FOR DISTRIBUTION TO ALL CLUB MEMBERS AND TO BE DISPLAYED ON CLUB NOTICE BOARDS PLEASE!! Midlands Squash Union – Newsletter for 2019 Our new Committee, as elected at the AGM held on 21nd January 2019, saw a few changes. We say thank you for all the hard work and farewell to Janine Talbot & Amit Maharaj who have stepped down from the MSU Committee. We welcome Kathy Jacob, Cameron Marion and Andrew Pratt onto the MSU Committee. Rob Gouweloos was elected as the new Chairperson and Kay Meyrick the Vice Chairperson. Andrew Barnes (League Secretary), Trevor Fryer (Treasurer), Gail Howes, Kim Gouweloos and Mark Gouweloos were all re-elected. As always at the beginning of a season there is a lot of work to plan and get through for the upcoming year. We have a very dedicated team and I look forward to steering them through the year as they handle their various portfolios. We have a very full squash calendar, catering for all squash players, including our Masters and our Juniors… see the attached Calendar and the MASTERS ENTRY FORM. REPS MEERTING The REPS meeting was held on Monday the 11th of February 2019. It is very pleasing to see that we have retained the same number of leagues (68) in the combined league and 2 more than last year in the ladies’ league (24). All the leagues are pretty evenly subscribed, except for 8th league that only has 6 sides. MASTERS SUBSCRIPTIONS Your subscription fee for 2019 is R400.00. This includes the SA Masters Squash levy of R125.00. Membership is open to anyone 35 years and older. All Masters whose subs are paid by the end of April will also receive a Masters’ shirt. Payment of your Masters subs also allows you free entry into the “Midlands Masters Spring League” should you elect to play. This fee is not applicable to our honorary life members. The proof of payment and duly completed Masters form attached to this newsletter must be emailed to the MSU office info@midlandssquash.co.za Our banking details are as follows: Name: MIDLANDS SQUASH UNION Bank: NEDBANK Branch Code: 134025 (HAYFIELDS) Account Number: 1340539993 Reference: YOUR NAME SQUASH SA REGISTRATION There has been no increase from Squash SA on the registration fee for 2019. All players participating in any league or tournament are required to register with Squash SA at the cost of R 120.00 per annum. How to register and pay has been circulated to all Midlands Players, and most clubs will do a bulk registration, but you can register and pay individually if you choose to. If you are not sure how to register let Rennisha know and she will gladly assist you. ROADSHOWS AND DEVELOPMENT We will continue with our Development of Squash in the form of Road Shows which was held during February. The development roadshows are proving to be very successful and enjoyed by all ages. INTERTOWN – Coordinator: Kay Meyrick The first Inter Town takes place on Saturday the 16th March in Durban and is open to all Midlands players. Rennisha has sent out the details and a reminder email will follow soon. It will be great to have some of our strong players participating. The second Inter Town is a master’s event and will take place later in the year in preparation for IPT Doubles. This is always a good measure for ours and KZN’s Doubles IPT sides prior to the Tournament. LADDER TOURNAMENT – Coordinator: Mark Gouweloos This will be held over one week from the 4th to the 8th of March and will be coordinated by Mark Gouweloos and his capable team. There is sure to be some great squash as we see the first big battle on the court for seeding on the Midlands ladder. All matches to be played at Collegians. MASTERS SOCIAL DOUBLES – Coordinator: Kim Gouweloos This will be held on Friday 12TH April at Collegians starting at 5.30pm. The cost is only R80 for paid up members and R100 for non-members. Please diarise it now. Bring your own meat for the braai and Midlands Squash will sponsor the balls, lights, charcoal, salads and bread rolls. Please contact Rennisha on 063-2268611 or at info@midlandssquash.co.za should you be a master’s player and wish to participate. Rennisha will also be on hand that night should you wish to pay your 2019 Masters Squash subscription and entry fees. Please remember to bring the duly completed form, as provided at the end of this newsletter. REALISE ACADEMIES MIDLANDS CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS – Coordinator: Mark Gouweloos This will be held from Monday 6-10 May 2019 at various squash courts in PMB under the watchful leadership of Mark Gouweloos and his willing team of coordinators. There will be no league during this week. All plate finals will be played at Collegians on the Thursday night and the finals take place on Friday followed by the prize-giving and cocktail party, culminating in the announcement of our Growthpoint IPT teams. Entry Forms will be sent out via email and can be downloaded from the Midlands website. PROFILE