Lichfield Squash Club News - August / September 2024

We hope you have made the most of the good Summer weather lately but have nonetheless continued to enjoy playing squash.

Despite Summer being a quieter time for the club, we have continued to deliver activities, grow membership and most importantly, plan for the future ...

Memberships and membership renewals

It has been pleasing to see membership continue to grow and we now have 140 players on our current members database. Welcome to those who have joined recently.

This is testament to the growing popularity of squash, as well as our work locally to promote the game, a trend that looks set to continue as the sport looks forward to its Olympic debut at the LA Games in 2028.

Membership at Lichfield runs from 1st October to 30th September for all and therefore we will be in touch soon about renewals. As last year, we will be offering a discount to members renewing within the first 2 months of the new membership year. For those members who joined part way through the year, we will also again offer a pro-rata rebate of your membership fee.

Look out for full details and instructions about renewing your membership in early September, and we hope that the vast majority of you will renew to continue playing and benefiting from our great sport.

____________________

England Squash New Membership Scheme

With effect from Monday 19th August, England Squash (ES) membership is changing to better connect clubs, coaches and players, and unite the squash community.

Under the old scheme, affiliated clubs used to pay for the ES memberships of club members. However, in our case, we could not afford to pay for ES membership of all players in addition to the Club affiliation fees, so only paid for ES membership of our team players to keep costs down. This cost was also recovered via our team match fee subs.

However, from August, player membership and club affiliation will be split, which means you will be able to pay for ES player membership directly from England Squash.

There are 5 membership categories to choose from, with a range of different benefits, including in some cases big discounts off things like SquashTV. Membership fees range from £10 up to £25 per year.

For more details about England Squash membership, please visit their website here: https://www.englandsquash.com/new-membership/the-new-scheme

____________________

Junior Coaching: Squash Stars and Junior Squash Academy

We concluded a highly successful Summer term of Junior Squash Academy just before the schools broke up. This group of children were an absolute pleasure to coach and we look forward to continuing their squash development in the Autumn Term, talking of which …

For primary school age children, we will once again be offering a Squash Stars programme, working in partnership with England Squash. This will start on Saturday 28th September and will offer 6 sessions for just £20. We are currently setting up the sessions, sorting the schedules and will provide details about how to book very soon.

For secondary school age children, we will continue with our Junior Squash Academy sessions on Saturday mornings, to immediately follow the Squash Stars sessions, therefore also starting on Saturday 28th September. The sessions will be available to book on MyCourts, as previously, with full details to follow soon.

__________________

Adult Coaching

For the adults, we have been pleased to offer our SQUASH START programme, suitable for beginners and improvers, and these sessions will resume in September. These are fully booked, but we hope to offer more such opportunities, including arranging an Open Evening this Autumn to attract new players. More details will be available soon.

____________________

Club Leagues

Congratulations to Adam Davies, who won the Premier Division in the July/August leagues, which concluded on 17th August. Congratulations to all those who gained promotion to the next divisions upward too.

The leagues continue to be popular, with some new and returning players having joined the new league round. Don’t forget that you can ‘challenge in’ to a division that you feel might suit your playing level – see the league rules for details.

The new leagues will run to 30th September and please try to spread your matches out evenly across the league period.

____________________

Team Squash News

The Three Spires felled the Four Oaks! A fantastic Summer team friendly took place on 27th June at Four Oaks Squash Club. It was a tight match, with us coming out on top by 4 matches to 3

Thanks to Nick Hill, who plays at both clubs, for his brilliant organisation and we look forward to the return match at ours in early/mid September.

In terms of Staffordshire Teams League, we did not enter a team into the Summer League this year, but instead joined forces with our neighbours at Burntwood to enter a joint team, under the name ‘Burntfield’! Results have been mixed, and well done to our players Mark, Danny, Andy and Richard who have regularly turned out for this hybrid team.

We are looking forward to the resumption of the main Staffordshire Winter League in October.

____________________

Club Annual General Meeting

Just a quick final note to advise that the Club will be holding its AGM sometime in early October. You are encouraged to attend the AGM to hear about the progress of the Club and have your say about its plans for the future. As soon as a date is set, we will be in touch with full details.

This brings you bang up to date with the news about the club and its upcoming activities. If you have any queries about any of the above or any other aspect of the Club, do get in touch.

Cheers

James Roberts

Club Chairman

Tel/WhatsApp: 07816 620504

Email: james@lichfieldsquashclub.co.uk