Saw some great youngsters in action at the week-end.
Those that stood out for me were the 2 U15 finalists who had a 9-7 in the 5th
Robert Downer just edged it over David Wardle. Great match.
Also Wesley Howell and young Joell Brickhall are 2 littlelies to look out for.
Most improved player over the last year...how about Nathan Lake of GLos ????
I posted the first message. I'm happy to look north, who do you mean ? I was just commenting on what i saw at the weekend. Nathan has gone from nowhere to almost beat Robert Downer....50 something standard to top 15 standard who else has done that? there may well be many players who have done this in teh last year .....why not name them and we can discuss, after all this is supposed to be a forum !!
Yes he does seem to have mattured in his game...but what about the Ben Jones!! Hes shot rite to the top with an amazing display of skill and courage at the dutch and also more recently at the manchester leisure. Seems comfortable under pressure, a talent to look out for.
He's probably beaten you thats for sure. He won the manchester leisure, made the final of the english open and won the plate at the dutch due to a bad draw. and no im not from manchester.
Second in english open was a good result for him, with wins over alex bowden and charles sharpes, in the dutch he won the plate, which isnt a bad result? Hes had some good wins and results over good standard players, although yes his overall tournament results are rather poor!
ben jones lost in the first round at the dutch to a guy who then lost in the 2nd round!! ye ben is good!! but he does have some shockers and he does play awesome!!! hes a lottery!! he needs to get a bit more consistent
your rather stupid if you think he nearly beat me it was 3-1 but i only dropped a game beacause i wanted a work out for the final get your cards right buddy.
3-1 is quite a close game!Nathan has really improved, and is deceptively quick around the court.Robert Downer is just scared of him! I reckon Nathans got him next time.
Obviously at 17 Widdi is still a junior and he has improved loads over the last year or so. 18 months ago Widdi was outside the top 20 but by the end of his time in the U17's he was right up there challenging the top few in the country like at his last grand prix when he lost narrowly in the semis to ingham!
Nathan is one of a large number of really improved players coming not just from 1 county but from 1 club...Old Pats where they are all coached by 1 of the unsung heroes Gary Powell.
As well as Nathan and Mark Broekman in the U15's 4 of the top 10 ranked players in the U13 boys are form the same club with the same coach...he must be doing something right !
Any other clubs match that ???
I assume you put that post together either because you have no knowledge of the game or you are from another planet.
Inter County Results 2005/6
Boys U13 4th Place
Girls U13 runner Up
Boys U15 3rd Place
Boys U17 Winner
Girls U17 Winner
Boys U19 3rd
Girls U19 Winner.
As a county we do not have to compete against the whole of the south of England and Wales just the various counties and please tell me of another single county that can match those results. I will also concede Yorkshire is a big county but we also have a lot of National Parks and sheep.
Ian G Cordell
Yorkshire Boys.
Well Said Ian!! Glos have no chance of getting anywhere...their best prospects the boys under 13's were soundly beaten by Essex in the final last year and i cant see any of their other ages challenging anybody. Somebody needs a re-think....
last year glos boys only lost to essex cause they changed thier order around completeleyi mean ollie horton no1 with niall engrerer at 2 and richie fallows at no 5 would have beaten there no 3
Matt the reason why we beat u was because we were the best last year i dont care if i could beat the no 3 i beat u fair and square
tom beat ollie fair and square and nial+youssif won there games fair and square so u cant say any thing ok
You are right in some respects, Yorkshire and Notts have been the top county for a long time, but this is only because the lack of recognition the south gets as a whole by England Squash. even though you are still topping the age groups at the moment, i wouldn't be suprised if in the next 5-10 years it will start coming down south a bit more. Case in point - Devon U19's last year should have won county title had it not been for select individuals choking at various points.
Yorkshires dominance is not 'waning' by any standards, its just that the south is starting to poke its head up and making its self known a bit more with Tom Ford, Ben Rodgers, Sharpes, Waller big and little etc.
