Shield announcement a feature of awards

The Squash Central Awards were held last weekend at the Whanganui Squash Club.

A total of 42 nominations were submitted from the clubs, showcasing the fantastic people of squash in the region.

A special announcement was made with the introduction next year of the Leevey Shield, which will be awarded at the Central Senior Rep One Day fixture against Waikato.

The shield is being donated by Tamsyn Leevey and her family, who have strong ties with both districts.

The shield will be unveiled at the event, which is being held at Kawaroa Park next year.

Kawaroa’s Mike Jack took out the Referee of the Year award.

He was the appointed tournament referee for the Palmerston North PSA in June and officiated at the Senior Nationals and North Island Junior Age Groups.

Jack is also on the New Zealand Squash referees panel.

Kaye Carter, also of Kawaroa, won this year’s Women’s Masters (Lois Mill Tray) award.

Carter won the Central Masters this year at Inglewood.

She was selected for the Central Masters Rep team that attended the National Masters in Tauranga.

She was also in the Kawaroa Park B grade women’s team that competed at the Super Champs Nationals.

On the court she is busy coaching, in particular many ladies and juniors and the Taranaki Zone Squad.

The Administrator of the Year award (Sharron & Warren Patterson Trophy) went to Caroline Kuklinski from the Ha¯ wera Tennis and Squash Club.

She has been involved in the club for the last 16 years and is currently the secretary for the club.

Kuklinski spends all her spare time helping with coordinating events.

She was involved in an exhibition match which brought two Commonwealth games players to Ha¯ wera.

She is has been team captain for both tennis and squash

Melville Holmes, who is also from Ha¯ wera, won the Volunteer Contributor to Squash (Central Squash Trophy) award.

He has been involved with the club for many years and is currently the men’s club captain.

He organises business house squash, interclub squash, tournaments and championships.

Holmes organised and ran an exhibition match with Lance Beddoes Management at Ha¯ wera and he will run another exhibition match between Paul Coll (World #8) and Diego Elias (World #12) in December

The Club of the Year (Carson Family Trophy) was won by Kawaroa Park Squash Club from New Plymouth.

The club has had an outstanding year this year and hosted a national squash event for the third consecutive year.

Membership numbers have soared this year, up 17 per cent from the 2017 season, with an astonishing 34 per cent increase in the number of junior members participating.

The club also had a team in every division of the district super champs event.

The club hosted 16 teams from around the nation for the national B grade super champs.