AGM Minutes 2018

WEST SQUASH
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
FRIDAY 11TH MAY 2018
7:00 PM, GIFFNOCK LTC.

1. ATTENDEES

NameClub
Steffan GwynGlasgow Uni
Simon JeffreysGlasgow Uni
Jesse MillsGlasgow Uni
Dan WaringGlasgow Uni
Kirsten MackenzieScotstoun
Rachel McNaughtonScotstoun
Sophia GrantScotstoun
Caren ChangScotstoun
Kieran O'NeillNewlands
Callum BruceNewlands
Alan PearsonNewlands
Fraser McCannNewlands
David ClaxtonWhitecraigs LTC
Billy StevelyWhitecraigs LTC
Gian ManiniWhitecraigs LTC
Mark SherrittSSRC
David IrvineSSRC
Paul PatonSSRC
Rob MathiesonTownend
John CrawfordTownend
Steven PoggiGalleon
George TennantGalleon
Michael GrantStrathgryffe
Alan MarshallStrathgryffe
Martin WoodsWestern
Allan MowatWestern
Stewart HamiltonGiffnock
Steve GrahamCraighelen
Paul KingBroomhill

Non-voting observers/ Presenters
David Fallon (SSRL West Development Manager)

There are twenty two clubs in the West Region, and twelve member clubs were represented, meeting the constitution requirements of 25%.

2. APOLOGIES

NameClub
Norman PattersonHamilton
John WatsonSSRC
Stuart GeorgeGiffnock

3. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS AGM MINUTES

Proposed by Alan Marshall, seconded by Michael Grant (Strathgryffe)

4. APPROVAL OF AUDITOR & ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS

No auditor appointed. John Crawford proposed Steve Graham as Vice President, seconded by Alan Pearson. Proposal by Paul Paton (SSRC) for Paul King (Broomhill) to join WOS Committee- seconded by Dave Irvine (SSRC).

5. APPROVAL OF THE ANNUAL REPORT AND STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS

There were no comments from the floor on any matters regarding the accounts.

6. HONORARIA

There was no honoraria paid to any committee member in Season 2017/18.

7. TEAM FEES

It was proposed by John Crawford to retain the team fees for Season 2017/18 as £40 if paid on time, £50 if paid late – passed without objection.

8. CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS INTIMATED TO THE ASSOCIATION SECRETARY.

No matters intimated.

9. CONVENOR REPORTS

League Secretary – Stewart Hamilton

The West Squash Leagues all went well this season, winners to follow in presentation. West Squash are organising a West Racketball League once again during the summer months.

Tournament Convenor – Fraser McCann

This season had much better participation in events run by West Squash and the committee are looking to further improve this coming season.

Big thank you to Alan Susskind for his help with the Racketball promotion and development

West Open at beginning of season- graded event to attract top players

Scottish Squash support the Gold/Silver/Bronze levels.

Full Tournament Convenor report can be viewed in Appendix 2.

Junior Convenor – Martin Woods

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENTAL COMPETITIONS

Between the Youngstars events and the Scotstoun Bronze events, there have been more tournaments this year than ever before in the have come back to great effect this year, with good attendance. Thanks to Jason Broadberry for running the Youngstars events over the season.

WEST JUNIOR SQUASH LEAGUE

A successful junior league was run this season with 7 teams. Scotstoun 1 won the league with Giffnock 1 in second place. Matches were played on Sunday mornings starting at 10:00 AM.

The format worked well with three teams per home venue, meaning two matches per player and a bigger audience and better atmosphere.

INTER-REGIONALS

This year we achieved a first not only for West Squash but in the history of Scottish Squash. Our Junior Inter-Regional Teams won the title in every age group at the recent inter-regionals held over the 20th – 22nd April.

WEST JUNIOR SQUADS

We currently have three squads running out of Scotstoun, Tue 5:00 PM, Tue 6:30 PM and Thu 6:00 PM, with 29 players aged between 9 and 18 in the squads. We’re looking to bring in a new squad to increase the number of younger players that we cater for.

Full Junior Convenor Report can be viewed in Appendix 3.

