28/07/2026
The final award that we presented this month was our Most Improved Junior award. It is our most prestigious award, dating back to 1981. Previously won by Abbeydale members Rebecca Wright, Siobhan Lloyd the 3 Turners, as well as more recently Josh Payne, Albert, Abi, coach Matt, coach Ned and coach Ella.
Here is the speech from the presentation at the final Grand Prix earlier this month.
This years winner has been with us for nearly 10 years and in that time he has grown from a mere 5 foot tall 6 year old, into a towering 6 foot plus 15 year old. It’s the most rewarding part of my job, to see players develop, both in terms of squash, but more importantly as a person. He has grown into a lovely young man and is a fantastic lad to have around the club. Particularly in the last year, he has probably tripled the level of squash that he’s playing at. He’s worked hard on his game, with a mixture of group and individual coaching, but also by solo practicing (sometimes twice per day), attending team training, as well as hitting with his dad.
He was an important member of our teams last season and will be jumping from our 5th team to our 1st team for the upcoming season. It’s great to see him playing with such confidence and with a smile on his face (most of the time 🤣). You’ll regularly see him trying his trick shots and playing with creativity, trying to have fun, whilst at the same time, not shying away from some tough competition. He’s played in many England Squash Silver and Gold events over the last year and got a call up to the Aspire training squads.
A lot of the kids here will have been coached by him on a Saturday morning, where he has been volunteering for the last year, helping our younger players whilst gaining some great leadership skills of his own along the way. Unfortunately for us and for him, he isn’t here today to receive this award, or compete in the Grand Prix (which he was gutted about), but we’ve recorded this and I will present it to him at our next junior session. His peers voted him players’ player of the year and he is the winner of our most prestigious award. The most improved junior goes to, Josh Mills
