CHRISTMAS BLOG

This has been a dramatic year for all those involved in Kent squash and racketball. The tragic death of our long-serving secretary, Ian Wright, brought home to us all the enormity of the tasks he undertook for the benefit of the game.

Finding a team of people to take over the tasks he carried out became our number one priority and we are grateful to Len Locke, Mike Sofianos and Joe Magor for stepping forward to share a massive workload.

The search for new officers continues and we are delighted to welcome Naomi Duthie, a talented player, coach and administrator, to the county team as we embark on some ambitious plans for 2010.

KENT OPEN
The biggest squash event in Kent for many years takes place in June 2010 with the Kent Open being staged at The Mote Squash Club in Maidstone.

Alongside a professional, world-ranking PSA tournament from June 3-6, we will be staging a Kent Squash and Racketball Festival for players of all ages. The finals of these events will take place during the main event, thereby providing a genuine link between the world's leading players and the grass roots of the game.

In addition, plans are in hand for a number of coaching development programmes to introduce squash to schools and attract significant numbers of new participants.

Meetings are currently under way to ensure that sufficient funding and sponsorship is in place to undertake all of the various elements of the Tournament and the Festival.

We believe that the publicity, promotions and development activities surrounding the events will give the game a massive boost here in Kent.

We are grateful to The Mote Squash Club and Harrow Rackets for their generous support. Agreements are currently being drawn up and we hope to be in a position to make a major announcement early in the New Year. We also hope to add a number of sponsors between now and June.

To make this a big success, we will be looking for support from EVERY squash club in the Priory and Outer Kent Leagues.

We were all disappointed that squash failed to make it into the Oympics, but the way we will impress the IOC is to raise the profile of our sport at every level.

Events like this will certainly help that process. As we look back on the year, Kent has certainly been the busiest county in the UK when it comes to staging tournaments, with events at Bexley, Canterbury, Thanet and The Mote.

With many more tournaments to follow in 2010, it promises to be a massive year for Kent Squash and Racketball.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

As County Chairman, I am delighted to send Christmas Greetings to every player in Kent and to wish you all a happy and healthy time in 2010. If you want to make a New Year's Resolution, then how about every one of you promising to introduce at least one new player to the game? As a well-known supermarket says, Every Little Helps.