Get active this spring with the Hits & Giggles squash program!

Women looking to engage in an active lifestyle in a fun and social environment are encouraged to register for Squash & Racquetball Victoria’s Hits & Giggles program this month!

Run over six weeks, the Hits & Giggles program introduces women and girls to the sport of squash, allowing them to work on skills and fitness in a supportive and judgement-free environment, while boosting their self-confidence and self-esteem with a group of like-minded women.

A survey of previous Hits & Giggles participants found that 84% of women experienced a more physically active lifestyle following on from the program, with the majority of them still have a weekly hit of squash.
 
An affordable program at only $60.00 for six one-hour sessions, the fourth round of Hits & Giggles for 2016 will see eight programs run at a number of venues across Victoria:
 

-THURSDAYS, 6:00pm- 7:00pm (Intermediate) with Claudia - commencing October 20, 2016
REGISTER

-THURSDAYS, 7:00pm- 8:00pm (Advanced PLUS) with Claudia – commencing October 20, 2016
REGISTRATIONS CLOSED
 
-THURSDAYS, 8:00pm- 9:00pm (Advanced) with Barb - commencing October 20, 2016
REGISTER
 

Diamond Valley Sports & Fitness Centre (Greensborough)       
-MONDAYS ,10:30am - 11:30am (Beginner) with Lee-Anne - commencing October 17, 2016
REGISTER
 
 
Horsham Squash Club
-THURSDAYS, 7:00 - 8:00pm with Launa - commencing October 20, 2016  
REGISTER 
 

Melbourne University Squash Club
-SATURDAYS, 11.00am - 12.00pm (Advanced PLUS) with David - commencing October 15, 2016REGISTER
 
-SATURDAYS, 12.00pm - 1.00pm (Beginner/Intermediate) with David - commencing October 15, 2016 
REGISTER


Registrations for Round 4 programs close on Friday October 14, so click here to secure your place!
 
For more information on the Hits & Giggles program, contact Squash & Racquetball Victoria Competition Administrator Fiona Smyth via email competition@squashvic.com.au, or head tohttp://squashvic.imgstgdev.com/hitsgiggles.
 

Jess Graham wins Australian Under 19 Girls title

Victorian Jess Graham has stamped herself as one of the up-and-coming stars in Australian squash by securing the national Under 19 Girls title on the final day of the Australian Junior Squash Championships individual tournament in Sydney.

Graham, who represented Australia at the World Junior Championships in Poland in August, claimed the title after winning a gruelling five-game encounter with South Australian 3-4 seed, Lauren Aspinall.

After a slow start which saw her lose the first game, Graham responded to take out the second to get the match back on an even keel. 

Aspinall reclaimed the advantage when she grabbed the third, but Graham dug deep in the final two games to eventually secure a hard-fought 6-11, 13-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-3 victory in 40 minutes.

The 17-year-old's victory was the highlight of a fantastic day for the Victorian Junior State Team, which also saw Dylan Molinaro compete in the Under 15 Boys final.

The 5-8 seeded Molinaro entered the decider against second seed Wesley Dwyer in impressive form, following imposing wins in his quarter-final and semi-final clashes against top seed Remi Young and 3-4 seed Haani Qureshi respectively.

In yet another tough five-game match, Molinaro's winning streak looked set to continue when he burst out of the blocks to take the first two games, before Dyer found his groove to win the next three and take out a 5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 victory.

The Victorian Junior State Team's attention now turns to the teams event at the Australian Junior Squash Championship, which will begin on Thursday September 29 and run through to Sunday October 2.

For more results from the final day of the individual event at the Australian Junior Squash Championships, click here.

Image above: Jess Graham (middle) with her Under 19 Girls national title (Image Credit: John Lockton).

              

Vic Captains ready to lead the way

The Victorian Squash Junior State Team has landed Sydney today, ahead of competition at the 2016 Australian Junior Championships.
 
The event will run for nine days – kicking off on Saturday (24^th) at Thornleigh Squash Centre in New South Wales, and will feature both individual events and a Team Series.
 
Spearheading the assault for the Victorian Team will be recently appointed 17-year old Team Captains, Courtney Grinham and Josh Boyte.
 
Speaking after touching down with the squad in Sydney, both Grinham and Boyte expressed their excitement at being given the captaincy roles.
 
“It’s pretty exciting, to lead this brilliant team to victory would be amazing,” Grinham said.
 
