OA Fives Annual Report
17 March 2014
Presented to the OA Society AGM - Written by Andrew Fraser, School Bursar & Honorary OA OA Fives is currently in a good state with a high quality of Fives being played in the Aldenham Fives Club every Tuesday night and OA’s making up some 60% of the membership.Tuesday night Fives attracts a minimum of 2 courts worth of players, 3 courts regularly and occasionally 4 courts. On club nights players mix and match between games to ensure that everyone gets maximum variety and exposure to playing with and against the best players. The evenings usually end with the younger and fitter members playing a very competitive game whilst the more senior members retire slightly earlier to the Roundbush for beer and pick of the sandwiches. To keep a competitive edge we hold a Club Ladder competition once every 6 weeks where the winners progress up a court after each game and the losing pair go down a court. Partners are then changed and we start again. At the end of the evening there will usually be one player who is undefeated and he is the competition winner. On Ladder evenings we then retire to the Radlett curry house. Phil Marsh was one of the founder members of the Fives Club and a keen player (and socialiser) so following his untimely death the Club decided to award a tankard tor the winner of the Ladder and it has been engraved as the Philip Marsh Trophy and is passed from winner to winner every 6 weeks. After many years of only playing social Fives, we decided this year to enter a number of Eton Fives Association competitions. We entered a team in the Barber Cup and in October were unfortunate to draw the reigning champions and eventual winners, Old Olavians, in the first round. The team, sporting new OA colours, acquitted themselves well going down 2-1 and running all 3 pairs close.