MIDLANDS SQUASH UNION CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2015
Good evening everyone. Thank you for attending this AGM of the Midlands Squash Union
Before we continue I would like to observe a moments silence to remember Ramesh Major and Cosmos Mbanjwa who are no longer with us.
MSU OFFICE
We acquired a new computer this year .
We commissioned a built in cupboard for the office as our present storage facility was not suitable due to damp.
An electric security gate was fitted as we felt Rennisha was isolated and at risk.
SCHOOLS
Not under our jurisdiction, but would like to note that Noel Lee selected for the Under 19 All Africa Champs
The school communities are very lucky to have Ravi Govender, Sally White and Richard Knowles and Dalmain Strydom contributing to growth of our sport in PMB.
MASTERS
Singles IPT. I would like thank Gail Howes who always does an excellent job of putting sides together and manages all the subsequent administration that is required in getting teams to, housed, transported and back from Cape Town this year. This year was particularly trying as there were some unavoidable withdrawals at the last minute. Ladies A sides remained at 5 per team and not 4 as per the SAM AGM. The Garden Court was a good digs and we should consider it again for the Doubles in November 2016.
There will not be a Singles IPT in 2016 due to World Masters being in JHB in September
SA entries now open and everyone is encouraged to enter.
DOUBLES IPT
As you all know the Masters Doubles IPT was hosted by Midlands. We had an entry of over 400. Collegians Club proved to be a good venue as it is centrally situated with good facilities. They accommodated us by allowing us to erect a marquee on the cricket grounds and agreed to let us outsource the food with the bar being their responsibility.
Peter Wardel was as always extremely efficient and professional in all of our dealings.
Sheree of Hamlin’s submitted the most competitive quote and did an outstanding job of managing the 3 main events, making our task a whole lot simpler. Thank you to Janine Talbot for taking on this mammoth task. We had a lot to contend with and it took a very dedicated team to put it all together. Andrew Barnes was co- opted onto the committee and did a fantastic job in seeding all the entries. This took the committee many hours of frustrating work to evenly distribute provinces into the various sections.
Trevor Fryer created a spreadsheet to capture all the results and it must be noted that this was the first tournament (this being the 12th) to have accurate results by 4 pm on the closing day well in time for the prize giving. All the clubs that made their courts available did a sterling job in hosting our visitors and we have received compliments from Provinces and players. We had some fantastic sponsors thanks to the efforts of Kay Meyrick driving this portfolio and were able to make a handsome profit.
MASTERS SPRING LEAGUE
Hilton Masters Spring league were held at Hilton College and had an entry of 78 players. The courts have been upgraded and are in superior condition, the only drawback being the biometric door control making movement between courts tricky. Thanks to Andy for organizing the food, Trevor and Rob for running the bar and Ralf – Fleur de Lys for hosting our prize giving and dinner. Parts of the proceeds were used to purchase cooler boxes for Midlands Squash to be used at our various events.
DAVE SHORT IPT
Time Freight once again stepped up to the plate and sponsored this event. The Dave Short IPT was a great success. Collegians Club in particular Peter Wardel did a sterling job in catering to all our needs and functions. The use of this venue had proved be a winning formula with the players.
It has been proposed to SAM to consider allowing us to expand the 2016 tournament to 4 days instead of 2 to replace the Singles IPT as not all players are able to enter World Masters due to the time constraint of 1 week. Trevor Fryer has volunteered to create a survey to see if this will be viable.
LADDER TOURNAMENT
This had an entry of 32 players, top 16 Male and Female players played over 2 weeks. It has been agreed that this should be played over a period of 4 days as per all other tournaments.
MIDLANDS CLOSED
Thank you once again to Realize Academies for being the sponsors of this most prestigious event and congratulations to our Champs Justin Gouweloos and Noel Lee. To add to this tournament the committee has agreed to increase the prize money for 2016.
TIME FREIGHT WINTER LEAGUE
Winter League under the watchful eye of our new league secretary Rob Gouweloos started the year with some very helpful workshops to iron out all the grey areas in the league rules. Thank you Rob and all those who participated.
The league entries were down on 2014 by 10 teams which is a worry with one team pulling out early on in the season.
The effort of getting everyone to register and getting captains comfortable with capturing results on Sporty HQ has proved its worth. Their still seems to be some discrepancies though, with individual seedings, but hopefully this will be ironed out in 2016.
The season proved to be competitive and culminated in the Prize Giving being hosted by Eston Club, Club of the Year 2014. I would like to thank Pieta Erasmus and the Club for a most enjoyable evening.
Congratulations to all the league winners and to Collegians Club for winning Club of the year.
JARVIS KAPLAN CUP
Thank you to Time Freight for sponsoring the player’s kit and thank you to Mark Gouweloos for organizing all the logistics of getting our sides to Potchefstroom. Midlands was proud to enter 2 Men’s sides into the B and C sections and a Ladies side into the B section. The Capping ceremony was held in conjunction with our Steve Coppinger Exhibition evening. This has become one of the highlights of our squash calendar and a fitting forum for our top players to be recognized by our squash community, there were over 88 people here on the evening.
This year Midlands hosts the Jarvis Kaplan Cup and hopefully we may be able to enter more ladies sides to give more of our players an opportunity to partake in this prestigious event.
DEVELOPMENT
Midlands has continued with its development programme in hosting various road shows. I would like to thank Ravi Govender for all his efforts -they are most appreciated. We had a total of 127 prospective players attending these road shows which have been mostly funded by Squash SA. I hope that the incoming committee continues with this initiative to introduce the sport we love to as many prospective players as possible.
Doubles Squash is growing in leaps and bounds therefore we were very disappointed when the YMCA turned down our proposal to develop their 4 courts. Hopefully something else will materialize.
INTERTOWN
This annual event revived a few years ago is growing in strength and this last year we had 47 players entering. Thank you Andy Bone and Hein Koen for putting this event together. I am not sure who won the carrots but I know squash won the day.
SQUASH SA
As you all know the financial predicament Squash SA finds itself in as Lotto funding dries up ,and may not be available in the future, therefore I urge all of you to register every year in the various categories that have been made available.
League players = 120.00
Social Players = R 80.00
Scholars = R40.00
Development = free
It is no use in having a strong provincial union if we leave the main body floundering without the resources to allow our top players to compete at a National or International level.
MARKING CLINICS
This year was and odd year hence no marking clinic but 2016 will require 2 players from each league team to partake in a marking clinic, [please take advantage of the clinic hosted by Midlands as some of the clubs found out it’s not easy to fulfill this requirement on your own.
FINANCE
I would like to thank Steve Colenbrander for filing all the outstanding documents required by SARS that were necessary for the validation if our Union as a Non-Profit Organization. This should assist any prospective sponsors in the future. On this point I would like to thank Time Freight and Etienne van Ravesteyn for his unbelievable support over the past years. You have enabled our Union to grow from strength to strength.
Before I hand over Trevor I would just like to thank all my committee Gail, Kay, Andy, Craig, Mark, Rob, Trevor, Janine, and Vikash for their tireless efforts in making everything run so smoothly, thank you to Rennisha Larkin for running the office so professionally and lastly to thank Felix for allowing me this opportunity to devote so much time to the sport that I love over the past 3 years.
I wish the incoming committee well and good luck for 2016
Yours in Squash
Cathy Jackson
Chairperson
Midlands Squash Union