The weekend started early for Hannah Crichton in her competition in Lille, at the French Junior Open, and a little later for Jackson Holliday, Jordan Corlett, Kaitlyn Carruthers, Tim Outhwaite and Brandon Groggins in Manchester (Saturday), likewise Saturday/Sunday for all those Juniors in the Whitehaven Open and graded competitions.

Hannah's first game was on Friday against the French girl Enora Villard (seeded 9/16) and a very nervous Hannah who didn't play very well by her own admission lost easily against a good player (who eventually finished 6th) 0-3, 4/11, 2/11, 1/11. This defeat put her into the 17/26 round of games where she had a bye. On Saturday in the next game, a 57 minute battle against English girl Annie Openshaw-Blower, Hannah lost 1-3, 10/12, 8/11, 16/14, 7/11 in a game she so easily could have won. This put her in the 21/24 position play off where she played another 9/16 seed Relle Komi (Estonia) and lost 1-3, 11/9, 10/12, 5/11, 5/11 another game she came close to winning. In Sundays final play off game she beat French girl Chloe Didelot 3-0, 11/4, 11/7, 11/4 to finish 23rd overall, feeling a little dissappointed having played some great squash along the way, she could have finished much higher but again gained great experience.

Hannah, a little too upright?	Hannah versus Enora Villard	Hannah, on her toes and ready, but too far back?

Nearer to home, the massed tribe of some of Windscales juniors descended on Whitehaven Sports Centre for the Whitehaven Open and Graded Competition with 12 players battling for honours.

In the beginners Graded Competition there was a Main competition in which Grisha Mac Donald finished 1st, and Oliver Bragg finished 4th, whilst in the Plate competition Dominic Mills finished 1st with James Penn 2nd and Ted Edge 4th. This was Ted's first competition and he played very well having a few 5 game matches but just getting pipped in them. He was naturally upset not to have won a game having got so close but it will stand him in good stead for future competitions, look out Ted's after you! (No results for all matches to hand!)

Grisha Mc Donald - no photo, yet!	Oliver Bragg	Dominic Mills, with trophy	James Penn 2nd	Ted Edge - no photo yet!

In the boys under 11's, Thomas Bragg, Zac Singleton and Cameron Smale (who was mistakenly played in the wrong age grouping by the organisers, who couldn't then alter the draw), played out some exciting games.

Thomas Bragg 2nd	Zac Singleton	Cameron Smale

Thomas lost to Matthew Harrison 0-3, 7/11, 4/11, 7/11, but followed this up with 3 wins over Cameron (3-0, 11/3, 11/4, 11/0), George Johnston from Wigton (3-0, 11/7, 11/2, 11/8), and Zac (3-0, 11/7, 11/7/11/2). Thomas is playing some quality squash now getting the ball to the back of the court more regularly and had a particularly good win over clubmate Zac.

Zac won 1 and lost 3, the one mentioned above, another to the eventual winner Matthew Harrison (?-3), and George Johnston (1-3, 11/4, 7/11, 8/11, 5/11) were his defeats, and his victory was over Cameron (3-1, 11/5, 6/11, 11/8, 11/3). Zac is coming along nicely, but need more games!

As mentioned Cameron was misplaced from the off, but manfully plugged away against more established players who have some experience of competitive squash, and taking a game off Zac, and some points off winner Matthew is no mean achievement, well done. For the record the results to hand are, lost to Matthew (0-3, 4/11, 4/11, 5/11), lost to George (0-3, 4/11, 3/11, 6/11) and Zacs result above (lost 1-3, 4/11, 11/7, 8/11, 5/11). Although he was in the wrong group he more than showed his worth and would have tested ot the beginners in the graded competition, rest assured he will be correctly placed next time and you can all look out!

One Windscale entrant in the boys under 15's, Sam Nichol was in with some tough opponents and so it proved as he finished 4th, losing to Bradley Frain of Whitehaven (1-3, 8/11, 8/11, 11/6, 10/12) a very narrow defeat, also losing to Jake Twentyman of Wigton (0-3, 5/11, 6/11, 6/11), his first match was his best beating Andrew Hayden from Carlisle (3-0, 11/7, 11/4, 11/3). 

Sam Nichol		Michael Hobbs

In the Boys under 19's Michael Hobbs was in tough company and finished where seeded, 3rd. He beat Daniel Harrison of Whitehaven (3-0, 11/5, 11/5, 11/3), but lost to the other two Whitehaven players Mitchell Parr (0-3, 7/11/ 8/11, 0/11) and Owen Barrett (0-3, 2/11, 4/11, 9/11).

Only 2 girls entries this time with Ashton Telford and Zara Brannon both competing in the girls under 11's.

Ashton Telford and Trophy	Zara Brannon

Ashton finished 2nd to the strong Michelle Tang from Workington but her results were pretty good and her increased confidence is starting to show in competitions. In her first match she beat Abbie Doran (3-0, 11/4, 11/4, 11/4) followed by a loss to Michelle Tang (0-3, 3/11, 4/11, 5/11) then beat clubmate Zara (3-1, 11/9, 3/11, 11/4, 11/4) and Cody Sharp from Whitehaven (3-0 no game scores to hand).

Zara too is improving her competition strength and finished a respetable 3rd against girls much more 'au-fait' with competition squash, she lost to Ashton, (1-3) as mentioned above, and followed this up with another loss to Michelle Tang (0-3, 2/11, 1/11, 0/11) before beating Cody Sharp (3-2, 11/6, 9/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/6 in a great come-back match from 2-1 down, Zara also beat Abbie (3-0, but no scores to hand). Well Done.

Jackson Holliday

Jackson Holliday was the number 1 seed in the boys under 15's competition at Fairways lodge, Prestwich, Manchester, and was afforded the luxury of a bye in his first round, and he beat his next opponent (name not remembered, 3-0, 11/4, 11/4, 11/5). This put him into the semi final where he then managed to lose to Nicholas Cooper, Jackson persisted with a front court aiming for the nicks approach and soon found himself two games down, 7/11, 8/11, after a 'bit of a talking to' he won the third playing better squash, but then blew it in the fourth to lose the match 1-3, and was out of the competition, (good points gone begging!)

Brandon Groggins Boys under 13 2nd

Brandon Groggins played in the Boys under 13's, with the following results; Round 1 - Bye, Round 2, beat Patrick Baynes 3-0, Round 3 beat Rayyan Haq 3-0, Semi-final beat Jonathan Fell 3-0, Final lost to Alex Brandon 1-3.

The following juniors were also at Fairways lodge and their individual results are not known to me, if they get in touch and let me know scores, opponents, results, then I can further amend this report.

Jordan Corlett G. U 11 1st	Kaitlyn Carruthers G. U 11 4th	Tim Outhwaite B. U 11 2nd