PROPERTY WINTER LEAGUE - League Secretary: Andrew Barnes Profile Property has once again agreed to sponsor Midlands Squash for 2019. I would like to thank Garth Ware from Profile Property for his continued support of the Midlands Squash fraternity. The Reps meeting was held on the 11th February 2019 and a total of 92 teams have entered – 68 in the combined league and 24 in the ladies’ league-- up by 2 from last year!!! Well done all. Winter League commences on the 16th April and ends on the 18th September. The hosting policy remains the same. Please be courteous and notify your opposition timeously if you are not staying for a meal. It is compulsory that Juniors wear protective eye wear for all matches. This is a Squash SA rule. Results will be entered on SportyHQ and all players are encouraged to sign up to track results, logs and rankings. You can sign up by going onto the SportyHQ website www.sportyhq.com Midlands Squash will be arranging a visual display on how to and how not to mark a squash match. Marking Clinics will be held on the 22 February and 13 March 2019 and it is compulsory for a minimum of 2 players per league team attend. Last year, the Men’s 1st league teams played the final fixtures at Collegians, this was extremely successful having all matches played at one venue and we will be doing the same this year. HANDBOOKS Hand books will no longer be provided for winter league. All fixtures will be mailed to the Clubs in a printable PDF format. It will also be available on the MSU website. Advertising is still very welcome and will form part of the PDF document for winter league. MASTERS DAVE SHORT IPT – Coordinator: Andrew Pratt This prestigious tournament will be coordinated by our very capable Andrew Pratt and his team of willing assistants. The dates for the 32nd Dave Short Masters IPT are from Friday the 31st May to Sunday 2nd June. The entry fee will be R575.00. All the functions will be held at Collegians, ending with the ever-popular braai on the Sunday. GROWTH POINT IPT – Coordinator: Mark Gouweloos The Jarvis / Kaplan Cup tournament has been renamed and this will be held in Durban from the 8-12 July. This is a highlight of the Squash Calendar. Our Men’s teams have begun their preparation under the watchful eye of Mark Gouweloos. Tristan and Josh will both be returning this year to play in the Men’s A Team. NB: It must be noted that a Province only qualifies to send a team to The Growthpoint IPT if all winter league players are registered on Sporty HQ. MASTERS SINGLES IPT – Coordinator: Gail Howes This is being held in Pretoria from the 6th to the 10th September. The men’s age groups have been altered as such (35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65 upward, GOLDEN OLDIES). The ladies’ sections will still be played according to strength. MASTERS DOUBLES IPT – Coordinator: Kay Meyrick 2019 will see us all travelling to East London form the 6th to 9th November. We will keep you all updated on tournament news once we receive it. MASTERS SPRING LEAGUE - Coordinator: Kay Meyrick This will be moving to Collegians this year as our arrangement with Hilton College has come to an end. The league runs from the 7th October to 25th November. The format of having singles and doubles has proven very successful and we intend keeping the format the same. To avoid disappointment in not getting a “slot” in this popular tournament, please pay your Masters’ subscriptions early, as members have first choice. SPORTY HQ There have been a lot of queries from clubs regarding the Sporty HQ subscription of R120.00 that each player has to make each year and where these monies are distributed. Squash SA have confirmed that the money collected from SportyHQ subs are put back into squash and the following events received funding from Squash SA: SA Junior team to the World Championships S A Masters World Doubles Universities to World Championships WSF Affiliation Fees SFA Affiliation fees WSF AGM S A Women’s team There were also amounts contributed to S A Closed & S A Open tournaments GENERAL Please note that our P O Box number is no longer in use due to email being generally preferred. Note our office email address to use is : info@midlandssquash.co.za You can also find us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/MidlandsSquashUnion/, or our web site : www:midlandsquash.co.za and we have a WhatsApp group, please contact Rennisha to get you added so you don’t miss out on what is happening in the squash community. Please ensure that when depositing any monies into our account that you put your name in as a reference. We look forward to your participation in our tournaments, failing which, it would be great to see you supporting and watching Midlands Squash at these above-mentioned events. Yours in Squash Rob Gouweloos Chairperson Midlands Squash Union
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |