KENT SQUASH AND RACKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Annual General Meeting, Monday August 17th 2009
At the David Lloyd Club, Dartford

Chairman’s Report

This has been a devastating year for Kent Squash and Racketball with the tragic passing of our long-serving County Secretary Ian Wright. Ian’s loyalty to the county spanned more than 40 years and his impact on the game was measured by the large number of friends from throughout the squash world who attended both his funeral and the reception afterwards at Bexley Tennis and Squash Club.

Tributes flowed in from every sector of the sport he loved so much and did so much to develop, and it was only after his sudden death that we realised just how many tasks he had undertaken and how great a contribution he made to squash and racketball in this county and beyond.

Once again our fondest sympathies are accorded to his widow, Judy, and daughters Sally and Dee.

To honour Ian’s memory, England Squash and Racketball have named the National Racketball Championship trophies in his honour and the Kent SRA will be doing the same with the county squash and racketball championships.

We always knew that filling Ian’s shoes would be a difficult, almost impossible, task, requiring a team of volunteers to take on the many and varied roles he had performed for so long.

I am grateful to Mike Sofianos and Len Locke for instantly agreeing to step in as treasurer and secretary, and I am delighted that Joe Magor has agreed to act as joint secretary with specific responsibility for tournaments.

Joe has been extremely active with organising new tournaments in Canterbury, and is usually the first name on the list to support other events all over the county. With tournaments at Bexley, Thanet and numerous events at The Mote, Kent has certainly been the most active county in the UK in providing competitive opportunities for players of a variety of standards.

Mike Sofianos is to be thanked for unravelling a very complicated financial position, with little help, it has to be recorded, from the banks that held on to the county’s funds and behaved in a somewhat obstructive fashion.

We apologise to those who were forced to wait several weeks for county expenses to be paid, but Mike has the situation under control and is setting up new systems to manage the county’s finances in a professional manner.

KENT COUNTY SUCCESSES:

During the season many county teams enjoyed considerable success at national level, from the under-13 boys to the over-50 and over-55 men and the racketball team.

Congratulations also to Mandy Akin on winning the National Over-45s final in Manchester.

Also, a big well done to Kent players Adrian Grant and Ben Ford for their successes on the PSA World Tour, with Adrian now in the world top ten for the first time.

JUNIOR COACHING AND DEVELOPMENT:

Much of the junior administration has now passed to Martin Rintoul, who has volunteered to be the new County Junior Organiser. He is a talented and experienced international coach and we are delighted to have him on board. It seems likely that the girls will now join the boys for coaching sessions and so it will be his responsibility to liaise with Ben Ford and Mary Scott-Miller to arrange training/coaching sessions, book the coaches, book courts, set up payment schemes for parents and liaise with the Treasurer to make sure that fees are paid and that coaches are remunerated.

NEW COUNTY KIT

Martin is also organising new kit for all the county squads, both juniors and seniors.

NEW-LOOK COACHING STRUCTURE

We now have a team of qualified coaches on board to launch a top-class coaching and development structure to support Ben Ford.

As well as the full county squads, we can now operate Feeder Groups at local level in three areas of the county (SE London, Mid-Kent and East Kent)

There will be a degree of flexibility to allow coaches to work across all three groups if required. The idea is for all feeder groups to meet fortnightly at least to accelerate the players’ development potential

These sessions will also to be open to senior club players who are keen to progress to county squad standard.

THANKS

As always, our grateful thanks go to all the volunteer workers who have kept the wheels turning in the Priory League, Outer Kent League and Kent Junior League, and the county captains, team managers, players and coaches who have given up so much of their time to help the Kent SRA and support the game we love.

Alan Thatcher
Chairman, Kent SRA
August 2009