See PSA players in action @ APM Kelowna Open! Entry deadline Nov 1!

PSA Challenger Tour Event should not be missed! A 2018 article in PSA article highlighted Squash's true physical demands, comparing PSA players' athletic efforts to other sports. So take part in. and get inspired by, the great squash action at the APM Kelowna Open which features a $10K Professional Squash Association Challenger Tour event. Nothing compares to a squash game! Above: Tarek Momen as featured in PSA 2018 article

The PSA tournament will begin on Wednesday Nov 6th, with finals on Nov 10th. Viewing of all PSA matches is included in the amateur tournament entry fee. The amateur tournament will run from Friday November 8th to 10th. There may be Thursday matches for local competitors. Sign up now! There will be Men's and Women's Open and A,B,C,D and Master's 50+ and 60+ divisions (divisions may be combined based on registration). And new for this year will be a Junior U14 silver draw. Highlights:  - 3 matches guaranteed. - Friday casual dinner and Saturday banquet and party. - Viewing of PSA matches is included in registration. - Quality prizes for all divisions from Oliver Sport. - Quality Oliver tournament shirt souvenir. - Silent Auction. - Morning coffee, muffins, and fruit. And much more! - This year's Saturday banquet will once again be held in a private room at Global Fitness - preferred hotel rates are available at: Kelowna Sandman Hotel and Suites. Single queen room: $95.00, Double queen room: $106.00, All rates are subject to applicable taxes and are based per room, per night. Call 1-800-726-3626 or 1-250-860-6409 to book. Quote rate code: 621301

2019 BC Open Singles Squash Championships presented by Nicola Wealth Management! The Championships are being held at the beautiful Vancouver Lawn Tennis & Badminton Club November 20 - 24. The tournament is always well attended with competitive draws of men, women, masters and will feature a minimum prize purse of $3000 for the Open draws. Plus a Lighting Round tournament of $500. Categories Men's & Women's Open, A, B, C, D, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+. Entry includes a quality hoodie, food vouchers, Steamworks beer, prizes, lighting round and guaranteed two matches. Early bird sign up special before Nov 6. $49 Juniors or $59 Adults. Regular $59 Juniors & $69 Adults Out of town players can start Nov 22. Locals might have to start Nov 20. Sign up now!

Nelson No Frills 2019 Nov 22-24 This is the first of Nelson's two main squash tournaments held each season at the Nelson Squash Club and Social Lounge. Players from all over congregate in Nelson for fun and very competitive squash. From last year's photos, people had a great time! Don't miss out! Sign up now!

BC Juniors

The BC Junior Open had a challenging start with 30 players from Victoria being stranded at the Ferries for 7 hours due to wind warnings. Play started for the island crew at around 10pm on Friday evening. This posed some scheduling challenges but by mid day Saturday everything was back on track. Picture right : (L > R: Tournament Director - Thomas Brinkman, GU19: 2nd place - Gabriel Yun, winner - Jason Herring, 3rd place - James Toth, Squash BC Junior Development Committee Co-Chair Simon Bicknell) BC Junior Open 2019 The talent on the weekend was very impressive with Jason Herring (Victoria) winning an exciting Boys U19 final (see feature below) and Lucia Bicknell (Evergreen) capturing the Girls U19 title.  A big thanks to our Volunteers, Referees, and our sponsors: Oliver Sport, North Shore Medical Imaging, Infra-Link, and Riaz Mavani.

Congratulations to: BU19 winner Jason Herring, runner up Gabriel Yun GU19 winner Lucia Bicknell, runner up Sarah Cao BU17 winner Dayton Bracewell, runner up William Rutter GU17 winner Ocean Ma, runner up Juliana Angel BU15 winner Morven Liu, runner up Roman Bicknell GU13 winner Yu Ying Ng, runner up Veera Dhaliwal BU13 winner Yusuf Matti-Alvarez, runner up Tristan Bracewell BU11 winner Daniel Tiwana, runner up Christopher Adriaanse Picture Left (L>R Tournament Director Thomas Brinkman, GU19 2nd place Sarah Cao, winner Lucia Bicknell)

Victoria's Jason Herring Blasts to #1 in the U19 division of the BC Junior Open Squash Championships

Victoria's own Jason Herring earned the #1 title in the highly competitive U19 category of the BC Junior Open Squash Championships at the Evergreen Squash Club in North Vancouver. Herring entered the tournament seeded #7 thundered through each match and ultimately won the coveted #1 title away from tournament #3 seed Gabriel Yun of Richmond. After over a decade of playing squash, this excellent performance was the first time Herring made it to this level of finals, attributing the win from an intense training program. " I worked hard every day with a goal to get better and improve " said Herring. The next test for the seventeen year old St. Michaels student will be the upcoming Alberta Jesters tournament with even more elevated level of high performance competition. " I am determined to keep improving and winning " said Herring.

Junior Silver Tournaments

With many of the top junior players from BC away competing at the Alberta Jesters Junior Open on the same weekend, two Squash BC member clubs (Cedar Hill in Victoria and Hollyburn in West Vancouver) are hosting events to give the next level of juniors an opportunity to gain valuable tournament experience for future events down the road.

