For the last few years, Squash WA have not only incorporated Masters (35+) divisions into their tournaments, but also Novice Junior divisions. The 2026 West Coast Open was no different, with 12 eager young squashies taking the plunge and signing up.
When we were sitting on around 7 kids a couple of weeks out, I thought we had as many signed up as were going to, and was planning an 8-person Monrad. It wasn’t an ideal situation as some of those signed up were very young and new to squash, where as others were on the fringe of playing in the older/stronger junior divisions. At the eleventh hour, another few registrations rolled in and we ended up with 12. Perfect! An 8-person Monrad and a 4-person Round Robin for the really little ones.
Given the kids’ ages and lack of experience, we thought that pen and paper would be the way to go, running score sheets up to the tournament desk after each round, for results to be entered into the system.
In the first round of Novice Division 1, 3 out of the 4 matches played out as expected, according to seedings, with the exception of star in the making Vic Park’s Ricky Jin, defeating Oscar Martin in straight sets. Ricky proved too strong against John Bourn next, taking him out in a tough five-setter, and found himself in the final with Mirrabooka’s Eleanor Jones. This match could’ve very well gone either way. Both Ricky and Eleanor are on the more experienced side of the Novice coin.
Eleanor was on a mission on that hot Summer’s day though, and managed a clean win (11-3, 11-3, 11-3), taking out the top spot. Playing off for positions 3/4 were Talia Shahar and John Bourn, both from Mirrabooka, and no strangers to each others’ games. In an unbelievably close three sets, Talia reigned supreme (12-10, 12-10, 12-10).
In Novice Division 2, the collective cuteness of these four boys was enough to blow the roof off the building. Armed with their mini racquets and blue dot balls, each and every one of them played their hearts out in ‘best of 3’ matches PAR to 11. Top speed Liam Wright proved his ranking was right where it should be, winning all of his matches in straight sets. Mandurah’s Xavier Wilkinson battled hard and took out the Runner Up spot. Oddly enough, not a single game went to 3 – they were all over in 2!
I want to extend a huge thanks to Holly and her mum Kersty Bourn, for being such a huge help on the day, along with all the parents and older siblings who put up their hand to score or ref a match or 3 when one of the players went missing, probably busy with an intense game of hide and seek downstairs.
A special shoutout also goes to John Bourn – when he accidentally hit his opponent with the ball, it was impossible to tell who was more upset about the situation. Oh, and of course Xavier Wilkinson who stopped and ran to help every opponent if the fell or dropped their racquet. He shook every opponents hand, thanked every marker and ref, and volunteered to mark more games than he had to. What caring little souls! With up and coming players like this, I think that squash is in good hands!!
Anyway, I had a BALL, as did all the kids, and I can’t wait to run another Novice event!
Serena Richardson
Div 1 Winner Eleanor Jones (others left before presentations)
Division 2 Winner Liam Wright (R) and Runner Up Xavier Wilkinson (L)
Click HERE to see the results from the main West Coast Open event.
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