Another club which has been rather well represented lately is kenilworth with steve townsend coaching them.
You've got Brian and Alice Harvey
James Prendeville
Luke Dalton
Grace Talbot
Chloe Pearson
Guy Pearson
Alex Dakin
George Marley
Ali Marley
Sarah-Jane Perry
Tom Perry
with a few from recent years
chris hall
leonie holt
emma beddoes
Nottingham has loads of top ranked players, and also some that come under Wales and Irish rankings! They have 14 ranked players from 1 club. Probably Pontefract have loads as well! You still have alot of catching up to do but good luck to the juniors who are working hard to do so.
are any of them top 5 in england tho at glos? at st georges there is Tom Richards- brittish open u13 and u15 finalist!! lost to ramy!! now 65 in the world and moving up!! joe lee, alex ingham, james simpson, nick hopcroft!! charles sharpes and harry beaston all get coached by danny lee!!! there is also Harriet Ingham, Georgie Ingham and Madeline Peddy in the girls!! and plus we have ross norman and steve meads coaching!! all are awesome coaches and one of the top in the country!!
Mr Cordell....Do you feel a little threatened that as the Yorks Boys manager your girls are doing better than your boys ??....based on the info you give.
Glos will win more boys inter-counties than Yorks this year.
The girls always do better than the Boys I think I am right (Terry Dudley would need to confirm) but the Girls have won the u19 something like 7/8 times in the last ten years.So no it doesnt worry me in the slightest.I just try to get the best from the resources we have.Your observation however is interesting as I never realised Glos was such a big powerbase.Which age groups will you be winning?
Are you sure with the Under 13s? 4 of your top 6 Nationally ranked players are too old for Inter Counties. Notts look strong as do Lancashire and I suppose our lot will be around somewhere. Good Luck.
Considering that Notts will be playing,
Oliver Holland, Adam Auckland, and Declan James in that order who are all top 15, Oliver has just won British Closed, and all 3 are virtually unbeaten in U15 age group, I find it hard to see how any other county will compete with the top 3. Thats without the 4 and 5 possibly winning! Bring it on Gloucester....didn't Oli just thrash Tom Ford to a few points in the Closed finals? and he's your best shot!
Nathan Lake is nowhere near the quality of Oliver Holland, I doubt he would even get many points at all. When you wake up from that dream join the real squash world and put your feet back on the floor either that or dream on!
Nathan may not be relatively as good as Ollie but he is 2 years older and so stronger.
Look at the scores v Tom Ford. Nathan beats Tom just as easily as Ollie. I think if they played now it would be very close.
If they play in a few years time no doubt by then Ollie will be the better player.
Ollie wouldent have a hope in a million years against downer because hes not as developed physically and technically and until ollie can hit nicks like downer im afraid its going to be a very long wait before ollie beats downer!
errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr no!!! ollie would chop downle like a butcher! all this rubbish about nicks! if u hadnt noticed downer were moving up into the higher age groups where nicks become less important. its more about the all round game which ollie has but downer dusnt!
The argument is not whether Ollie Holland has more class than Nathan Lake ( he has, no doubt ) but who would win now. Would a good and improving U15 young man beat an outstanding U13 ?
I've watched them both and my money is on Nathan and Glos have the most depth at U15 level
Not for boys but for girls oxfordshire has good strength in depth with chloe marshall, julie peachey, katie quarterman, beth john, amanda edwards, and holly cox.
Some may not be known but used to play lots of tournments. strong county i think
I agree !!! Oxon are really strong at U19 girls level. Beth John has really improved recently and Julie, Katie and Chloe are all classy players. Julie is only ranked so low as she has hardly played any tournaments and the other 3 are all top ranked. Holly is no mug either.
finally the question is answered !! Nathan lake v Ollie Holland 3-2 !!
as someone said earlier no doubt Ollie will be a better player in the long run but an outstanding U13 should not beat a very good U15 year old. the 2 year age gap at that age is massive.