WEEKEND IN WINDSOR

A slightly better showing than Toledo, the DAC had 7 representatives (including myself) for the recent Windsor Tournament this past weekend. I’m still a little stumped as to why we can’t get more members to support this event. It is not a big deal crossing the border (you do need a passport, however) and the longest I waited at the tunnel was about 15 minutes getting back into the US on Friday night as I watched customs officers look in, on, underneath, on top, and outside of the truck in front of me, and then decide to really ‘search’ the truck as they pulled it to the side for a more thorough inspection. They let me through in 30 seconds – the power of the Aussie passport! Also, the Windsor crew are a social bunch to say the very least. If you don’t have a beer in your hand then you are prompted to do so regularly. After all, how could you possibly play squash without drinking alcohol? Hic!

Our 6 members didn’t win any of the events (must be that Windsor curse...?) but as always, we put up a strong fight. Anthony Fracchia – fresh off his win in Toledo – reached the quarter final before succumbing to a fine player from Toronto who just happened to be a woman. (Beaten by a sheila…!) Of course there is no shame in losing to a female… just ask Jim Stroh… or Rich Stimson… or Chip McDaniel… or even Justin Winkelman. Justin lost his first round to Krista Porter. He was leading 2-0 but Krista mounted a strong comeback to take the match 10-9 in the 5th. Even though Justin lost the match, I am sure many of the spectators thanked him for keeping Krista on court for as long as possible.

Bruce VandeVusse won his first round 3-1, and then lost his second match 3-0 to Vince Mencotti. Vince is a product of the BAC junior program – a 14 year old up and coming talent and it is excellent to see him competing in adult tournaments. (Vince ended up reaching the semi finals of the C draw.)

Ryan Bendzinski [pictured left] had a similar result to Bruce – won his first match, then lost his second. He went down 3-0 to London-ite Srinivas Krishnamoorthy (say that 10 times drunk!). Srinivas (Sometimes known as ‘Alphabet-Soup’ or more commonly ‘Shrini’ for short) played very steady squash and simply waited for Ryan to hit the errors to which he obliged just a little too often. A good experience for Ryan, he wasn’t out-classed, he needs to learn not beat himself.

Andy Adamo played 2 tough matches but unfortunately lost them both. Andy has a lot of potential, and it also terrific to see him playing these tournaments picking up valuable match toughness and practice. Ken MacDonald played 2 events (sucker for punishment). He did win the first match in each draw, getting his money’s worth and just like Andy, picked up significant experience.

On a personal level, I won the Open category winning all the matches 3-0. I played the human canvass Chris Hanebury (he’s covered in tattoos!) in the final – a lad I have now played at least 5 times. As scary as he looks, Chris is an extremely nice fellow – and very quick on the court. He also found the right angles on many occasions as he pounded quite a few of my shots straight into the nick. But, I was steady enough to overcome these winners to keep him at bay just long enough. (On a side note in the Open draw, one of the first round matches ended up 21-19 in the 5th! Talk about a marathon!)

So the last tournament for the 2009-2010 season has come to an end. Thanks to Brian Porter, Dave Guthrie, and the Windsor team for putting on another successful event. Next season, once again all I can do is encourage you all to play at least one event outside the DAC – be it London, Toledo, Chicago, Cleveland or Windsor. You won’t regret it – they are truly tremendous weekends!