Referees – John Crawford

Courses have been held at SRC, Glasgow Uni, Scotstoun, Western, Whitecraigs RFC and Town end- few successfully taking Grade 3 assessments

The West has been represented at tournaments throughout Scotland by their National Grades referees- Dave Mathie and John Crawford. JC also refereed in England, Gibraltar and Latvia at the European Team Championships

10. PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL AWARDS

This year’s winners of each division were as follows:

DivisionWinner
Open 1Newlands 1
Open 2Glasgow Uni
Open 3Dumfries
Open 4Newlands 6
Open 5Whitecraigs LTC 2
Open 6Scotstoun 3
LadiesScotstoun
JuniorScotstoun

This years Annual Award winners were as follows:

AwardRecipient
Club of the YearScotstoun
Junior Player of the YearJohn Meehan (Strathgryffe)
Senior Player of the YearDan Waring (Glasgow Uni)

11. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Reintroduced Golf Day- August 2018

Stewart Hamilton to be recognised for a tremendous job as League Secretary.

Successful Junior Leagues- two years running. Martin Woods to be recognised for his commitment and dedication to the Junior leagues.

Website: Notification of Newsletter to be sent to emails?

The website is also able to be used as a collabortive tool by Team captains/convenors, who could write their own blog, for example match reports. Obstacles to this happening are people would need to want to do it, and many people are not that technically minded.

As there was no additional business, the 2018 Annual General Meeting closed at 2035hrs.

Appendix 1 – President’s Report

 

It has been a difficult, but also a rewarding year, in my first term in office as President, but firstly let me introduce the committee;

President – John Crawford (Townend)

Vice President – Andy Duff (SSRC)

Secretary – Caren Chang (Scotstoun)

Treasurer – Alan Pearson (Newlands)

League Secretary – Stewart Hamilton (Giffnock)

Tournament Convenors – Stuart George (Giffnock) & Fraser McCann (Newlands)

Junior Convenor & Coaching – Martin Woods

Squash 57 (Racketball) – Alan Susskind (Newlands)

Scottish Squash Board Rep – Alan Marshall (Strathgryffe)

Member – Billy Stevely (Whitecraigs LTC)

Member – Steve Graham (Craighelen)

Scottish Squash West Development Manager – David Fallon

During the season, 3 committee members stepped down, Brendan Forrester (Tournaments), Alan Susskind (Squash 57), and Andy Duff (Vice President). I would like to thank them all for their contributions over the year/s.

We were fortunate to gain the services of Fraser McCann as joint Tournament Convenor, to assist Stuart George.

Steve Graham has agreed to take over as Vice President, for the coming season 2018/19

The Leagues, once again were organised and run by Stewart, with 72 teams in the Men’s leagues (6 leagues of 12 teams) + 1 Women’s league of 12 teams.

We did look at restructuring the leagues in the off season, but decided to leave the structure as it was with only minor tweaks.

Thanks to Brendan, Stuart, Fraser, Andy, and Alan, we managed to organise the full schedule of West Tournaments, both Junior Senior, and Mixed Graded, and included Squash 57.

The West Golf event was also resurrected and hosted by John Watson (SSRC) at Douglas Park GC on 1st Sept 2017. We had 12 participated, but hope to increase the numbers this year, which will be held on Fri 24th Aug.

See attached comprehensive Tournament Report from Fraser McCann.

The Junior League was organised and run successfully by Martin, with 7 teams from Giffnock, Newlands, Scotstoun, Townend, and Western.

Martin also coached and managed the West Regional Junior Teams, who had their most successful season ever – See Martin’s Junior Report

Squash 57 (Racketball) was initially organised by Alan Susskind, with a successful West Open held at Newlands.

Individual leagues were also tried, during the season, but numbers were low, due to the clash with the squash season.

The summer Racketball League has now started, with 12 teams participating.

The West of Scotland Racketball Open will conclude the Racketball season and will be held on Sat 7th July at Newlands.

Fraser McCann is now organising the Racketball (Squash 57) events.

