You may or may not be aware that I was nominated for an England Squash Award recently as the Unsung Hero Of The Year!

Whilst I’m not overly sure how unsung I am (given everyone knows by now how involved I am in squash events!) I’m incredibly honoured and touched by the gesture and award and would like to thank the selection panel at England Squash and the person(s) who nominated me for this award to get to this point.

Admittedly, had a group of university friends and myself not played in, what I then found out was the only graded tournament in the country at Wimbledon Racquets, in 2006, I’m almost certain none of this would have happened so a special mention to then club head coach, Phil Rushworth (now at The Oakwood) for inadvertently setting me on this path that’s gone from running a few weekend tournaments at my club for fun (with a hangover) to a full on graded tournament circuit that’s currently spanning 60 to 70 events a year and remarkably, still growing so a massive thank you to everyone that has played in these events!

I’m so pleased at how these events, over time, have allowed so many players to actively play this wonderful game competitively at an array of different clubs and it’s so gratifying to see players enjoying themselves, making new friends and seeing host clubs so busy all day as well so again a big thank you to all of you that have been taking part in these events as you’re keeping the game and clubs going across an ever growing list of venues! Every event you play in, every meal you buy, every pint you order (some more than others….) is keeping all of this going and moving in the right direction! I’d also like to thank those that have actively been sharing these events and getting more club friends involved in them as word of mouth still remains one of the best forms of recommendation 🙂

One last thank you to those that have gone down the route of managing a series of squash/racketball events themselves. As much as I’d love to say we can cater for the whole country, the reality is we can’t and it’s absolutely brilliant to see the likes of Mike Harris (South West), Cai Younger (North), Millie Tomlinson (Midlands) and Everything Squash (Hampshire) running a growing number of events themselves and catering for the demand for these events in those areas. As always, my door is always open and I’m always on hand to bounce ideas, impart advice or make recommendations based on the best part of 18 years of messing up and getting things wrong before eventually figuring out what works and what doesn’t work!!

Sorry, now it’s the last set of thanks to Canterbury Squash Club (My HQ) and Kent Squash for all their support throughout the years since the early days!

We look forward to an even bigger season next year and I’ll sign off with a timeline of milestone events throughout the years!

Here’s to a great 2026!