Our New Year's Rehearsal Tournament was the perfect start to our 2025 competition training!
Four divisions crowned champions and over 100 solid matches were completed in our four hour format! The fourth RT of the season was as diverse as always, with Coach Michael heading up Premier Division leading off with his 7.0 rating, right through to our U11's who are just starting out their competitive journey. Above all else the day was full of solid match play, conducted with great sportsmanship. Thank you so much to our Tournament Czar, Coach Claire, who made a great experience for all and accommodated some rather late requests! Additionally shout outs to Huma from our PA club, Coach Michael for dominating the top division on and off the court and Coach Ebonie for being delightfully patient in helping our youngest players grow in the environment. Check out our photo dump on Facebook HERE for some fun pics of the action.
For those of you new to the Squash Tigers world, as background, Rehearsal Tournaments are:
“ … in-house events conducted at SQUASHTIGERS! For the 2023-24 season (Sep 2023 thru May 2024), the Rehearsal Tournament Series comprises 9 tournament events. The Rehearsal Tournament Circuit attracts entries from top juniors. It also provides a great home for beginners to gain rehearsal before they step out into the US Squash ranking world. Players play a minimum of three and a maximum of four matches on a Saturday, commencing first thing and concluding early afternoon. The event does not count towards rating or ranking, so players may be relaxed enough to develop their games in a friendly environment, yet serious enough so that they will be ready for the wider world when they get out there!
Premier Division was a treat. Coach Michael won the event over Parth with a 3/1 (see some of the first game here) scoreline after the young man got away to a fast start only to be eventually subdued. Standout match in the early rounds saw Sid, home from Mercersburg for the Winter break, defeating Humzah in an epic 3/2 match with great squash from both guys. Sid eventually lost out in the 3/4 playoff to our ever talented leftie Eric. Final match of the day saw Ty defeat the ever growing Leo in what Coach Lyall would have referred to as "a real barn burner"... well done to both!
The Division 1 podium saw Dev emerge as the Big Dog, defeating Jesse in the final, with Tony and Julian taking the 3rd and 4th positions. Luke defeated Katherine in a solid playoff match with Ethan and our other favorite Mercersburg player Revant, taking out the minor placings. Katherine in particular had an excellent event, showing no ill effects of her early season ankle injury, Miss moved through the draw well - big things ahead.
Division 2 has become our Girl Power Podium draw and this event was no exception. Congratulations to Angelina on coming away with the trophy after a solid week of work at camp. She defeated the ever improving leftie, Miss Riyanshi who is demonstrating real improvement with each and every week that goes past! Vivi, back from break, beat out Helen for 3rd place with both young ladies showing solid squash and excellent sportsmanship. In the back draw Bradley, also back from vacation won out over little Miss Abigail and Serena.
Division 3 was THE future stars bracket if there ever was one! Ethan walked away with the silverware, only dropping one game to eventual silver medalist Evan. Princeton, Leo and Yashil rounded out the bracket. It was yet again a great morning of work from a group who will definitely grow up to be giant killers and maybe we'll watch them beating up on each other in JCT's one day! The draw was conducted under the kind tutelage of the ever patient Coach Ebonie and we thank her yet again for her sterling efforts!
Our next Rehearsal Event of the 2024/2025 season will be at the end of the month, stay tuned for details! For our Rehearsal Tournament crew, see y’all soon for the next installment in the odyssey… and for our regular Squash Tiger crew, see you at training for our “Defensive Driving Week”!
