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Juniors Norcal News Schools

Letter home from Bransten Ming:

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As Bransten highlights a few things that he learned so far from playing college ball: The biggest difference between playing junior squash, and college squash is the mentality. Unlike juniors, where you’ll get an easy match here and there, college squash is a much more intensified version of junior squash. Literally every person is a strong player, everyone can hit the ball well and everyone is fit. It really just boils down to how mentally tough you are, and how confident you’re feeling on any given day. As for playing on a team, it is so much fun. It’s intense, passionate, vigorous, you name it. It’s such a great feeling playing for not only yourself, but your teammates as well. Entering college squash is so refreshing because it brings an incredible team aspect into the sport, something that us west coasters don’t know a whole lot about. Without a doubt, the team is the best part of my college experience. We are all very close. We eat together, live together, and go out together. Another great aspect of college squash is the diversity. Just my team alone represents over 10 countries, including: US, Egypt, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Sweden, Guayana, Columbia, India, Ireland, and Canada. Playing all the other schools is great because you get to play people from all around the world. The Drexel team is lead by head coach and ex world number 1, John White. He’s an outstanding tactical coach, and one of the best hitting partners one could ask for. He is assisted by Kelsey Engman, who also is a great coach/mentor. Together, they are always there for the team no matter the circumstances. I am so grateful to call them my coaches. We are currently ranked number 9 in the nation. Looking forward, we are looking to break the top 8 soon so we can make it into the division A nationals. You can follow our results on collegesquashassociation.com and our instagram page @drexelsquash. Jay Kim Norcal Squash Association “Keep it straight”

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Juniors Norcal News

NorCal Juniors Shine at Mid-Atlantic JCT

NorCal Juniors Shine at Mid-Atlantic JCT

Twenty NorCal juniors participated in the last Junior Championship Tour (JCT) of the 2015-2016 squash season this past weekend (February 6-8) at the Meadow Mills Athletic Club in Baltimore, Maryland. Following on the heels of a heavy snowstorm that shuttered much of the East Coast, Baltimore was able to clear the streets in time to host the Mid-Atlantic JCT, and there were only a few patches of snow remaining by the time the West Coast players arrived for their matches on Friday morning.

The JCTs are the nation’s most prestigious national junior squash tournaments, as they attract the top players from around the country, and our juniors had some great results:

A record 5 boys from the Bay Area competed in the Boys U11 division. Dhruv Nemani, Zane Patel, Nikhil Kanchi, Varun Fuloria, and Mero Elmarassy each won at least one round in the Main Draw or the Consolation. Mero had an especially strong tournament, advancing to the finals of the Consolation where he lost in an extremely close match (9th place).

In the Boys U13 Division, the Bay Area boys did serious damage in the Consolation draws, with Mukunth Gopalakrishnan reaching the semis, and Zain Ahmed losing in the Consol finals (10th place) to Varum Chiturri, who won the Consolation (9th place). Shivin Kumar pressed hard and did well, winning the Plate.

Congratulations to Udai Pal for reaching the finals of the Main Draw in the Boys U15 division! Udai upset the #2 and #3 seeds to get to the finals, an impressive performance.

Aditya Kankariya played well in the Boys U17 division but ran into stiff competition early on. He narrowly lost a marathon 5 game match to end his attack in the Main Draw.

Two players finished in the top 10 of the Boys U19 division. Gabriel Morgan reached the quarterfinals of the Main Draw before losing to the #1 seed, and finished in 7th place, while Cole Becker won the Consolation and finished in 9th place.

In the Girls U11 division, Kristen Daniel had a great tournament, winning her first round in the Main Draw and later advancing to the finals of the Consolation, where she lost in a very close match (9th place).

In the Girls U13 division, Claudia Adam had a tough draw facing the #4 seed in the first round of the Main Draw, and Riddhi Joshi won one round before seeing her run end in the Consolation.

