Squash and Racquetball Victoria Launches New Junior Squash Initiatives

Squash and Racquetball Victoria has announced the launch of its new Victorian Junior Squash Tour (VJST) and Ranking System (VJSTRS).

Introduced after an extensive and rigorous review, VJST is the official Squash and Racquetball Victoria (S&RV) tournament circuit providing a competition pathway for all junior squash players, catering for those just learning to compete to those vying for state team selection or with aspirations beyond into the national arena.

The long-awaited overhaul has resulted in additional opportunities for all junior players to compete at levels appropriate to their stage of experience and development in line with S&RV’s new strategic plan and to help them to reach their full potential.

Squash and Racquetball Victoria’s President, and five times World Open Champion, Sarah Fitz-Gerald proudly announced “that even allowing for COVID and our four lockdowns, junior participation numbers have virtually quadrupled over the past six months with the recent introduction of the entry level ‘Bronze’ event tier for players new to or relatively inexperienced with competition.”

“Two Bronze events have already been conducted at Squash Melbourne and Mulgrave CC with resounding success, each attracting many players to experience their first ever tournament, Fitz-Gerald further stated.”

The Victorian Junior Squash Tour Ranking System (VJSTRS) rewards participation and performance and is designed to motivate players to play as many events as possible.

Results from the VJST events are used to produce rankings in Gender/Age Groups primarily for the purpose of selecting our State Junior Team which represents Victoria at the Australian Junior Championships each year. The Victorian Junior Team will comprise the top two ranked boys and girls in the 19, 17, 15 and 13 Year Age Groups.

An 'Open' Order of Merit listing for Girls and Boys, to reflect overall performance regardless of age, is being trialed with the intention of releasing regular lists in the near future.

Other initiatives recently launched by S&RV include the creation of a Victorian Junior Tournament Committee (VJTC) which comprises members who possess expertise to oversee the management of all junior tournaments and competitions conducted in Victoria and to assist the S&RV Competitions Manager with the preparation of seedings and draws that reflect our rankings.

The committee members are:

• S&RV High Performance Manager, Raj Nanda

• Competitions Manager, Brendan Perry

• State Coaching Director, Karen Cagliarini

• Sarah Fitz-Gerald

• S&RV General Manager, Paul Vear.

Another initiative has been the establishment of the Victorian Junior Squash League (VJSL) with all of our junior pennant competitions now coming under the banner of the VJSL, with one additional competition already being the inclusion of a Victorian Junior Premier Division played on Saturday afternoons and involving many of our top junior players.

Underneath the Premier Division will sit two area groups - the South/East and North West Junior League Competitions, each with four divisions. There will be State Finals, plus in time, various regional leagues will be established such as North East Victoria, Gippsland, Geelong, Western Districts, Goldfields and Ballarat/Grampians.