England Masters Squash (ESM) National & Regional Events

 ·        ESM offers competitive opportunities for men & women aged 35+ in various age categories so participants will always play with their contemporaries.

·        These are five regional tournaments dispersed around England but open to all. There are also the British Open and British Closed (the ‘Nationals’) run by England Squash and Racketball.

·        These seven tournaments all carry points towards selection for the England age group teams.

·        The regionally based tournaments regularly attract well over 100 entries of all standards. Entrants can enjoy competitive squash played over a weekend starting on Friday pm.

 Host Club Standards

 High standards are applied to venues chosen to host regional events covering the following key areas:

 Courts

Tournament Manager

Refreshments
Accommodation
Publicity & Promotion
Sponsorship
Details of general requirements for tournament venues

 Courts-6 courts are required on the Friday from 2pm to11pm, on Saturday from 10am to 7pm and 4 courts on Sunday from 10am to 2pm. If entries are high it may be necessary to provide an additional 2 courts (which may be at an adjoining club) on the Friday from 6pm until 10pm and possibly on Saturday afternoon. The cost of these courts is included in the fee paid by ESM to the host club (see below).

1. Courts- must be clean, well lit and properly heated from the start of playing times on each day. The heating is particularly important for older players.
2. Refreshments-clubs have the opportunity to benefit from the sale of food and drink to competitors and are expected to make available preferably hot and cold food especially on the Friday evening and all day on the Saturday.
3. Accommodation- most players will require accommodation. It would be helpful if the host club can identify one or more nearby hotels and arrange a group discount for tournament participants (This needs doing as soon as possible, and the arrangements for booking publicised on the ESM website, as many players like to arrange their accommodation well in advance, some at the start of the season)
4. Tournament Manager (TM)-ESM pays a fee to the club for the use of the courts and the provision of a tournament manager.
5. Promotion & Publicity-In order to gain maximum advantage for the club it is suggested that the tournament should be well publicised in advance of the event. Local players of a reasonable standard should be encouraged to take part (there is an incentive of reduced entry fees). Women entrants are especially welcome. Spectators should be encouraged to see some of the strongest age group players in the country.
6. Sponsorship-Master Regionals demonstrate a high standard of age group squash and with the right publicity can be of benefit for a local sponsor. If you have a potential sponsor (and this can be at any reasonable level of financial support), then it can be entirely constructive to involve them in the event. Please contact the ESM Chairman if you have any potential sponsors, it can be an opportunity to repay support given to your club by a local business person at relatively modest cost, and he/she can present the trophies    

 Organisational Details for the Host Club

1. A Tournament Manager (TM) will be provided by the host club for the entire event. Their responsibilities will include the registering of players on arrival, allocating courts, ensuring the provision of properly equipped markers, and keeping the results properly recorded. This may be one person or a team of people. The name and contact details of the TM must be notified to the ESM Chairman well before the event.
2. The host club should clearly identify the location of the TM’s desk for player registration on arrival. Adjacent to the tournament desk enlarged copies of the draws displaying the latest results should be displayed for ease of reference. In consultation with the ESM Chairman and/or webmaster, the TM may also enter the results onto a computer to facilitate their transfer onto the ESM web site immediately after the conclusion of the tournament.
3. The host club should also display (preferably in blackboard type size) a daily schedule of court allocation with up to date results.
4. The TM will be provided with a full copy of the draws electronically by the ESM Chairman or his nominated deputy in time to finalise arrangements for the event. Prior to that, the TM will be kept updated by the ESM Chairman on entries and the implications for the number of courts required. Any amendments requiring alterations to the draws due to late withdrawals etc. will be communicated by telephone as necessary to keep the TM fully informed.
5. Three boxes of balls will be provided by ESR and delivered to the venue.
6. Marking of matches is mainly done by the players, and it is the responsibility of the TM to ensure that each match has a marker. (see paragraph 13 of the Guidance Notes for Players which are on the ESM web site). The host club may also recruit local markers to assist, but it is the club’s responsibility to pay them if required. ESM has an arrangement with the Referees Co-ordinator at ESR that ESR will seek to allocate two or three qualified markers to assist on the Sunday (Finals) morning. The TM will be informed in advance of the names of the ESR markers who will be attending.
7. Finance is handled by ESM, who collect the entry fees, arrange for and purchase the trophies, and pay the expenses of the ESR markers. ESM will pay a fee of £500 to the host club for its expenses.

 Revised August 2011