TWO AND A HALF FINALISTS IN WINDSOR

Windsor Tournament Mar 23-25~~

DAC representation was pretty respectable for Windsor’s second tournament of the season. Not including myself, we had 9 members in the draw and every one of them scored at least one win. Unfortunately, no one went all the way although some were close, but all gained match toughness, tournament experience, free beer, great squash, and a bright orange shirt that looks like it could glow in the dark.

Even in the doubles - where we traditionally struggle – we did win some matches. Given, the teams were only 50% DAC (their partners were from Windsor), but we’ll take what we can get. Our first finalist was Mike Counsman who paired up with Paul Gebrael in the heavyweight B division and after knocking out our other DAC doubles player in John Dunwoody (partnered with Gerry Guay) 3-1 in the semi final, they went down 3-1 in the final to Doug Fields and Sean Guay (Windsor). Sean is apparently too fast to get run over by the bigger lads, and too young to realize he doesn’t need to cover 80% of the court.



Madison Khan and Ken MacDonald

Our second finalist was Ken MacDonald in the C draw. Now, I don’t need to be cruel to be kind here, but what the hell. Ken knows its coming. His run into the final was flawless as he swept his first three opponents 3-0 including Bruce Vande Vusse (Bruce won his first match 3-2). Standing formidably in Ken’s path, sending terrorizing chills down his spine giving him the cold sweats, was none other than his worst nightmare – a 13 year old girl, Madison Khan. It reminded me a little of the “Resident Evil” movie where the hologram of the little girl scared everyone into a dribbling zombie. Madison of course is not evil – nor is she a hologram – she is delightful young player who happens to have a backhand of death. She proceeded to carve Ken up into little pieces with her victory, and as I mentioned to Ken after the match that maybe he should have used his strength to his advantage and pound the ball harder, he humbly replied that he was sure Madison was physically stronger than he was too. In retrospect, he’s probably right. Seriously though, Ken did well to get to the final and there is no shame is losing to a player of Madison’s capability and potential. She will no doubt defeat some more of our members as she gets older!

Paul Ward

Our half finalist was Paul Ward. Paul decided to get his money’s worth for the weekend and entered 2 events. The 40+ where he lost first round and the B draw where he did significantly better. Grinding out wins in the first three rounds with a 3-1, 3-2 and then another 3-2, he reached the semi final to play a lad from London, Abdulai Kanu. Abdulai played the DAC Classic. He played the 5.5 category, along with his buddy – Derek Moore. For some bizarre reason, Abdulai and Derek entered the A draw (which is perfectly fine) and the B draw which is something they should have known better not to do. Embarrassingly, they reached the final of both categories. Poor Paul could only shake his head in a bemused “what-were-you-thinking” look as Abdulai (who is a similar standard to our club champion Peter Logan) beat him 3-0. So I am unofficially giving Paul a finalist status for this event, even though technically he lost in the semi.

Our other ambassadors in the event were Bruce Shaw, Andy Adamo, Sante Fratarcangeli and Tom Fabbri. A huge thank you for all members that made the effort to support! I also saw Frank Giglio come to watch even though he didn’t play.

I’ll keep my result here short(ish) – after a scare in the first round against Adrian Ostbye of London where I won 11-9 in the 5^th after being 2-0 down, I won the semi and final 3-0. I guess the first match helped me find my rhythm and timing because I did feel a lot more comfortable on court with the pace and reading the ball in the next two. I was lucky to escape Adrian – and if I can just find a way to have that timing before a tournament starts, and not use my round one opponent for it, it should make my life easier. I was most pleased that I won the final against Ryan Herden who I barely beat in 5 just six months ago at the London tournament. A little fitness goes a long way – especially mentally.

Appreciations are to be passed on to Brian Porter, Dave Guthrie, Tom and Marcie Porter and the Windsor Squash Club staff – you never cease to make us feel extremely welcome and we look forward to the next event. Cheers, guys!