Women’s Squash team win Wellington ‘Super Champs tournament’

Back row from left – Amanda Goodman, Gabby Nicholson, Sophie Sweeney, Ange Sweeney (Manager), Sarah Clout. Front row from left – Emily Goodman, Christina Kirkup, Katie Rees.

The Martinborough Squash E-Grade Women’s team recently won the Wellington regional interclub ‘Super Champs’ tournament, earning them a place to represent Wellington at the National E-Grade ‘Super-Champs’ in Alexander in October.

The Wellington tournament was held at the Upper Hutt Squash club in late July. First up Martinborough took on Thorndon and dropped only one match to win the tie 4 matches to 1. That took them through to effectively a final against Mana who had also beaten Thorndon the day before.  Martinborough stepped it up a gear and won all 5 matches against Mana to book a spot in the Nationals as the Wellington regions representative.

The team is a mix of youth and experience, with up-and-coming stars Sophie Sweeney, Christina Kirkup, Gabby Nicholson, and Emily Goodman all continuing the good form they have shown coming through the junior tournaments. They were led by Sarah Clout and Katie Rees who have come back to the game and provided a great experience to the younger players.

Unfortunately, Sarah can’t make the trip to Alexander, so Amanda Goodman has been called in to join the team. They are being coached by club stalwart Jackie Stevenson and managed by Ange Sweeney. They are all put in a lot of training and match play at tournaments in preparation of taking on the best E-Grade teams from around the country. 

Getting the team down to Alexander is not an easy task, so keep a look out for fundraising efforts to help support this group of Martinborough women in their quest to be National Champions. If you want to follow their progress at the Nationals visit Martinborough Squash Clubs Facebook page where regular updates will be made.