Financially, thanks to Alan Pearson (Treasurer), we are in a very healthy position, but are always looking for ways we can support clubs, players, and coaches, etc, in the West.

This past season, with the new Level 1 coaching courses being launched, we have sponsored 14 new West coaches for 50% of their fees. Last season we sent two coaches into Galleon (Kilmarnock), which resulted in Galleon entering a team in the league this season.

Refereeing courses have been held at SSRC, Glasgow Uni, Scotstoun, Western, Whitecraigs RFC, and Townend, in the past two years, with a few successfully taking the Grade 3 assessment.

The West have been represented at tournaments throughout Scotland by their National Grade Ref’s, David Mathie & John Crawford. John also ref’d in England, Gibraltar, and Latvia at the recent Euro Team Champs.

Website & Media – Thanks to Martin our West website has been updated

https://west-squash.org

This includes links to Facebook and Twitter, but we are a bit concerned that the website does not get used often.

Is there a better way to communicate?

Sporty HQ has been in operation for a few seasons now and seems to cover all aspects and communication for league management.

Sporty HQ was also used this season to run a few West tournaments and after some initial teething problems, managed very well.

I wish you, and your teams an enjoyable, competitive, and successful season in 2018/19.

John Crawford

West President

Season 2017/18

Appendix 2 – Tournament Convenor’s Report

West Tournament Diary 2017/2018

  • 30th Aug/6th/13th/20th Sept – Knockout Cup
  • 23rd-24th Sept – Junior Gold @ Newlands
  • 30th Sept-1st Oct – West Squash Open 2017 @ SSRC
  • 21st-22nd Oct – Senior Gold @ SSRC
  • 25th-26th Nov – West of Scotland Masters @ Dumfries
  • Sun 17th Dec – Scottish Junior Doubles @ Scotstoun
  • Sat 10th Feb – West Closed Racketball/Squash 57 @ Newlands
  • Sat 24th Feb – West Senior & Junior Closed (combined) at Hamilton
  • 20th–22nd April – Scottish Junior Inter-Regional Team Champs @ Scotstoun
  • Summer Racketball Team League
  • West of Scotland Racketball Open @Newlands 7th July
  • 2018/19 Pre-Season Team KO Cup

 

West of Scotland Squash Tournament Convenor Report 2017/18 Season

During the 2017/18 season West Squash and Racketball has organised or hosted a total of 10 tournaments or leagues all with the intention to further the interest of squash and racketball and to facilitate a competitive but friendly environment for players not only in our region but across the country for both disciplines.

Like seasons past, the fun warm up to the West Squash Leagues – Knockout Cup – kicked off proceedings this year. Strathgryffe beat Newlands in this season’s final. The Knockout Cup provides players with competitive matchplay after a long summer break in preparation for the coming season.

At the end of last season, Scottish Squash decided to update the tournament structure to mirror the English model of ‘Bronze’ ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’ events. This was introduced to make the selection of tournaments to play in an easier process for parents and players with younger, less experienced  players looking to play in the ‘Bronze’ tier of events and the older, stronger players choosing to play the ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’ tournaments respectively. The tournaments would now be split into age groups: from Under 11 to Under 19 rather than divisions of ability.

The ‘Newlands Junior Gold’ was the first junior gold tournament of the season which made it very attractive to juniors from all across the country amassing a fantastic 71 entrants. The tournament was run by Brendan Forrester. He used Sporty HQ effectively to create the draws and schedule matches which allowed the tournament to run smoothly. Additionally, he used entry fees to pay for prizes for the winners of each age group which juniors were very pleased with. The new structure of separation into age groups meant that some players had more matches than others in a concentrated space of time and some draws were larger than others. This is being reviewed by Scottish Squash currently to see if the new structure was popular amongst participants.

Shortly after the Newlands Junior Gold, Brendan organised the West Squash Open at SSRC towards the end of September last year which had an impressive 51 entrants. An astounding prize fund of £1000 was put forward by West and sponsors idaresports.com and Western Commercial which made the event very appealing to players training full time. The high standard of squash was enjoyed by all participants and by the end of the weekend Douglas Kempsell won the title. The tournament was split into four grades based on ability which ensured the participants were playing opponents of similar ability which made the event more enjoyable for all and produced many exciting matches.

