Men’s Division 10 – Champions! (by Josh Williams)

As the Hong Kong Squash League season draws to a close, the HKFC teams are faring rather well. Our hats go off to the Men’s Division 10 team (convened by Josh Williams) who have won their division with aplomb. Here are his reflections and his wise words for the season past…

Recently, the HKFC Division 10 team beat old rivals Hong Kong Cricket Club to become champions! It has been a fantastic turnaround when you consider that at Christmas the team were trailing Head Advance by a significant margin and all thoughts were about making the cut for play offs. I’d love to take credit for the turnaround, ushering in a new Division 10 golden-age after Mike Shilton (previous convenor) moved back to the United Kingdom, but unfortunately I don’t think that version of events would pass muster.

Some astute buys in the January transfer window by Fred Teng and Rob Jones certainly helped the Division 10 cause with Alex Berriman and Big Dave Cross playing crucial roles at numbers two and three - but one of the most gratifying things about the season is the degree to which it has been a whole squad effort. Over the course of the season there’s been lots of rotation and almost everyone has got up to five games (Nige Steffenson got a cheeky 3-0 recorded in our final game courtesy of their number five’s no-show to bring him up to the magic number!) with hugely important contributions from all quarters - in the end every point was crucial. Another big spur to the turnaround has been our youngsters Max Kerr and James Horsey (who crops up in this magazine frequently) developing so strongly and shouldering responsibility as stalwart members of the team. I am savouring the remaining time I can still get wins against them, as I’m sure this won’t be the case for much longer. And then the other key factor has surely been the Division 10 team spirit that has grown stronger and stronger as the season has progressed - from Fred shouting abuse at young girls and sharing his towel with forgetful convenors, to Tom Keenan’s multilingual battle cries, to Dave Cross commuting from Shenzhen for Monday matchdays, to Rob Jones trekking over to HKSC to support the team, to Jonathan Davidson soldiering heroically at 3 (and 2!) for the transition stretch of the season we were without a top order, to Alex leading celebratory bump and grind sessions in Wan Chai - all of these things and many more have helped spur us on at crucial moments and, ultimately, led us to victory.

Convenor Josh Williams savours victory

The title victory was crowned with a suitably lavish dinner with HKCC and HKYC guys all putting in an appearance - thanks for the champagne, Fred - though there really was no need for the third bottle! Unfortunately Tom had to cry off to tickle his wife’s toes, and Big Dave Cross eventually showed his age, lasting only until midnight, but the inter-club party continued well into Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong. Well done to all involved!