The Junior county championships were held at Northern for the 2019/20 season recently and once again it proved to be a very successful event for our junior players.
UNDER 11s There were only two entrants in the girls competition and one of those was the daughter of ladies first team player and coach, Karen Heron, unfortunately Jess wasn’t strong enough for Sophie Johnson ( Jesmond ) and went down 3 - 0. The boys event had 10 entrants, all from Northern, and the quality on display was exceptional. Aidan Mahoney and Sam Tufton made the final and it was a thrill packed affair. Sam went 2 - 0 up but Aidan then won the third 11 - 0. The match hinged on the fourth, where Sam held two match balls but couldn't close it out and Aidan won it 12- 10. Aidan then ran away with the fifth to win the title.
UNDER 13s Eight of the nine entrants in the under 13 girls competition were from Northern and the top three finishers were Shae Paterson, Kate Naisbitt and Ava Naisbitt. Shae is ranked top 20 in the country and is 18 months older than the Naisbitt twins but they pushed her hard to the title with both girls taking a game off her. The U13 boys event was totally dominated by Northern's Sam Ponente. He steam rollered his way through the draw and took on Jesmond's Tom Watts in the final. Sam was in total control to win 11/4, 11/7, 11/4. Watch out for this pocket rocket as he continues to improve.
UNDER 15s Our best performers in the U15 events were Sam Ponente who finished 3rd ( two events and 6 matches in one weekend .. oh to be young again! ) and Zoe Shipsey who managed a 3rd place finish in the girls event.
UNDER 17s Katie Barker is following in her big sister's footprints and captured yet another County championship by beating Emily King ( Tynemouth ) 3 - 0 in the final of the U17 girls. Katie is only 15, so she has another pop at this event next year... the other girls had better get practising! The boys event proved to be one of the closest finals of the weekend. Matthew Thompson was up against Tom Walsh from Tynemouth. These two have done battle many times through the years and this one proved to be one of their closest ever m atches. Tom took a very close first game but that was equalled when Matthew sneaked the second. Matthew stormed through the third very quickly and the fourth then proved to be pivotal. Tom got any early lead and then Matthew pegged him back to 10 all. Tom held his nerve, though to win that game 12 – 10 and then led all the way through the fifth to take the title.
UNDER 19s Two of our best ever junior girls battled it out for the girls U19 championship. Megan Evans and Harriet Wight are both previous county champions, indeed Megan was defending champion having won the event last season. Harriet won the first, Megan the second. Harriet came storming back to win the third. Pressure on and Megan was able to call on her recent experience, playing at the junior world championships .. the next two games were really close but Megan managed to win them 11/6, 11/9 to take the title. Andrew Shipley is Northern's number one player but he has never won a county championship. There is a very good reason for this ... England international Max Forster! This year, however , it wasn`t Max that beat Andrew but his body. He pulled up with an hamstring injury at the end of the first game. We have heard that Max might be travelling to the USA on a squash scholarship .. perhaps Andrew might get one more chance to take that elusive county championship.
This is the second year that Dave Barnett has organised the junior county closed at Northern and it proved a tremendous success with nearly 90 entries, with nearly three quarters of them from the home club. Five county champions and a host of runners up too ... Northern’s junior section just keeps going from strength to strength.