Staying at SSRC, next on the calendar was the ‘SSRC Senior Gold’ which was very well organised by Mark Sherrit and other SSRC members. 37 people entered the event – mainly comprising of high ranking senior players as it was a Scottish Squash selection event. It was won by Kevin Moran.

The West of Scotland Masters was held in Dumfries Squash Club in late November last year. There were an impressive 65 entries across 8 events which are detailed below. It was generously sponsored by James Hallam Insurance and Neil Thomas Douglas (NTD) Photography which was much appreciated by the West committee and the players. The tournament was directed by Sue Strachan and Jim Scriven through Sporty HQ and was a great success.

-Ladies O35 winner: Sue Strachan

-Men’s O35/040 winner: Chris Gray

-Men’s O45 winner: Angus Woodward

-Men’s O50 winner: Tony Hetherington

-Men’s O55 winner: Ronnie Carter

-Men’s 060 winner: Robin Ridley

-Men’s 065 winner: Emilio Fazzi

-Men’s 070 winner: George Stirrat

The Newlands Open was proposed for early December 2017 but unfortunately Brendan had to step down as Tournament Convenor for the West Committee because of work commitments and so it did not go ahead. Brendan had an enthusiastic approach and dedicated much of his time into running and improving events for squash players in the region which Stuart George and I hope to emulate. We wish him good luck in the future.

Every year before the Christmas period the much-anticipated Scottish Junior Doubles takes place at Scotstoun Sports Campus. This is a very enjoyable event for juniors and gives them a very fun and rare opportunity to try doubles squash. Scotstoun is very unique in the fact that it is the only venue in Scotland with adjustable singles to doubles courts. The event was won by Highland pair Alasdair Prott and Harry Barron.

Not long after the Christmas holidays it was the turn of racketball players to show their calibre at the West of Scotland Racketball Closed Event held at Newlands. This was my first time managing an event and I am happy to say that it ran smoothly. Sporty HQ made the event very easy to organise. Many thanks to Alan Susskind for all his efforts in co-ordinating the players and the entries preceding the event and to Jonathon Connelly who helped me at the desk on the day. The tournament was played over one day partly due to the relatively low entry (18) but also due to the fact that participants enjoy not having their whole weekend dedicated to a tournament. The players enjoyed the fast pace turnovers and Jason Bradberry came out on top at the end of the day’s proceedings.

Following the success of the one-day system in the West of Scotland Racketball Closed, this was utilised for the West Senior and Junior Closed a few weeks later. This was directed by Stuart and I and the event had a respectable 35 entries. The West Committee greatly appreciates Imperial Commercials for sponsoring the event and helping to put forward a considerable £750 prize fund. The 35 participants were separated into an A,B,C and junior draws or round robins. The one-day style was again successful but for some of the more confident players they sometimes felt that there was not enough time in between matches as their rallies and games tend to last longer. But, again, it is totally dependent on the number of entries whether a tournament is to be run over one or two days. I feel that if an entry exceeds 40 participants then two days must be considered. The tournament was won by Stuart George and Hamilton Squash Club proved to be a great venue for viewing the great squash on show.

The Scottish Junior Inter-Regional Championships concludes the season for many juniors across the country and is always eagerly anticipated. It was held at Scotstoun Sports Campus and was organised by Allan and Gary MacKay from Scottish Squash. The West won all age groups which was the first time any region had done so in the history of the event. A big well done to all who represented West this year!

As the squash season comes to an end the racketball season begins with the West of Scotland Racketball leagues. The leagues are currently still in progress  and is being run on Sporty HQ with two leagues of six playing ties over a 10-week period to conclude on 27th June.

The West of Scotland Racketball Open will conclude the racketball season and will take place on Saturday 7th July at Newlands. The goal is 30 entrants or more and the poster will be released shortly along with the opportunity to enter on Sporty HQ.

