U.S. SQUASH is considering these changes to the Junior Squash competitive structure for the 2008-2009 season. There are four different categories where important changes will take place: national championships, tournament structure and formats, rankings, and team selection criteria.
National Championships—National Championships (Junior Championships, Silver, Bronze) are geared towards giving tournament players who participated during the season an opportunity to compete against players of their own age and/or skill. The qualifications to play in the National Championships are proposed to include competing in one “Junior Championship Tour” event and earning a minimum of three (3) exposures. Also, players will be limited to competing in only one (1) National Championship.
Tournament structure and formats—U.S. SQUASH seeks to launch the “Junior Championship Tour” (evolved from the previous Selection Tour) events and will consist of six regular season events and two post-season events. The regular season Tour will have six tournaments, four located on the East Coast, one in the Mid-West and one West coast event. Players competing in these events will earn points towards U.S Team and Selection events. The “Gold” tournaments will all be renamed as “Open” and these tournaments will be closely monitored and restricted by U.S. SQUASH to limit date, geographical, and tournament conflicts. The structure of silver and bronze tournaments will stay the same as the previous season.
Rankings—Rankings will be published on the first Monday of every month, shifting away from weekly published rankings of the past. The monthly published rankings will determine a player’s tournament level eligibility for the following month. There will be a single cutoff date for all the National tournaments where players will qualify for the Junior Championships, Silver and Bronze Championships, all based on this one date. Any tournaments that are played after the cutoff date will count towards the following season’s rankings. Players in all age groups seeking a Top-16 ranking will be required to compete in either two “Junior Championship Tour” events or one “Junior Championship Tour” event and the U.S. Junior Championships. All players will be required to earn a minimum of five (5) exposures to get a Final Season ranking.
Team Selection—Players who are competing for U.S. Team selection will be able to earn points from the U.S. SQUASH Junior Championship Tour events. This will include six regular season Junior Championship Tour tournaments, the Junior Championships, and a 16-player invitational tournament for the highest ranked players competing for the team.
For more detailed information on all of the changes in Junior Squash for the 2008-09 season, please visit us-squash.org/juniors.
U.S. Junior Team Preps in Rochester
Just over a month before the US Junior Men’s Squash Team headed off to Switzerland for the 2008 Junior Men’s World Championships (Jul. 27-Aug. 7), Head Coach Martin Heath welcomed the eight team members for a week-long training camp in Rochester, New York (June 23-29). Team members Todd Harrity, Nick Sisodia, Alex and Matt Domenick, Thomas Mattson, Clay Blackiston, Adam Perkiomaki and Chris Hanson—along with assistant coach Adam Hamill and former World No. 4 Paul Johnson—joined U23 Squash members John Fulham, Chris Callis and Graham Bassett for six days of training and matches in preparation for the Worlds.
In addition to a rigorous training regiment, the week was marked by team building exercises, including a round of golf at the prestigious Oak Hill Country Club and tubing on Lake Canadiga.
The highlight of the camp came when Monroe County officially proclaimed Tuesday, June 23, as “Squash Day,” and two days later, Mayor Robert Duffy followed suit by declaring June 25 as Squash Day in the city of Rochester.
Look for complete results and coverage of the Worlds in the next issue of Squash Magazine.
