After a week of individual championships, our representatives have renewed their focus for the team event, writes junior performance coach David Noone. Always an exciting part of the year.
We have Ella Erickson joining Ella Walsh, Zoe Yeomans and Riley Slade in the girls. In the boys, we said farewell to Frank O’Flynn and Nathan Hann, and our four team players are Danny Lynch, Conal Jackson, Christian Dromgoole and Aaron Knox.
We did have a rest day on Saturday, which was great. It gave us a chance to visit the pyramids and the sphinx – a great day out with an ex-Egyptian marine called Bob as our tour guide. He gave the team some authentic Egyptian experiences, even a camel ride through the desert. Some amazing memories.
For the girls, their pool opponents are India, Brazil and Hong Kong China. India were first up and their No.1 player is Anahat Singh, the World No.2 junior, who is no doubt a star of the future pro tour.
Ella Erickson had a baptism of fire against her in her championship debut. She played great squash but struggled with the pace and accuracy of Singh. It was similar for Ella Walsh and Zoe Yeomans. A top effort but no joy on the scoreboard.
On day two, Brazil were next. As with most of the teams here, they have incredible No.1 string players – the Brazilian girl got to the last 16 in the individual event.
It was another tough one for Ella E. She put up a big fight, though, and an impressive third game got her flowing. She will look forward to the rest of the event to do some damage.
Zoe kept a cool head to dispatch her opponent in four games, a mature performance and a relief for her to get over the line. The decider with Ella W was nerve-wrecking.
The exchanges were fast-paced at the start, with Ella displaying her grit to capture most of the points. She fought tooth and nail through the three games and claimed a well-deserved victory over the higher-seeded team.
So happy for the girls. An incredible effort! They now finish their group against Hong Kong China on Tuesday.
The boys also had Hong Kong China in their group, with England and Scotland completing the lineup. Tough to say the least.
Hong Kong were first up on Sunday. One of the powerhouses of world squash, they are always producing top professionals and are always super fit and strong.
Danny and Christian played some superb squash, some of their best, and really worked hard. Doing very little wrong, though, they were simply outplayed by their opponents and both lost in three hard-fought games.
Conal had a massive five-setter, and it would have been a huge scalp for him to clinch the fifth, but it was a bridge too far.
We also played England on Sunday, and this was always going to be tough going. Conal managed to keep his form from earlier, taking the lead 1-0 against Dylan Roberts.
Playing out of his skin, he couldn’t manage to take it to a decider in the tight fourth game, but it was an absolute man-of-the-match performance in both of his matches.
Aaron and Christian played at two and three for this tie. Two gutsy performances, as you expect from the young duo, but both lost in three. Performance-wise, a great day, but results on paper, no joy.
We played Scotland on day two. The No.1 Scotsman had played with Wales his whole life, and this was the former British junior champion’s first outing after declaring for the Scots.
Danny knew his work would be cut out. He played an incredible match, though, with just a few points deciding each game. Archie Turnbull was just too strong in the end, but he is well within range for Danny in the future.
Aaron played at three, winning quite easily against a tall Scotsman once the rallies were at a high pace. He was never troubled and won convincingly in three.
The decider was Conal versus Murdo Mackenzie. Conal had beaten Mackenzie this season, but after the efforts he went to on Sunday, the two matches took their toll on him.
He did manage to get off to a flyer, but lost in three. It was a frustrating end to the group for the team, but we play Germany on Tuesday with the chance to climb higher than our seeding.
The World Squash Junior Championships is an incredible event to be part of for the team. There is much to learn and so many world-class players and matchups throughout the club’s 17 courts. And there is a lot still to come from both of our teams.
Special thanks to Breanne Flynn, who is managing to maintain her own professional training while coaching and being the team physio. She has put in a monster effort.