“We are a good bunch of kids and I am looking forward to leading them.”
 
“It’s very humbiling – I am very honoured to be given the captaincy,” Boyte added.
 
“I am very proud just to be part of the team and to be captain is fantastic.”
 
Both Grinham and Boyte will be leading representative squads for the first time, and together with the other team members have been working hard over a long period of time to be ready for the tournament.
 
“The last year and a half I have been working towards getting in the state team, planning ahead with finances and getting ready and prepped physically,” Grinham said.
 
“There has been a lot of dedication that has gone into it and it has set me up for the year.
 
“We have been attending camps and doing a number of team building activities just to get used to each other.
 
“We have been able to have a good time, but at the same time it has been pretty serious in terms of knowing what we want to get out of it and what we want to achieve.”
 
Looking back at the lead-up to the tournament, Boyte echoed Grinham’s sentiments.
 
“For me it’s been really good – I have been preparing for this all year, it has been a good lead up to the event and the training has all been pretty good – I’m ready for it,” he said.
 
“We have been doing a whole bunch of team-building exercises and leadership drills at camps that we have been attending.
 
“The attitude of everyone has been really good and we have high hopes this year of doing really well.”
 
Grinham believes that the squad representing Victoria has the ability to do very well at the tournament, and is confident that they can perform well.
 
“I am pretty confident – we have talked throughout the year about what we want to achieve and how we get there.
 
“So I am just hoping that we do our best and actually get better results than we have in the past.”
 
Results throughout the course of the event will be posted via the Squash Australia website viawww.squash.org.au with updates on the Victorian Team and players to come viawww.squashvic.com.au. 

              
Andrewartha, Fitz-Gerald take out the spoils at Ballarat Open Racquetball Championships

Squash & Racquetball Victoria Legend Paul Vear provides us with a comprehensive recap of all the action from the 2016 Ballarat Open Racquetball Championships on September 10-11.

 ---------------------

Steve Andrewartha claiming his fourth Victorian Grand Prix Men’s Open title on the trot, local Ballarat players taking out seven of the thirteen titles on offer and a 34% increase in entry numbers over the 2015 event (including 19 Grand Prix debutants) all headlined the penultimate Victorian Racquetball Grand Prix Tournament Circuit event for the year, the Ballarat Open Championships.

---------------------

SINGLES RESULTS

Men's Open:  Over the previous five years, Cam White (2011, 2014 and 2015) and Garry Pedersen (2012 and 2013) have owned this title.

In 2016 however, it is Dromana’s Steve Andrewartha who has  won all but one Victorian GP Men’s Open title this year to scorch to an unbeatable lead of 1935 points in the Men’s Open GP Champion’s title. 
 
So when the pointy end of the Ballarat Open was reached this year, it was another final face off between Andrewartha and Geelong's second-seeded Peter French, whom he had defeated in both the Wangaratta and Victorian Opens earlier this year. In what was a high class finale, punctuated by many long rallies containing an incredible range of shots and returns, it was Andrewartha who prevailed, 21/11, 21/19.

In their respective semi-finals, Andrewartha defeated his doubles partner Chris England, 21/13, 21/17, with French overpowering Tasmanian Matt Creely, 21/5, 21/13, after Creely had ousted third-seeded Garry Pedersen in a marathon three game quarter final, 16/21, 21/16, 21/18.

---------------------

Women's Open:  This event saw the return of the Queen of Australian Racquetball Sarah Fitz-Gerald, who swapped her Court Tech squash court building tools for a racquetball racquet for the first time since the ESRA Open held in February this year.

With Fitz-Gerald at prohibitive odds to win the event, the greatest interest focused on who was going to claim the runners-up booty. That ended up being 2016 Tasmanian Women’s Open winner and South Australian Open runner-up Kristel Proctor, who finally succumbed to Fitz-Gerald, 8/21, 12/21.

In their respective semi finals, Fitz-Gerald defeated South Australia’s Karin Gaard, 21/12, 21/12, with Proctor overcoming Wodonga’s third seeded Laura Shobbrook, 21/12, 22/20.

---------------------

A Grade: Although top seeded Chris Rollauer was a pronounced favourite, the A Grade field contained several players bordering on Open status.

Prior to reaching the final, Rollauer had to survive a hectic three games against Ballarat’s Anthony Bosner (22/20, 17/21, 21/12), then overcome Wodonga’s seventeen-year-old Mitchell Nero, 21/12, 21/17.

