to beat their teacher and whispering jokes about how rubbish Miss was.They giggled in groups pointing at which players they thought were cute and rushed away from their classmates to watch the match with the dishy-er players.

All in all, they had tonnes of fun.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know not all are going to rush home and pester their parents to let them play squash. But if just 1% of those children want to give it a go after Nationals week, that’s surely a start!

Best Dressed
Not a usual area of discussion post squash tourney I know, but if the players are making such an effort to look stylish on court, as a budding fashionista (I wish), how could I pass up this opportunity to talk about fabulousness.

Women – Obviously I can’t vote for myself and my Batman jumper, which allowed me to photobomb almost every picture at the quarter-finals (go look for me). So there’s only one stand out for me in the women’s category and it has to be Jenny Duncalf with her yellow, grey and white ensemble. Whilst all the women looked fab, Jenny’s always brave enough to experiment with bright colours for her outfits a la Katy Perry but pulls it off better than the bubblegum princess herself. Her bold outfit choices are a win in my book and gives her the title, best dressed woman at this year’s Nationals.

Men – This was a toss-up between two players; Daryl Selby for his outfit in the first round and James Willstrop for his outfit in the quarters. Daryl’s outfit is undoubtedly stylish, modern and co-ordinated. However Willstrop has taken co-ordination to the max. With a matching white and orange t-shirt and shorts, he wore orange shoes, a white bandana and EVEN went so far as to grip his racket in orange. Top marks for effort and yes I’ve decided James Has to be the winner for sheer co-ordination attempts.

On a sidenote, I’m loving the bolshiness of Chris Simpson stepping onto court with the most colour co-ordinated player wearing a blue t-shirt, red and black shorts, black trainers and a white headband. Go Chris, you rock your individuality!

Stand-Out Performance
Well, there were some pretty epic battles out there this year which make it difficult to choose. First on the shortlist was Emma Beddoes for her performance against Laura Massaro in the quarters.

Yes, I know she didn’t win. However, her game seriously has jumped a notch since last year and the way she played against Laura, with her dogged determination and improved quality in shot meant that she pushed the number one seed – and hard. She definitely hurt her, with their 66 minute four-setter. Despite picking up an injury which appeared to slightly put her off in the third game, she made Laura work for her win in the fourth. The reason I have Emma on the shortlist is that her performance in this match breaks through the ceiling she was once hitting, and means she is becoming dangerous to the very top players. (On a side note, four days later in PSL, Emma beat Laura 3-2).

Second on the list was both Alison Waters and Laura Massaro in the final. The women’s final was awesome. Immense. Tight and brutal. But because it was so tight, picking a performance winner from the two is so difficult. However, it must be done and without wanting to do an injustice to Laura, I’m going to have to pick Alison. Not just because of the final result, but what it meant for her to be there. Alison has had to come back and fight for her place back at the top over two gruelling years. The fact that she got to the final last year and fell at the hands of Laura meant that this year, she was looking for revenge. Both girls clearly threw everything they had into this year’s final, which lasted 78 minutes and ended 13-11 in the fifth. Alison was the one who pipped it and all her hard work was finally worth it.

So with those two matches on my shortlist, I think Alison Waters deserves my standout performance of the tournament. She dedicated her trophy to Harry Faulkner, the promising young junior who suddenly passed away only a week before. Classy, hard-working and humble; Alison well done!

Happy Birthday 305!

I couldn’t do a guest blog on the 305 website without mentioning that it was their birthday at the Nationals – happy birthday 305! As a celebration, there were a shedload of 305 anniversary t-shirts knocking about the tournament. From juniors to top pros, to club players or general fans, they were everywhere.

The unfortunate passing of the well-loved rising star Harry Faulkner was heavy in everyone’s minds over the Nationals week and as a memorial to him, all Nationals anniversary t-shirts carried a print of ‘RIP Harry Faulkner’ on the back.

I haven’t covered even half of what I wanted to in this article, but seeing as its hitting nearly 1,500 words I’m sure you’re losing the will to continue reading now! I’ll leave it there; I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Until next time!

Tinks xo

Thanks to Steve Cubbins & Squashsite for the pictures.