Michael Mattimore was awarded the prestigious John Dale trophy during the recent junior county closed championships.
Many older squash players will remember John Dale as an ex national junior champion and multiple county champion who sadly passed away in his early 30s after bravely battling cancer for 10 years. John was a tremendous advert for Northumbria squash as he always played the game with a smile and left a positive impression on everyone he met.
It was decided to award a trophy in John's name at the end of every season to the junior who best represented the county and for the 2011/2012 season it was awarded to Michael.
During the season Michael won numerous England Squash tournaments , achieved a number two national ranking and to cap off a fine season was picked to represent England in the home internationals. In addition to his squash achievements Michael has worked really hard on his mental approach to the game and is a credit to our county and club when he travels around the country to play in tournaments.
Michael was in year 3 at Dinnington first school when we started our first school visits seven years ago!
I`m doing our school visits again this Autumn , lets hope we turn up another Michael!
