Day Trip to Thurles
On Saturday 12th Marchten of our less experienced Highfield Juniors (from the 4-5pm coaching session) travelled to the Thurles Squash Club to take part in a one day event playing against juniors of the same age range from Thurles. We were delighted with the positive response and the large number of juniors whom travelled. The excitement on their faces as we left Highfield was great to see!
Our journey began by departing the Highfield Club at 9am arriving at the Thurles Squash Club about an hour later whereby we were warmly welcomed by their junior officer Gerry Connaughton and a number of the Thurles juniors all ready to play. By 10.30am we had our first games underway.
Juniors from each club of the same ability were paired off to play against each other with the emphasis being on having fun enjoying the game regardless of winning or losing. Those juniors not on court we watching and supporting their club mates up on the balcony. Niamh Murphy was our best supporter whom unfortunately could not play due to injury. Juniors were also encouraged to referee each other’sgames which was a great learning experience.
Each game was the best of 3 sets whereby each set was up to nine points. Throughout the course of the day we had quite a few very close games and a lot of games being won two sets to one. A number of sets went the full distance finishing up 12-10pts, 13-11pts, etc – one set actually went to 19-17pts which was a nail biting game.
Each of our juniors played at least four different opponents from Thurles throughout the course of the day which was a great experience not to mention forming some friendships between each club. Big thanks to all the Thurles juniors (approx. 15) that showed up and took part during the day and also to the Cashel juniors (approx. 5/6) who came to Thurles to play against us.
Special mention must go our juniors Colm McSherry, who was unbeaten in five games despite Thurles throwing all their big guns at him to try and beat him, and to Laura Reen who also won all her matches.
The last game finished up at 3.15pm whereby we said our goodbyes and thanks to Gerry and his juniors. Each junior received a squash grip as a token from Highfieldfor participating in the event.
Next stop was to McDonalds in Cashel on the way home whereby our juniors treated themselves to some well-earned delicious food –McFlurry’swere very popular desserts. The smiles on their faces said it all! It was great to see all our juniors having such a good time together……
Many thanks to Gerry Connaughton for hosting the event and providing refreshments for all our juniors. We look forward to inviting them down to Highfield to return the compliment in the near future.
Finally a very big special thanks to our Highfield coaches for preparing our juniors for the event and Anne Cogan and Brendan Connolly for organising the trip and bringing our juniors up and down safely. It was truly a very enjoyable day out that we hope will become an annual event.