The NZ Senior Districts Teams Champs were held at Otago Squash Club on Friday 30th August – Sunday 1st September 2024. The Central Ladies team were 2nd seeds and the Men 7th seeds going into the tournament. It wasn’t a perfect start for the Central team with a flight delay out of Palmerston North which saw the team arriving at Dunedin Airport at 11.35am with the ladies due on court at 12pm. If only the airport wasn’t so far away.
After some fast bag collection and piling into the rental cars it was straight to the club to battle Eastern first up. Unfortunately for Eastern they were a player down due to injury and Anabel Romero Gemmell, Abbie Holmes and Rebecca Bennett didn’t let the long morning stop them from taking 3-0 wins. That night the Ladies took on Northland needing the win to get through to the top 3 play offs. Anabel Romero Gemmell and Abbie Holmes won in 3. Danielle Cooley fought well but went down in 3 and although Leonie Marshall didn’t get the win she got the game that put the ladies through to the top 3.
Saturday afternoon saw the ladies take on Midlands, needing the win to get through to the final. All ladies played their hearts out and came away with a victory. With Danielle, Anabel and Leonie winning in 3 and Abbie winning in 4. It was a quick turn around and they were straight back on court against Bay of Plenty, a very tough side. The ladies fought well, considering they had only played a couple of hours beforehand and the Bay of Plenty team were fresh from a decent break. Anabel and Abbie fought hard but went down in 4 in the first two games. Danielle Cooley never gave up and came away with the victory in the fifth. Leonie went on needing to win in 3 to force a count back but it was not to be. But 2nd at the NZ Senior Districts Teams Champs was achieved. Amazing effort ladies.
The men had a few hours to recover from their long morning before taking the court and took on Otago first up. They came away with wins to Allan Bailey, Brodie Bennett and Stephen Bennett, with Matthew Ratcliffe narrowly going down in the 5th. Later that night they took on Canterbury who were the seeded 2nd for the tournament. The men played hard but Canterbury proved to be too strong this year.
This put the men up against Northland on Saturday with wins for Brodie and Stephen Bennett forcing a count back on points. This resulted in a disappointing 6 point loss. But it was back on court, just like the ladies, to play Waikato. This was a battle and a half, especially with both teams playing straight after their last round. Brodie Bennett and Matthew Ratcliffe came away with wins in 5. Allan Bailey went down in 5 and Stephen Bennett was left to try and save the day. In the end Stephen went down in 5 and it was back to points countback again, Unfortunately 2 points saw Waikato take the victory.
It was a long weekend with its pressures on and off the court and the players fought well. Congratulations to the Central Ladies team for earning second place. And a special thanks to Victor Romero and Kent Darlington for their coaching over the weekend, it wasn’t always easy but your advice and support is greatly appreciated.
