Christmas came early for four of Norton Squash Club's junior players.

Two consecutive weekends saw four exciting young and talented performances from Daniel Hockborn, Mathew Setterfield, Sarah Setterfield and sister Laura Setterfield.

The first weekend was contested in the Northumbrian Open at Jesmond Squash Club with some of the finest players in the Country competing for the silverware and prize money on offer.

In the Under-11s, an improved performance from Mathew Setterfield inspired him to play some excellent Squash only to fail at the first hurdle to his teammate and eventual winner Daniel Hockborn. Mathew showed signs that he is going to be one to watch for the future as he marched on to win the plate competition with a good steady performance picking up a Trophy for all of his efforts. County Champion Daniel Hockborn seemed to cut through his opponents like a hot knife in butter as he went into the final with all the confidence in the world as he was about to take on the number one seed from Yorkshire. Hockborn destroyed his young opponent in the first two games only to find that the third game was never going to be as easy as the first, it could have gone either way in the third, but Hockborn held on for a good solid 3-0 performance and a winners Cheque just to top off a tiring weekend.

Due to her recent birthday, Under-15 and Under-17s County Champion Laura Setterfield had to step up to the Under-17s competition not knowing what to expect.

She started quite nervously but played some hard hitting squash, overpowering her opponents to take her to her first Under-17 final. Laura played a very controlled game to take the first but her older and more experienced opponent stretched her to her limits which ended up Laura blowing hard only to go down 3-1 to her Yorkshire rival but valuable experience had been gained.

The following weekend saw the Northern Regional Championships contested at Newton Aycliffe Squash Club.

After valuable experience had been gained the week before Mathew Setterfield was full of confidence to get it on and set off like a train in the under-11s.Some good solid Squash was played by the Norton County Junior but unforced errors handed his opponent the match only for Mathew to start all over again in the plat competition. Young Mr Setterfield was not going to make the same mistake twice as he again set off like a train to hand out a 27/0 drumming in the semis to the final. The same message was handed over in the final with Mathew playing with more confidence and composure to play as well as he has played all week end to take a convincing 3-0 win over his Durham and Cleveland opponent.

Next on was Laura Setterfield's younger sister Sarah Setterfield competing in the under-13s. She was to play Newton Aycliffe's Sarah Dowson who she beat in the County Closed final back in September. Sarah did not start to well in the first game losing 9/0, but after she had taken some advice of her Dad came out a much stronger player only to lose the remaining games 10/9 9/7.After a few tears Sarah picked herself up to play the plate final serving tight to the wall and vollying her opponent into submission with a 3/0 convincing and well earned win.

Daniel Hockborn was to try two events in this competition, the under-13s and the under-11s.He came out second best in the first round of the under-13s but went on to win the plate final. After gathering his thoughts it was time to contest the age group he has dominated for twelve months. As always he went on with 100 per cent confidence and this showed as he swept all before him crushing Guisborough's Daniel Allinson 3/0 in a one sided final.

On came Laura Setterfield who was in no mood to take prisoners as she went on to play Chester-le-Street's Claire Beanie in the semi final winning 9/0, 9/0, 9/3. She was to face Northumbria's Rebecca Brown who she played the weekend before and again was in no mood for small talk. Brown could do absolutely nothing about Setterfield's hard hitting, speed and accuracy as it was all over in 20 minutes hardly troubling the score card 9/0, 9/0, 9/2.

Also competing at both events was Stuart Setterfield who was a bit unfortunate to have drawn some very strong and established Under-17s players in the first round making it hard work for him in both competitions. He started off well playing some good squash only to find the ferocious pace set out by both opponents too much, but it is Stuart's first year in competition and much valued experience should have been gained.

Overall the future of Norton Squash Club has never been better with the strength in depth in all age groups, the commitment of not just the junior players but also the parents who take time to travel all over the country to support and encourage the children.

The club say they invest quite a bit into the junior teams and find it very rewarding with the achievements in the standard of all of its junior members. Anyone interested in starting to play squash should contact the club on (01642) 361974.