In the bottom half of the draw, Ballarat’s Matt Squire proved to be the surprise packet of the event when he took out three seeded players, including Wangaratta’s second-seeded Dean Milligan, 21/9, 21/12.

In the final, Squire seized early control which he never relinquished, taking it out 21/11, 21/13 over Rollauer.

---------------------

B Grade: Rarely does Corio stalwart Adam Lander miss reaching the pointy end of a B Grade event, but former world deaf squash champion Paul Walters had other ideas in their quarter-final clash.

Recovering from a game down to take the second in a nail biter, Walters overpowerered Lander in the decider 21/9.
 
Walters then went on to claim the scalp of fourth-seeded John Phillips, 21/17, 21/12, to reach his first B Grade GP final.

Meanwhile, 2016 Victorian Open B Grade champion Dave Whan was putting the blowtorch to his opponents in the bottom half of the draw, including Ballarat’s seventh-seeded Mandy Simpson and Mulgrave’s third-seeded Lance Cowan - downing both in straight games.

South Australian Whan then made it a Victorian GP Circuit running double when he overcame the 'never say die' Walters, 21/9, 21/12 in the final.

---------------------

C Grade: When the judge called a halt to proceedings for this event, Ballarat’s Blake Caspersz had well and truly earnt the title of ‘Marathon Man’.

Caspersz survived four intense, action packed rounds, including a gut busting win over Warrnambool’s GP debutant Simon Gunner in the final, 21/16, 19/21, 21/15.

In the semis, Caspersz overcame Warrnambool’s Peter Molan, 22/21, 21/17, with Gunner overpowering Ballarat’s fourth-seeded Kale Marnica, 21/17, 21/14.

---------------------

D Grade: 2015 Ballarat D Grade Plate winner Marg Taylor stepped up a few notches this year to capture the title over Geelong Open D Grade runner-up Simon Jackson, 21/7, 21/19.

In their respective semi-finals, Taylor came from a game down to take out Corio’s top seeded Ben Bell, 17/21, 21/13, 21/15, with Jackson surviving a titanic struggle over Warrnambool’s Gerard Hall, 21/19, 14/21, 21/17.
 

---------------------

E Grade: The E Grade field contained five exuberant youngsters including two thirteen-year-olds who eventually reached the finale; Ballarat’s Mitchell Harrison and Corio’s Brayden Webber.

Harrison took out the final 21/11, 21/7, which made it two GP titles for him following his F Grade win last year.

In their semi-finals, Harrison defeated Corio’s Anthony Morgan, 21/8, 21/6, with Webber hanging on against Corio’s Jackson Lander-Mitchell, 21/11, 22/20.
 

---------------------

Junior Boys Under 13: This event was won by Ballarat’s Jordan Humphries, who defeated another local Tristan Roberts in the final 21/0, 21/5, which provided the host club with five of the eight singles titles on offer.
 

  ---------------------
 

RESULTS
 

COPY CREDIT: Paul Vear

              
Queen of Australian racquetball returns for Ballarat Open

Squash & Racquetball Victoria Legend Paul Vear provides us with a comprehensive preview of the 2016 Ballarat Open Racquetball Championships to take place on September 10-11.
 

---------------------

The third-longest running racquetball tournament in Australia, the Ballarat Open will hold its 32^nd edition this weekend at the Ballarat Squash and Racquetball Centre in Wendouree.

117 aspirants from across Australia will be vying for the booty on offer, plus it will be their final hit out prior to the pinnacle event of the year, the 2016 Commercial Club Albury Australian Open Championships to be held in Albury/Wodonga on October 14-16.  

Although the Men’s Open will be without fourteen-time Australian Open champion Cam White who is currently preparing for the Australian Open in Thailand, the event has attracted all of the other top ten Victorian Grand Prix Men’s Open players.

2016 Wangaratta, Geelong and Victorian Open winner Steve Andrewartha brings strong form into the Ballarat event, and is seeded to meet Victorian ranked number two and nationally ranked number three Peter French in Saturday’s final.

Andrewartha is at the peak of his career being on top of both the National and Victorian Men’s Open Grand Prix rankings, and it will take a herculean effort to dethrone him from at least the top of the Victorian rankings this year.

