SQUASH - Let's hear it for the juniors

The successes of Mangakahia Squash Club's junior players has long been a talking point among the club's seniors.
Linda Matson, the club's junior organiser and the Northland regional junior convenor, said that success may be down to the attitude of family club seniors toward their juniors.
"Our club has fostered a good culture for our junior players and we always try to give them opportunities, in terms of playing privileges and it's good to see that some other clubs in the area, like Kamo, are starting to do the same," she said.
Matson said the best junior players generally come from the families where the parents have played.
"The kids have grown up with the sport but having said that our club has always been a keen supporter of junior squash," he said.
She said the kids outnumber the seniors in the 70-odd strong club, with many of senior club mainly social players, who might play once a week on a club or interclub night.
The club juniors have once again been prominent at the national level as well as performing well in regional competition.
Five of their players took top-10 places at the recent New Zealand junior age group championships, held at Remuera in October.
Abbie Palmer beat Jacinta Matson in an all Mangakahia under-11 final, giving the club the top two places in the division.
Tate Matson capped off a great season by knocking out the fourth seed and then the top seed Byron Peehi-Floyd in the under-15 competition before being toppled by Auckland's Lance Beddoes in the final.
In the girls under-15 competition Sacha Pou-Tito couldn't match her second place at the South Island Championships but still finished a commendable sixth in the national competition.
Another of the Matson clan, Conor, was fourth in the under-17 boys competition, eventually won by Auckland's Luis Syder.
Linda Matson said it was a great showing for the club's players because of their isolation from the bigger city centres.
"Like most Northland athletes know, there are more opportunities to earn points on grading lists in the big centres and that often affects how far you go in tournaments," she said.
Being in Northland can be a disadvantage because players don't always get the match time they need but they can make up for that with extra training.
Brothers Conor and Tate Matson have been recipients of Northland Secondary Schools Sports Awards for squash in 2005 and 2006 respectively and the club is also home to 19-year-old Brent Lewis; Northland's number-one senior men's player.
The trio, together with 15-year-old Scott Lewis, won the Northland-wide 2006 open men's interclub competition but the effort was matched by the open women's interclub team that featured some of the boys' mums and Pou-Tito, who won their competition _ to make it a double whammy for the small country club.