Windscale Squash Club flies the flag for Cumbria.

The British Junior Squash Championships were jointly hosted from 28^th-31^st October at National Squash Centre Sport City, and Northern (Didsbury) LTA and Squash Clubs, Manchester, where Cumbria had only three players that reached the final stages, all of them members of Windscale Squash Club, Egremont. This event brings together not only the top English squash players, but also the best that Scotland, Ireland and Wales have to offer also, hence the recognition deserved by our junior players.

Competing in his first British Junior Championships, Jackson Holliday (national ranking 66) played in the Under 13 boys section. Being inexperienced at this level and with a low ranking, Jackson had to win two qualifying matches to gain access to the 32 player main draw.

His first opponent was Perry Malik (Sussex, n/r 60), Jackson gave a solid performance to win 3-0, but this was to bring him a much tougher challenge in his next match. Thomas Stewart (Hampshire, n/r 30) seeded at 3-4 for the qualifiers, started as favorite, but Jackson hung in to make it 2-2, and it was Jackson who emerged victorious in the final game to go through to the main draw with a fantastic 3 games to 2 victory.

The main draw is where the best players are pre-seeded to play those emerging from the qualifying rounds, and in his first round game he faced Niall Adams (Hampshire, n/r 7) who was a bridge too far, and he lost 3-1 despite having good periods of play, to dent his confidence a little. In the next match he faced Alex Lane (Gloucestershire, n/r 13), and he needed to win to progress through the rest of the weekends schedule, unfortunately this was to be the worst game of the weekend for Jackson and he lost 3-0, in a game he never really showed his potential in.

Overall Jackson performed very well in his first ever National Championships.

Windscales next player was Hannah Crichton (national ranking 28) who was playing in the Under 17 girl's category, where she hit the ground running with a fabulous 3-0 win over Hannah Measures (Surrey, n/r 11). Now in the top 16 section of the Championships Hannah came up against Anna Kimberley (Essex, n/r 13), but unfortunately couldn't match her earlier result and lost 3-0, with a somewhat downbeat performance.

Lucy Pallet (Warwickshire n/r 14),  was another tough match which turned into an epic for Hannah, coming from 2-0 down she fought her way back and eventually took the final game 12-10 for a great 3-2 victory in 40 minutes. The highly ranked players kept coming for Hannah and Millie Pughe (Yorkshire, n/r 10) was next, and after a shaky opening game Hannah fought hard in the next two games leading them both, but couldn't hold on and eventually lost the match 3-0.

Hannah's final game was for position 11/12, against old rival Emily Peach (Yorkshire, n/r 21). The first two games were shared, and matching each other point for point the next two games both went to her opponent for a very close 3-1 defeat, in an excellent tussle which again took 40 minutes to settle.

These were great results, and performances to be proud of all weekend from Hannah, who finished a creditable 12^th overall out of 32, some 16 places above her national ranking.

The third Windscale junior, Jessica Winder (national ranking 10) played in the girls Under 15 category,  Jessica was seeded to play Tayla Mounter (Cambridgeshire n/r 39), which resulted in a comfortable 3-0 win.

An international opponent was next in line for Jessica; indeed, this player was seeded above Jessica in the main draw due to her Welsh national ranking. Jenny Haley (Wales, n/r 1), proved a very good player and Jess had to fight hard for her 3-1 win, which took her into the top 8, and meant that in the next round she would face England's  nationally ranked number 1, Ellie 'Pond' Lake (Gloucestershire). Jessica lost the first game, but then stepped up her game to level the match at 1-1, but couldn't maintain that standard of play, losing the match 3-1.

Next up for Jessica was Georgina Kennedy (Kent, n/r 9), Jess went 2-0 up to shake her opponent, and in the third served twice for the match, before losing that game 15-13 to an opponent that "ran" every shot down. Georgina then proceeded to take the match as Jessica managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory losing 3-2 in 37 minutes. Jessica's final game was for 7-8 position against Kip Quiney (Gloucestershire, n/r 5), Jessica lost the first game looking tired, however some motivational words from 'mam', Windscales Head coach Linda Winder, had the desired effect and she battled through the match, playing some impressive squash to win the match 3-1 and finish 7^th overall out of 32.

All three Windscale players finished in positions well above their starting National ranking, and at this level of competition that is a fantastic achievement which speaks volumes for the Windscale Squash Club, and the coaching set-up. To be able to produce players of the level required to compete and more than hold their own on the National stage from a little town in West Cumbria is sensational.