Author: Joel

The Club will be closing down for the Christmas holidays slightly earlier than normal this year on Friday 14th December due to essential maintenance work which is being carried out on our courts. This work has been commissioned and coordinated by Lilleshall National Sports Centre.

The maintenance work will start from midday on Friday 14th December and will involve all five of our courts undergoing various fixes to the floors and walls. The work is due to be completed before the Club reopens again in the New Year on Wednesday 2nd January 2019. Members will therefore be unable to book courts through the Centre during this time period.

The following Club activities will be affected by the maintenance work:

• Junior and Adult coaching sessions on Saturday 15th December 2018.
  • The coaching sessions will start again from Saturday 5th January 2019 at the usual times.
• Club nights on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th December 2018.
  • The first Club night of the New Year will take place on Wednesday 2nd January.
• Our B Team’s (home) squash match against Shrewsbury SRC ‘F’ on Thursday 20th December 2018.
  • This match will be rescheduled and Martin Powell, our B Team Captain, will inform his squad of any developments.
• The various tournament finals which were due to be played on Wednesday 19th December 2018.
  • These finals will be rescheduled for the New Year and competitors will be notified about new dates by our Chairman, Paul Evans.

The Club would like to pass on their sincerest apologies to our members for any inconvenience this news has caused, particularly to the members who were planning on playing either squash or racketball with us next week, but the news of this maintenance work and early closure only came through to the Committee yesterday from the Centre’s management team.

We’d like to thank all our members for another fantastic year of support and the Committee would like to pass on our wishes to everyone for the festive season ahead.

Merry Christmas and we hope to see you all in the New Year, when the Club will be celebrating its landmark 50th Anniversary – a huge milestone that we plan to celebrate in style during the summer.

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The final Thursday night ‘Pitch and Play’ squash session will take place in its current format on 1st November 2018.

After this time, the session will be moving over to Wednesday nights at 7.30pm, starting from 7th November 2018 onwards.

This will ensure regular ‘Pitch and Play’ participants have access to our glass back squash courts at all times throughout the year, allowing for a more sociable atmosphere, and the session won’t clash directly with our B team’s county league home matches, which take place on Thursday nights and previously meant ‘Pitch and Play’ participants were moved down on to the ‘Corridor Courts’.

The club’s court booking sheets will be updated accordingly by LSRC committee members to reflect this change.

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Lilleshall Squash and Racketball Club are launching a new coaching initiative next month to provide local juniors and adults of all ages and abilities with the opportunity to learn how to play the sport.

The club, who are based within Queen’s Hall at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre, near Newport in Telford, have partnered with Courtney Downing, a Level 4 Professional Coach, who has represented the England over 40s international team during recent years.

Downing, a ten-time Shropshire county squash champion, who has been involved in the sport since he was 8 years-old, will be providing three expert coaching sessions to a range of different age groups on Saturday afternoons starting on 3rd November 2018.

“The idea of these coaching sessions is to give people, who may not have tried the sport before, an introduction to the game and the opportunity to try it out for themselves,” said Downing.

“We’re encouraging people of all ages and abilities to take part in a great sport that is excellent for fitness and can be played all year round.”

The club will be offering all junior players (aged 17 years old and under) their first coaching session completely free-of-charge, with the fee then reverting to a standard price of £3 per child per session, or £5 for two children attending together. Adult coaching will cost up to a maximum of £25.00 for a one-on-one 45 minute session. This price is variable and can work out cheaper depending on the total amount of adults attending the session (i.e. splitting the costs).

The club, which was established nearly half-a-century ago in 1969, is hoping to build on the recent successes enjoyed by England’s international squash team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where former World #1 professional squash player James Willstrop, along with Midlands-based professional Sarah-Jayne Perry, secured Commonwealth Gold and Silver medals respectively in their final matches on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

Downing will be coaching three different sessions on Saturday afternoons including; Under 12s (14:15 – 15:00), 12-17 year olds (15:00 – 15:45) and Adults (15:45-16:30). Squash equipment, including rackets, balls and safety goggles, will be provided for all junior players.

Squash is a racket sport played by either two (singles) or four players (doubles squash) in a four-walled indoor court with a small, hollow rubber ball. The players must alternate in striking the ball with their racket against the front wall until a player cannot get it back any more.

Squash provides an excellent cardiovascular workout, allowing players to keep fit all year round. In one hour of squash, a player may expend between 600 to 1000 calories, while receiving an extensive upper and lower body workout. Played in 188 countries across the globe, squash has previously been rated by Forbes as the number one healthiest sport to play.

Racketball, which originated in America and is also known as ‘Squash 57’, is a similar game to squash but is a slower-paced game played with a larger racket and ball.

You can find out more about these coaching sessions by contacting the Club Chairman, Paul Evans on (01952) 812655 or visiting www.lilleshallsquash.co.uk/coaching/.

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Nick Matthew, England’s most successful professional squash player of all-time, will be visiting our county later this month to play in a series of fun-filled exhibition matches at the Shropshire Squash Club in Shrewsbury.

Matthew, a former three-time World, Commonwealth and British Open champion, will be in Shropshire on Saturday 15th September 2018, taking part in three sessions (11.00am – 1.00pm, 2.00pm – 4.00pm (Juniors only) and 5.00pm – 7.00pm) which are limited to 50 people per session.

The former World #1, who is nicknamed ‘The Wolf’ and recently retired from the professional game, will visit Shrewsbury as part of his ‘UK Tour #WolfOnTour’, which will see him visit 13 various squash clubs across the country.

Each session will last approx. two hours and comprise of several elements, including:

• Direct Q & A
• Playing & training tips and coaching
• Play the Pro session
• Full exhibition match
• Photo & signature opportunities

Tickets can be obtained directly from Shropshire Squash Club at a cost of £10 (per ticket) and there are limited amounts of tickets remaining for the early session (11.00am – 1.00pm).

Full details here.

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