Twenty three teams from eleven different schools all gathered at the National Squash Centre this month to participate in the 2010 North West Schools Competition. The competition is an annual event and is the only one of its kind in England, it is open to all schools throughout the North West and is free to enter. With an even higher entry rate than last year the day was set to be the biggest so far.

Teams travelled from as far as Cumbria, Liverpool, and Preston for a chance to be crowned the 2010 North West Schools Champion. The format for the competition was a three person team with each player in the team playing one game to 11 against his opponent using Point A Rally scoring. At the end of the tie all points were added together with the winning team of each tie granted an extra 5 bonus points. The team finishing with the most points after all group matches have been played will win the group. The teams were separated in to 4 boys group and 1 girls group with the winners from the four boys group facing each other in the semi-final.

In Group 1 Altrincham Grammar, who seemingly brought an entire army with them, were looking strong and won all of their games only dropping 9 points in all of their matches and progressed through as group winners. Group 2 could be considered the most competitive group and a battle between Parrs Wood and West Lakes Academy 3, who had travelled 3 hours from Egremont, was hotting up nicely with the two teams very evenly matched. The two teams faced off against each other in a group deciding match and it was West Lakes Academy 3 that came out on top and won the group taking 180 points out of a possible 190, and set up a tantalising semi-final with Altrincham Grammar 1.

The second semi final would be decided by the winners of Group 3 & 4 and with a team from Manchester Grammar School in each group it meant an uphill struggle for all the other teams. In Group 3 King David High School & Rainford High put up fierce resistance but could not find enough strength in depth to beat Manchester Grammar School and they went through to the semis. It was a similar story in group 4 as again SFX College battled hard but could not find a way to beat Manchester Grammar 2 and again the Grammar school went through without dropping a single game to set up an all Manchester Grammar semi-final.

The first semi-final between Altrincham Grammar and West Lakes Academy 3 could have gone either way with the match tied at one all it was down to the last match. Jess winder held her nerve being game ball down and came back to win the tie and put West Lakes in to the final. The second semi final was slightly less dramatic as Manchester Grammar 1 beat Manchester Grammar 2 comfortably and progressed to the final still yet to drop a game and looking like hot favourites.

West lakes Academy got off to a flying start when Michael Hobbs won 11-1, Adam Pearson then gave West Lakes the Victory winning 11-5 which meant that West Lakes Academy could not be caught and were the winners of the 2010 North West Schools Tournament.

In the girls group Altrincham Grammar Girls School were comfortable winners winning both their games against Parrs Wood and St Monicas.

The event was played in a great spirit and was enjoyed by both beginners and advanced players. A big thanks must go to Vinyline Graphics for their help in sponsoring the event.