Broadberry Sports

Wednesday 28th September 2011 – 1st Team
Well Western 1 away for your first match of the season is never easy especially when they’ve strengthened their team with a new 1, 2 and 3 and I get to play Bert (aka R.J.Mitchell) at No.4

First up was me against Bert. Dave Mathie turned up to mark and I said “You’re brave!” which turned out to be prophetic!

(continued below) – To see all the David Lloyd Team reports Click here for Renfrew or here for West End

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Ramy Ashour must be pushing the World No.1 position again after an emphatic win over Nick Matthew in the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

Well I say emphatic, but Nick took the first game 1-11 so it was looking good for the Yorkshireman after just 8 minutes, but Ramy turned things on their head to take the 2nd game 11-3.

The 3rd game appears to be the crucial point for both players with the defending Champ (Ramy) going 5-0 up and then the World No.1 (Nick) getting back to 4-6. But it was Ramy who went on to win the game 11-7 and then finish things off 11-4 in 1 hour and 7 minutes; leaving Nick to comment “It doesn’t feel like I’m World No.1, he’s beaten me 3 times in a row. But I’ll go away and come back stronger….”

And do you know what? I bet he will be!  (click here for the draw)

As the Legends make their way to Aberdeen this weekend I can tell you first hand that if you go you will see some fantastic displays of squash. I was lucky enough to see them play last weekend at the St Georges Hill Club in Surrey and the squash was brilliant to watch. In fact I’d be amazed if all the players wouldn’t still do very well on the current PSA tour.

The skills were there in abundance and the desire to win certainly hasn’t left any of them – only injuries keep them from doing some serious damage against today’s top professionals!

leg-end & legend

I managed to meet Peter Nicol, Jonathon Power, John White, Simon Parke, Tim Garner, Stephen Meads, Nick Taylor not to mention the eventual winner Anthony Ricketts and had a thoroughly enjoyable time (I also met legends Ross Norman and Peter Marshall who made guest appearances over the weekend). And St George’s Hill squash pro Danny Lee (ex-world 28) helped us raise over £1K for the Food4Africa charity. Have a look the Legends Just Giving page if you’d like to get involved with building a squash court in rural town in South Africa as well as feeeding children.

I’d highly recommend you go and see them all in Aberdeen.

Tough match last night v Newlands in the Knockout Cup, especially when they brought in the Glasgow University No.1 to bolster their ranks.

I arrived slightly late to see Sean (Norris) against Newland’s Malky Watt. Sean was moving really well and was challenging Malky all the way. All the way to 14-14 in fact, but Malky just managed to hold him off to take the 1^st Read more…

The PSA Men’s Australian Open final proved to be an thrilling 5 set match between the World No.1 Nick Matthew and No.2 Ramy Ashour.

The two rivals have been closely contesting the PSA World No.1 spot for some time now and it’s Ramy who will be adding the Austrailian title to his world ranking points tally with a fantastic 12-14  11-6  10-12  11-8  11-4 win; which will put him back to the top spot next month.

Nicol David had a more straight-forward 3-0 win in her final against WISPA World No.2 Jenny Duncalf as she reserved her best squash for the final winning 11-8 11-4 11-6.

To see all the competitors stats, including Scotland’s own Alan Clyne (who unfortunately came up against World No.3 James Wilstrop in Round 2) click here

To see the men’s Draw/Results please click here and the women’s click here

It’s great to hear the ‘West of Scotland Squash Divisions’ mentioned in a crime novel and who else but Bert (aka R.J.Mitchell) to be the first to do it.

I went to the Glasgow launch of Bert Mitchell’s first novel Parallel Lines (the Glasgow Supremacy) and bought my copy of the 300-page thriller hoping for a page turner, and I wasn’t disappointed. To say Bert takes us on a romp through Glasgow is understating the case, as the lead characters run amuck through Springburn, over the Kingston Bridge, George Square, the Clyde Tunnel and everywhere in-between! The body count is high, the love triangles are intense (and I’m not just talking about Thistle, Celtic and Rangers!) and the chases are every bit as charged as a good tie-break in the 5^th (10-9 if you’re reading the paperback and 12-10 if you’re reading it on a Kindle!).

Read more…

 Have you ever seen any of the modern ‘legends of squash’ play? Were you wowed by the skills of Jonathan Power or amazed by the movement of Peter Nicol? Many of you will remember local lad Martin Heath who reached the dizzy heights World No. 4 spot or adopted Scot John White who was World No.1.

And as if that wasn’t enough Simon Parke (ex-World No.3) and Tim Garner (ex-World Ranked No.28) will also be there to make up the ‘Super Six’ who will be battling it out to settle old scores and bring back some great memories.

If you’d like some more information on ticket pricing and weekend packages, dinners AND attending a ‘Legends Clinic’ please click here

I’ll see you there!

(Platinum package for me Ali!!)

Doug with his "West Player of the Year Award" and his Vapor Racket

Doug Macmillan from David Lloyd West End capped off a fantastic years squash by picking up the West Squash” Junior Player of the Year” Award (as well as an East Dunbartonshire Council Achievement Award).

And what a year Doug has had as he:

Cemented his place in David Lloyd West End 1st Team

Became a Member of the West Regional Squad

Was a member of the West inter-county winning team

Became a member of the Scottish Tallent squad at Heriott Watt in Edinburgh

Represented Scotland at the U17’s level in the European Team Championships in Munich

Doug with the rest of the Scottish European Squad

Congratulations Doug and good luck for continued success next season.