Squash Stars Shine for Help For Heroes  

A capacity crowd at Lexden Rackets and Fitness Club was treated to a stunning display of squash and racketball from two of the world’s top players. World Champion Nick Matthew and National Champion Daryl Selby contested their personal squash/racketball challenge match, playing two games of squash and two of racketball, adding the points scored to decide the overall winner.

The action was fast, furious and thrilling as Selby and Matthew provided a glorious exhibition of skill, speed and accuracy. After the two squash games Matthew held a slender two point lead going in to the racketball, but Essex based Daryl Selby – who is not only current National Squash Champion, but also National Racketball Champion - retained his title, beating Nick Matthew by a single point overall, to the delight of the enthralled spectators.

Earlier in the evening a number of Colchester based Army personnel had the opportunity to play against Selby and Matthew, a once in a lifetime experience which they had clearly been training for – although Daryl Selby was heard to comment that whilst their fitness levels were astonishing, their squash could still use a little work!

Also, Lexden’s Junior Squash Scholarship players, 13 year old Alex Shuter and 7 year old Joel Braddock, were given the chance to practice and play a game with each of the professional players as part of their Scholarship development programme. Both lads played extremely well, impressing their professional opponents and the watching crowds equally, and the experience of sharing a court with the best players in the world will certainly have been beneficial to their long term improvement.

The main reason why Nick Matthew and Daryl Selby gave so generously of their time for this event was that the evening was staged to raise money which would be shared between Lexden Junior Squash Development, and the charity Help for Heroes.  The amount raised on the night totalled over £1000 from ticket costs, raffle entries and donations including an individual donation of £100 from local firm Colourfast Financial Ltd, presented by Colourfast’s Director Neil Riddoch.

Lexden’s Head Coach Paul Allen said “We’re so lucky to have been able to get Nick and Daryl to come along and give their time like this. The whole evening has been brilliant for the soldiers, our junior players and the huge crowd. After visiting the Colchester Barracks and witnessing the construction of a new soldier rehabilitation centre, I could visually see a project in progress, funded by the ‘Help For Heroes’ charity.  We’re thrilled to have been able to raise so much money for such a good cause – the work Help for Heroes does has special significance in a town like Colchester, and we are really pleased to be able to support it.”