The high quality field also comprises of injury plagued Garry Pedersen, a winner of this event in 2012 and 2013 and runner-up to White in the past two years. Andrewartha's Dromana stablemate, Chris England, who was runner-up to Pedersen in this year’s ESRA Open, is likely to feature in the pointy end of the tournament, as are top Tasmanian duo Leigh Mitchell and Matt Creely, who are also the current Australian Open Doubles Champions.

This event sees the return of seven-time national racquetball champion and five-time world open squash champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald, who has downed tools from building squash courts across the country and will start as favourite to annex another Women’s Open crown.

Fitz-Gerald’s stiffest opposition will come from 2016 Tasmanian Women’s Open champion and South Australian Open runner-up Kristel Proctor, 2016 Victorian and Tasmanian finalist Wodonga’s Laura Shobbrook, plus fourth seeded South Australian Karin Gaard, who eventually finished a very close fourth in this year’s South Australian Open.

With only one more Victorian Grand Prix Tournament Circuit event to be conducted this year (the Lakes Classic on November 5-6), all open and graded players will be striving to capture valuable ranking points to claim individual Grand Prix Champion status for their respective grades this year.

Squash & Racquetball Victoria's Pop Up Squash initiative declared a success

Goulburn Valley Squash Club gears up to host Shepparton International

The presence of world class players at this weekend's 2016 Shepparton International is sure to provide a welcome boost to squash in the Goulburn Valley region according to Goulburn Valley Squash Club President, Damian Maidment.

The event, which is being hosted by the GV Squash Club for a third year, has continued to go from strength-to-strength since the inaugural tournament in 2014.

With a strong mix of PSA Men's World Tour players and local stars competing in the event, Maidment said spectators would be treated to a high-quality exhibition of squash.

“We’re really excited that an international event is here in Shepparton,” Maidment said.

“It’s something that the club started two years ago and this is our third year, so we’re extremely proud and honoured to have international players of that calibre and standard at our club, it's fantastic.”

To capitalise on the momentum generated for the sport in the region as a result of the tournament, Maidment has called on the services of former and contemporary squash stars to help get people involved in the game.

“We currently have just shy of 100 club members (at Goulburn Valley Squash Club) overall, and casual hitters are obviously extra (numbers) again,” Maidment said.

“We’d love to build on it and expand on it, because to get into the sport itself is reasonably easy, however the exposure that we get is not quite as strong as the following for AFL footy, soccer and netball and that sort of stuff, so if we could build it up and give it more exposure to the general public, potentially more people will walk through the doors and pick up a racquet.

“Myself personally, I’ve been fortunate to billet the winning member for the last year or so, so part of the deal that I’ve set up with the free accomodation is that they give our juniors a bit of a hit.

“I currently have Geoff Hunt here, who is an absolute legend of the sport overall, and I’ve been talking to him to see if I can have his services for 15 minutes with our juniors as well, so hopefully it will all come off.

“These sort of events in country Victoria are vital for our club, not only for survival, but vital for the sport as a whole."

Along with the Open event, the Shepparton International will also see a strong representation of players from across regional Victoria take part in the tournament's graded events, with 70 entries received.

Among those 70 entries, Maidment said he expected a solid contingent of local players from the Shepparton region to feature in the event.

“At this stage we’re looking at fairly strong numbers,” Maidment said.

"We’re looking at about 15 (graded entries) up on last year, which is a great result for us considering we draw on other regional towns.

“From a qualifying point of view, we have eight to ten young fellas competing in the qualifying event. From that, those people in particular have registered for the graded event, so coinciding with those existing eight to ten we’d have another ten players competing in the graded events, so it’s fantastic.”

The 2016 Shepparton International will kick off with an official launch in the Maude Street Mall, Shepparton on Thursday August 18 at 12:30pm, with local council representatives and PSA World Tour players to be in attendance.

A blow up squash court with demonstrations from local GV Squash Club members will also be available for the general public to enjoy a hit of squash in a relaxed and non-competitive environment.

The on-court action will then get underway at the Goulburn Valley Squash Club (83 Archer Street, Shepparton) on Thursday night from 6pm, with the main draw qualification matches. Main draw competition will commence on Friday August 19 with two rounds of play commencing at 10am and 6pm, two rounds on Saturday August 20 at 10am and 5pm, and the finals on Sunday August 21 from 3.45pm.

Entry throughout the tournament is free and spectators are welcome.

For draws and results from the 2016 Shepparton International, click here.