Warwickshire League 1st Team Mid. Season Report 2011-2012.

This was my 3rd year as captain for the 1st team and having finished in 3rd place in 2010 and 2nd place in 2011 I was looking to go one further and get C&NW back to their winning ways. Unfortunately what I hadn't take into consideration was how much the other teams had strengthened their line-ups with the additions of Chris Ryder and Chris Trusswell - West Warwks, Jamie Haycock and Richard Birks - Sutton, Chris Tasker - Priory, which is just a selection of the standard we were putting ourselves up against!

Having said that we got off to a reasonable start with 4 wins out of 6; wins were against Solihull, Kenilworth, Cleaver 1 and 2 and the losses against Birmingham Uni and West Warks. We then entered a bad patch of 4 losses in a row (Priory 1 & 2, Leamington and Sutton) which meant we reached the half way point with 4 wins and 6 losses; the fact we suffered injuries to our no.1 seed Luke Rawlins and also our no.2 seed Danny O'Hara didn't help the cause either.............might as well get the excuses out now!!!

So my original goal at the start of the season "to win the league" has come down a notch or two, due to our current position; we have played 4 games this side of Christmas and having won 1 of the 4 (win against Solihull, losses against Kenilworth, B'ham Uni & West Warks) we are currently sitting in 8th place out of 11 which leaves us one place above the relegation zone. I am determined to have a strong finish to the season and being realistic I think we have a chance of winning 3 of the remaining 6 matches which should see us safe in the top division. Revised target is to get 8 wins on the board by the end of the season.

Over the 5 years I have been playing at Cov and NW it is clear how much the standard has improved in the Warwickshire league, which is great to see as long as these players remain loyal to their clubs / league and don't just play for one season and then move on. We continue to stick to our principles by not paying for top players and in return we try to make up for this by fielding a consistent team every week. This is becoming harder and harder as our 1st team squad has depleted over the years with the loss of James Bowden, Mark Soule and Phil Cullinane (to name a few) who were top 1st team players and we haven't really been able to replace them (bar Luke Rawlins) so we need to seriously look at who we can attract to the club for the 2012/13 season.

Hopefully I will be updating you at the end of the season with confirmation that Cov & NW remains in the top flight division for squash.

Brett Green - Warwickshire League 1st Team captain

Warwickshire League 2nd Team. No Mid season report 2011-2012

Warwickshire League 3rd Team Mid. Season Report 2011-2012.

Up to January we had played had played 10 games of which 6 of those were away games and we were placed in 3rd place up to Jan. Since Jan we have played a further 3 games of which 2 were home games. A good win over Kenilworth and a 20 nil drubbing of Kingsheath has left us 7 points behind the leaders Solihull Arden who we are playing on Monday 6th Feb. If we win....we got top, A great achievement from all the players that have turned out for the clubs 3rd team. Lets keep it up and finish top and go to heady heights of division 3.

Daz Sharpe - Wawickshire League 3rd Team captain

Midland League 1st Team Mid. Season Report 2011-2012.

The Midlands League is a very strong league to be competing in. 9 teams from all over the midlands in one league, having the aim to be the best. Many professional squash players will play in this league so the standard of squash is high.

This is my 2nd year being captain of the Midlands team and after finishing 2nd last season there was only one place I wanted to finish this time, 1st! We have played 9 matches so far and currently sitting 7th in the league. Due to injuries, key players were not available. So with a slightly weakened team we have lost more than we have won.

Our Midlands team got off to a flying start beating Stourport, Leamington and Leics, which are all fantastic wins. Stourport having Luke and Ollie Rawlins which are a strong 1&2, Leamington having a strong team throughout 1 to 5 and Leics having many players play for their county squad in their side.

Then came a bad run of losses. Loosing to Cleaver, Wolverhampton , Edgbaston Priory and Birmingham Uni. They all have strong players in there team with Wolverhampton having Richard Birks and Darren Lewis who both are competing on the professional circuit. Cleaver having James Bowden, Jack McElvenny and national Juniors in there team, we were facing tough opponents. The 5 matches lost have been very close but we scored well in our defeat. Hopefully the 2nd half will see the return leg turned into wins. Finishing in the top half is my goal!

We have a strong team for the 2nd half of the season and with no more injuries (fingers crossed), my end of season goal will not be blown out of the water! The Cov&NW squash/racket ball teams all support each other and the team moral is always high! The Midland team is no different, with everyone supporting, encouraging and boosting confidence when/where we can. Its a great club to play for! So having a full team back in action, finishing in the top half at the end of the season is achievable.

Danny O'Hara - Midlands League Team captain

Warwickshire League Racketball 1st Team. No Mid Season Report 2011-2012

Warwickshire League Racketball 2nd Team. Mid Season Report 2011-2012

Though we are in division 3, the standard of the Racketball Leagues has risen quite significantly over the past few years. Therefore we are not anticipating any major success this season, but are trying to enjoy the games and aiming to finish as high as possible in the league. We have struggled on times to get a team together, though the guys that have played have always done so with great enthusiasm and 100% effort. Apart from a couple of teams the majority are fairly evenly matched, and so hopefully we will continue to pick up valuable points in the second half of the season.

I must also thank Alf for his support so far this season, as co-operation between the first and second team has been essential in order to find players often at short notice. It would be very encouraging to see "new" racketball players showing an interest in playing for the team, as this would make life so much easier when finding players to play each week, and also maybe get "the ball rolling" in terms of general racketball participation within the club. Our home matches are on a Tuesday night, and everyone is very welcome to come and support the team!

Bryn Kirkham - 2nd Team captain