Dear Member Nations

During the current climate, the ESF Board felt it appropriate to send a short update to all our Member Nations so you are fully informed on some key areas.

CHAMPIONSHIPS Nations who entered teams into European Team Championships Divisions 1, 2 or 3 or U19 European Team Championships or U19 European Individual Championships will be invited to complete an online questionnaire with regards to the potential rescheduling of these events. Please do take the time to send your comments to Thomas Troedsson. Following this feedback, a final decision regarding refunds for cancelled and postponed events will be made in June, and any refunds will be processed by end July.
We would also like to confirm that the difficult decision has recently been made to cancel our two remaining 2020 Championships; European Clubs Championships and European Individual Closed Championships, due to the prolonged and unknown consequences of the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak.

JUNIORS As you may have already seen from our online calendar, all remaining 2019/2020 Junior circuit events have been cancelled by hosts due to the global impact of COVID-19, aside from the Italian Junior open. Jackie Robinson as Chair of the Junior Committee would like to thank those for running a Junior Circuit event this season, and commiserations to those who have had to cancel their events. Let us just hope it will not be too long before the circuit can be up and running again! May we confirm that the Junior Rankings have been frozen for the foreseeable future.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the PSA Membership awards as follows:

Boys U19: 1st Victor Byrtus (CZE), 2nd Michael Panacek (CZE), 3rd Ben Smith (ENG), 4th Connor Moran (IRE)
Girls U19: 1st Ambre Allinckx (SWI), 2nd Alice Green (ENG), 3rd Fleur Maas (NETH), 4th Selena Georgieva (BUL)
Boys U17: 1st Rowan Damming (NETH), 2nd Tate Harms (SWI)
Girls U17: 1st Chukwu Chinyere (HUN), 2nd Franka Vidovic (CRO)

MASTERS All circuit events until the end of July are cancelled and unfortunately the World Masters in August has been postponed to 2021 (no date yet confirmed). The Masters Rankings have been frozen until such time as the circuit can re-open with sufficient player numbers able to participate. Events from September onwards remain ‘provisional’ and we will liaise with TDs in confirming whether they can go ahead as scheduled. Please check our website for updates.

OFFICE We are pleased to share that ESF are eligible for the generous UK Government furlough scheme which is supporting businesses financially. On this basis, Claire and Joanne have agreed to be furloughed from Monday 27th April during this unexpected period of low activity. The office arrangement will be reviewed regularly, however is likely to be until mid-June earliest based on the current UK Guidelines.

Whilst the office is closed, we will continue to respond to all urgent queries by email. Please contact myself via email regarding General/Finance queries; Rosie Barry for Masters, Jim Hay for Coaching/Referees, Jackie Robinson for Juniors and Thomas Troedsson for Championships.

Finally, the ESF Board would like to send our best wishes to all players, hosts, officials, volunteers and loved ones during this difficult time and we look forward to seeing you all in the 2020/2021 season.

With kind regards on behalf of the ESF Board.

Hugo Hannes
President European Squash Federation