Vancouver Island Junior Silver Nov 8-9 Please enter the "SUPERSTARS" category when you sign-up. You will then be sorted into tournament brackets based around skill level. This will allow players to get some great quality matches throughout the Friday evening and Saturday. First Match times will be released on November 5th! The tournament will run during the Friday evening (PIZZA NIGHT!) and Saturday morning and afternoon! Every participant will be getting a Gatorade too! There will also be prizes to be had as well! Please feel free to email or call Ian Sefton at iansefton@gmail.com if you have any questions about this event. Sign up now! Hollyburn Junior Open Silver Championships Nov 9-10 If you have participated in one or more junior pathway events, this is a great opportunity to try some match play at your first tournament! Draws will be created based on ranking with boys and girls players blended. Maximum draw size will be 16 players. * Players aged 9+ will be placed into ranking based draws with all matches taking place on Fri from 6-9pm and Sat from 9am-6pm. * Boys and Girls Under 9 (7&8 years old) are asked to enter the age specific category and will play all their matches on Saturday. Entry package includes: * smoothie voucher (valid Saturday only) * Saturday pizza lunch * Event prizes * Draw prizes * 3-4 match guarantee Sign up now!

2019 Canadian Junior Open Registration deadline for the 2019 Canadian Junior Open is noon, Nov 14. Click here to visit the tournament website.

Junior Pathways

Squash BC has partnered with our member club coaches and pros to develop, implement and support a vibrant Junior Pathways Development Program that encourages kids to take up the sport, helps them develop their skills and progressively introduces them to competition.    With financial support from the  2020 Fund , the program is a cornerstone to engaging, growing and maintaining a strong base of junior athletes. Upcoming events include:

Developing Event @ VRC Nov 16 (1-4 pm) This Junior Pathway event being run by Andrew Mount at the Vancouver Racquets Club Club will involve: skills acquisition, drills, coach assessment and cooperative play with a focus on skills execution! This is a perfect event to get ready for the next-level event (the Progressive at Jericho further below) VRC Event - Sign up here!

This mini-tournament for juniors new to the tournament squash scene where they will be introduced to proper match play, reffing, and good sportsmanship habits. Progressive Event @ Jericho Dec 1 (1-4 pm) The first hour allows will include timed games and round robin (allowing kids to play everyone and coaches to 'seed' kids into groups). The remaining time will involve competitive play based on the results of groupings, playing 2-3 matches. Jericho event - Sign up here!

The 2020 Fund was established in 2000 by Squash BC to help protect the future of squash in British Columbia. As funding from government and other sources becomes less predictable, it is important to find alternative ways to ensure a sound financial future for the sport of squash. The income accumulated through the 2020 Fund is used to promote the growth of the game through the development of junior squash. By establishing a vibrant and well-financed junior program, Squash BC will take a major step toward a successful future for the sport in this province.  To donate to the 2020 Fund, click here .

Women & Girls in Squash

World No.1 Raneem El Welily of Egypt in action against Camille Serme of France.  Photo credit to CNN article Women's squash world champion to earn more than men's winner On Oct 24, 2019 CNN reported that " In a potentially groundbreaking move, the women's world squash champion will win more money than her male counterpart this year."... Read full article here

On Oct 5 Squash BC in partnership with the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS) presented the Emerging Female Leaders Forum at Squash BC member club, the Lakeshore Racquet Club , in Summerland. The forum, the first of its kind for Squash BC, was developed for the squash community and focused to increase squash participation and retention of women and in British Columbia. Many thanks to our community partners: Emerging Female Leaders Forum Attendees learned about current trends in sport through the keynote presentation by Jennifer Fenton (Sport BC Board Director /ProMOTION Plus Committee, CAAWS Facilitator) and the panel perspective of Carolyn Gillespie (PacificSport Okanagan). During the panel session and the round table discussions the attendees learned about proven best practices and heard relevant insights from the sport and squash community. The Forum brought together like-minded squash players in a fun and informative afternoon of sharing, learning and socializing for the betterment of women’s squash in B.C. Click here for highlights & round table notes

Coaching & Officiating

The next Coaching Foundations Course will be at Cedar Hill in Victoria. Click here to learn more & sign up Well Done, Jessica! Squash BC and the Squash Community would like to congratulate Jessica Evans for achieving her Squash Instructor Certification! Jessica took the Foundations Coaching Course in March 2018, completed three multi-sport modules over 2019, took the squash instructor evaluation on October 5th and then got certified when she completed the Make Ethical Decisions online evaluation on October 12th! Jessica has been an active volunteer and squash supporter for the Chilliwack Squash Club at the Cheam and Mission Leisure Centres. Most recently she was the Female Ambassador at the Women's Squash Week 2019 events held there. With her new certification she is well positioned to provide instruction to beginner players (both adults and juniors). Well Done, Jessica!

Congratulations, Jimmy! Jimmy Valliere successfully completed all the Officiating requirements to become a Provincial Assessor! Quality and consistency of officiating is essential to the game of squash. Proper training and certification helps ensure that officials are knowledgeable and capable of calling a good, fair game. Squash BC is part of a nation wide officiating program that has been set up and maintained by Squash Canada. Squash Canada’s Officials Certification Program allows officials to progress from the initial Club Referee status to National Referee status; a journey which typically takes between six to eight years. Jimmy achieved his Provincial-level Official Certification at the 2018 BC Open. With his Provincial Assessor qualification he can now a ssess and upgrade other Referees up to the Provincial level. Jimmy is a previous Squash BC board member who continues to devote many volunteer hours to the Officiating Program through the Officiating Task Force. Squash BC and the Squash Community thanks Jimmy for his commitment to the officiating program and congratulates him on his recent achievement!

Get the Basics! Take the Squash Canada Online Officiating Course Squash Canada Online Officiating Course ($35, about 1 hour to complete) includes   HD videos of challenging Referee decisions that help you become a better Referee.  When you pass the online test at the end (80% to pass), you will be certified as a Squash Canada Club Referee. To access click the  Online Certification Course  link  via this Squash Canada webpage

Save the Date Doubles Players! Squash "Offi"icionados, Brian Covernton and Greg Desaulniers, will be running the annual doubles officiating clinic on January 18th, 2020 from 9 am to 1 pm at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club. Mark your calendars! More information to follow.

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