DARTINGTON Squash Club ran their annual Junior Whistlestop Tournament at the weekend.

This is a tournament with a difference as players play for a specified time, usually five minutes, then the whistle is blown. Players have one minute to swap around, the whistle goes again to signal the start of the next five minute session, so on and so on until all of the games are completed.

The idea is to accumulate as many points as possible in the allocated time, and when all the players have played each other on a round robin basis, the winners are determined by who has the most points.

As a result, it is possible to lose a game or two and still come out on top!

This year, the twelve to fifteen age group was split into two sections. The first section could not have been closer, with Albert Courtice narrowly winning ahead of Rosie Tucker, who came in as a very close second.

Liam Stein excelled in this section, overcoming the very competitive Gabriel Partridge 15/12, and only narrowly losing to the powerful play of Albert, 11/15.

Jake Goldswain-Hein fought valiantly and will only continue to further improve with more games under his belt.

The next section featured a number of competitive games. Gabe Northrop-Bromley came out on top and his closest game was with Maya Rees-Durham, Gabe winning 14/13 in the five minute slot.

Oliver Stein excelled and came second in this group, unexpectedly beating Tom Smale 20/14, Ted Jordan 20/12, and Maya 18/16. Oliver has been working hard on his game in recent months, and this paid dividends in this competition.

Oscar Gaddes, a newcomer to competitive squash, proved to be difficult to beat, playing particularly well in tying with Maya 14/14, and beating Tom 16/13. Both Ted Jordan and Gabe Nortrop-Bromley are hoping to be selected in one of the squads for the Devon Under 13’s.

AJ and Manu after doing battle
AJ and Manu after doing battle (Contributed)

The top age group featured a fifteen-minute game between A.J. Coleman and Manu Rees-Durham. This was a match of the highest calibre, both players being very fit, and plenty of long rallies. A.J. won the close encounter, but for most of the match, it could have gone either way.

Dartington Squash Club have a wealth of impressive juniors who continue to go above and beyond expectations- the current crop will go far in the years to come.

One picture shows the aforementioned duo of A.J (left) and Manu with the other depicting, from left to right, Liam Stein, Oscar Gaddes, Oliver Stein, Maya Rees-Durham, Albert Courtice, Jake Goldswain-Hein, Ted Jordan and Gabe Northrop-Bromley.