To conclude, it has been a successful year for West of Scotland Squash and Racketball sanctioned events. We have seen a revival in interest for competitive racketball events due to the efforts of Alan Susskind and other racketball stalwarts here in the west of Scotland. Additional thanks to Brendan, sponsors and others who made these events possible over the season; Stuart and I have a lot to live up to. Going forward we feel that to increase the amount of entries, potential competitors should be notified at the very least a month in advance of an event. This could be in the form of a poster being emailed round the clubs, tournament live on Sporty HQ and efforts on social media should be doubled. From that we may, depending on the number/standard of competitors, decide whether the tournament should be one/two-day event if we are unsure in the offset.

Looking on to next season, Stuart and I are keen to open the squash season by organising the West Squash Open just before the beginning of the West Squash Leagues; making it a closed satellite similar to that of the North of Scotland Open in Aberdeen. Additionally, the West Squash Closed should conclude the squash season at the end of the West Squash Leagues. The Knockout Cup will run as normal before the West Leagues. Similarly, the racketball season would mirror the squash season with the West Racketball Open taking place before the West Racketball Leagues and the West Racketball Closed take place at the end of the league to conclude the season. The West Committee will also endeavour to host the same Scottish Squash ‘Gold’ events as last year and also the maintain interest in the Masters events.

Fraser McCann

West Tournament Convenor

Season 2017/18

Appendix 3 – Junior Convenor’s Report

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENTAL COMPETITIONS

Between the Youngstars events and the Scotstoun Bronze events, there have been more tournaments this year than ever before in the have come back to great effect this year, with good attendance. Thanks to Jason Broadberry for running the Youngstars events over the season.

 

WEST JUNIOR SQUASH LEAGUE

A successful junior league was run this season with 7 teams. Scotstoun 1 won the league with Giffnock 1 in second place. Matches were played on Sunday mornings starting at 10:00 AM.

The format worked well with three teams per home venue, meaning two matches per player and a bigger audience and better atmosphere.

 

JUNIOR COACHING

We currently have three squads running out of Scotstoun, Tue 5:00 PM, Tue 6:30 PM and Thu 6:00 PM, with 29 players aged between 9 and 18 in the squads. We’re looking to bring in a new squad to increase the number of younger players that we cater for.

 

INTERNATIONAL SELECTIONS

The following West Juniors were selected to represent Scotland this year:

Chris Murphy (Giffnock) – Under 19

John Meehan (Strathgryffe) – Under 17

Ruadhri McDougall (Strathgryffe) – Under 17

Beth Moglia (Strathgryffe) – Under 17

Jemma Young (Newlands) – Under 15

Adam Hunter (Giffnock) – Under 15

 

NOTABLE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS IN SCOTTISH JUNIOR NATIONALS

Boys Under 19 Champion – Chris Murphy (Giffnock)

Boys Under 17 2nd Place – John Meehan (Strathgryffe)

Girls Under 17 2nd Place – Beth Moglia (Strathgryffe)

Boys Under 15 1st Champion – Adam Hunter (Giffnock)

Boys Under 11 2nd Place – Mark McCormick (Newlands)

 

 

 

INTER-REGIONALS

This year we achieved a first not only for West Squash but in the history of Scottish Squash. Our Junior Inter-Regional Teams won the title in every age group at the recent inter-regionals held over the 20th – 22nd April.

This is an enormous achievement and every single West player made a critical contribution to their team. The challenge now is not just to keep things going as well as they are, but how to build on this, and improve what we’re doing.

I would like to give huge thanks to Billy StevelyMark Ford and Jason Broadberry for giving up their time to coach our teams over the weekend. Their contribution was enormous and without them, we would not have had the success we did.

In coaching, the role of the individual coach is the primary contribution with regard to player improvement. Without individual coaches our players would not be where they are. As such, I’d like to thank every coach that is working with our players.

I’d also like to thank every parent, for helping the children play and enjoy squash. The key to performing well is enjoyment –  and I really feel that every player from the West thoroughly enjoys what they do.

Lastly, but most importantly, every player was exemplary over the weekend, not only in effort, but also in behaviour both on and off court.

Martin Woods

West Junior Convenor

Season 2017/18