The first session of the Marsa Sports Club junior squash coaching came to a close on Sunday with the end of session junior team tournament.
The junior coaching, organised for the Marsa Sports Club by Academy coach Paul Lake, has seen a record number of juniors taking part in regular organised coaching sessions.
The juniors, aged 5 – 16, all take part in a special Academy awards scheme, developed by Lake, which covers all aspects of squash.
This award scheme starts with the basics of agility, balance and control at level 1 and moves through to tournament play and refereeing at level 5.
In the first 8 week session 21 from 23 juniors passed the level 1 award which covers the ABCs of sport, these being agility, balance and coordination. 7 juniors went on to pass the level 2 award which covers ABCs incorporating racket skills. 4 juniors passed the level 3 award. Level 3 is the first level that involves squash specific skills. This third award allows the juniors to move on to match play, ensuring that they have the necessary basics and fundamentals in place first.
The end of session junior team tournament was a huge success. 21 from 23 juniors turned up at the Marsa Sports Club for 3 hours of tournament fun and games.
The tournament involved all aspects of the skills taught in the previous weeks, and was related to the individual’s ability with the emphasis on playing, enjoyment, and competing together as a team.
Three of the advanced juniors were designated as team captains and were responsible for the coordination of their team and recording the correct results. Considering that 2 of these captains were aged under 12 goes to show the advances that these juniors have made over the past 3 months.
After 2,5 hours of close fought competition, and in front of a packed crowd, the result was down to the very final point! Ryan Rizzo, one of the team captains managed to squeeze home against Colette Sultana, captain of another team, and win the first junior squash team tournament for his team.
Thanks go to Charles, Roberta, Sue and Carol without whom the junior sessions and junior tournament would not have been possible.
The next session starts on Sunday 7th January. With the majority of the juniors already talking about practicing and improving their skills with a view to passing level 3, the next junior team tournament should be extremely interesting.
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