In the Girls U15 division, Esha Lakhotia, Serena Daniel, and Avni Anand all won their first rounds in the Main Draw, and Avni went on to the finals of the Consolation where she lost to the #3 seed in the division (10th place).

In the Girls U17 division, Aarushi Lakhotia drew a tough first round opponent who went on to win the Classic Plate, but Aarushi played well and went on to win a round in the very competitive Consolation draw.

Former SF Bay Club Head Pro Kim Clearkin, who now handles all the JCTs for US Squash, did a terrific job keeping the matches running smoothly. Bay Area families enjoyed reconnecting with Kim, whose efforts to grow junior squash while she was in the Bay Area can still be seen by the great turnout from the West Coast.

One of the advantages of the Baltimore tournament is that it all takes place at one venue, making it easier for families and coaches to stay together and get to matches on time. It also provides a great opportunity for younger players to watch the older players, and for all the Bay Area kids to support and cheer for each other in a heavily East Coast-dominated competition. Congratulations to all participants!

The junior squash season of 2015-2016 culminates March 11-13 with the US (Closed) Nationals, which will take place at Harvard University.

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Blog Juniors

2015 Silver Tourney at Bay Club Cupertino

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2015 SIlver Tourney at Bay Club Cupertino, Maha’s gang !! They are adorable.

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Juniors Schools

NorCal Squash High School Championships

Nuev School Team with Jon Perry, Gareth Webber and Kim Clearkin
Nueva School Team with Jon Perry, Gareth Webber and Kim Clearkin

Report Courtesy of Kim Clearkin, Bay Club San Francisco Squash Director

This past weekend, March 27-29, the inaugural NorCal High School Team Championships took place at Bay Club Santa Clara in Northern California. Twelve school teams participated in an action-packed weekend of squash, culminating in a closely fought final between teams from Los Gatos Squash Club and a Mission Valley Team. Mission Valley HS won 4-3.

It has been a long road to put together a school based event in Northern California. No school in NorCal has their own squash courts and so school teams rely on private clubs to support their school program initiatives. Eight of the teams were comprised of players from one school, four teams were club-based.

Nueva School was the standout pure High School Team and received an award for best high school team comprising players all from their school. Nueva is the only School in Northern California to incorporate squash into their school program. The idea to start a squash program was batted around for a few years, but only really took shape when a local squash director (Kim Clearkin) stepped in and gave a presentations to the school. The school’s squash players were excited to reap the rewards today as they finished as the best team fielding players from just one school.

“To develop from a group of mostly just curious beginners—some of whom had never seen a squash court before—to a successful squash team in just two years has been an interesting and rewarding experience,”
Juliette Love, Nueva team captain and occasional assistant coach, said.
 “Last year, we created both a middle school and high school squash team at the Nueva School. After two seasons, I think I can say that squash has been fully integrated into the sports scene at Nueva,” explained Love.

The Mission Valley team, which included some players from Mission Valley High School in Fremont, is excited because their school is not normally associated with sporting success.

Their players are hoping that this championship will breed a full high school team next season. Seniors Palak and Purvi Goel, who will both attend Brown University next year, are proud that they can leave the school knowing that the success of this weekend will mean that a squash club is now viable at their school.

Next season, NorCal squash hopes to grow the school’s program and create a fully sanctioned high school league, hoping to that will send school teams to the High School Squash Team Championships. This is a very real possibility if the participation and enthusiasm of this weekend can be fully harnessed.

“Creating a successful team also takes the support and involvement of players with experience. While some high-level players may think it’s a waste of their time to play squash with a group of novices, they’re missing the big picture,” Love continued. “By working to start a school team, experienced players can share their expertise and love of the game with those just beginning, and create something worthwhile.”

Thank you to the Bay Club Squash Directors, Jon Perry and Gareth Webber for helping to organize this event and to NorCal Squash for sponsoring.

NorCal Squash looks forward to building on this success and making 2015 even better.

Categories
Juniors

Junior Silver tournament

We have a Junior Silver which will take the courts from Friday, March 20th at 5, all day Saturday and Sunday until about 4.