We really could not have asked for any more. I am sure that
the evening will be remembered by many for a long, long, time. As I watched the
exhibition match between David Palmer
and Thierry Lincou, it was
interesting to hear the reactions of the crowd. The incredulous remarks at
their retrieval ability, speed, fitness, touch… you name it. It blew people
away.
Before I get into that wonderful performance, we do have
some member matches to mention that was a part of this Hops Challenge. Just to
get you working up a sweat and make you feel better about attacking the keg, two
teams were put together: “Palmer’s Punishers” and “Lincou’s Liquidators”. There
were no prizes for the wining team (pride?), simply a chance to beat up on each
other.
And it was close. Only three of the 13 matches ended up 3-0.
Four of them were 3-2. Kevin Prather
couldn’t take advantage of a 2-0 lead he had against Joe Paglino as fitness became a larger issue towards the end. Kevin
still hung tough, but Joe managed to keep the edge in the 5th game
to complete the difficult comeback. Niko
Ahee scraped through the tightest of the matches of the evening with a 5
set win over Glen Milligan. Three of
the games were stretched to a tie-break, barely a couple of points separated
the two all contest long. Despite the loss, Glen was quite satisfied with the
result.
Sean Fossee
somehow managed to keep Kevin Kennedy
from wining the 5th game in their battle after the two traded the
first four. Kevin looked a little less worse for wear, but Sean kept steady
enough in the final stanza to stay ahead.
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| David and Thierry pre-match |
Tom MacEachern
continues to step it up. He took Rich
Stimson in 5 demanding games and his comment afterwards: “That wasn’t easy.” No, I bet it wasn’t.
But since Tom plays numerous times a week, and has started to work on his game
with some lessons, these tough winning results shouldn’t be too much a surprise
to anyone.
At the end of the member matches, “Palmer’s Punishers” had
the unassailable 8 matches to 5 lead. The pro exhibition would unfortunately
not be the deciding result (not that anyone cared – or probably even knew!) The showcase was upon us.
For many members watching, it was the first time they had
seen professional squash. Being utterly made speechless by the athleticism is
one thing, and a comment made to me the next morning was that even though it
was unquestionably fantastic to watch, and certainly a opportunity to learn
from them, emulating them would be
impossible. Okay, sure. But remember you don’t need to play like them. Take
some important tips and fundamentals away from it, practice those things and improve
your game. It takes time and effort.
As a side note, I cornered our squash committee chairman – John Dunwoody – into refereeing the
match. His initial reluctance quickly gave way when he realized he would be
part of the spectacle. The PST
‘no-let’ rule was right up John’s alley since as the match
wore on it seemed he didn’t know what a ‘let’ was anyway! He was the perfect
fit for the occasion.
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| John Dunwoody. "You're asking for a what?" |
Even though it was an exhibition, David and Thierry must
have had some type of bet going on between them – these guys went hard. Don’t get me wrong – we had the
fancy shots, the cracking nicks, wrist breaking deception, the head-fakes,
drop-shot rallies… all that one would expect from two guys that just know how
to do it properly. But they also ran their tails off. They wanted to win. Palmer took a close first game 11-9 before Thierry
bounced back strongly in the second. A few careless unforced errors from Palmer
helped that cause, and the 11-5 Lincou win was never in doubt.
The third game was much like the first as the players went
toe-to-toe, point-for point, up until 6-all. Thierry then managed a small 2
point cushion that he never relinquished and ended up taking it 11-8 and a 2-1
game lead.
The fourth game… well… the fourth game had all the drama.
David found his stride early to sprint to a 6-1 advantage and it looked like we
were in for a quick game. But no. It appeared Thierry had little interest in
playing a 5th. At 7-3 down, he went on a roll taking the next 6
rallies in a row for a 9-7 lead, two points from victory. At this stage, both
players were having some furious exchanges. They were breathing very hard.
Where their spare stores of energy came from was anyone’s guess, but the crowd
was definitely feeling their pain!
And then came “The Rally”. It will be “The Rally” that will
keep people’s tongue wagging, the one they will tell their friends about. I
have seen a lot of pro squash in my time, and this rally would rank up there
with the best of them. It included a David Palmer full length body dive into
the left back corner, unbelievable retrieval after unbelievable retrieval, and it
went on, and on, and on. Just as David looked on the verge of collapse, Thierry
attempted a deceptive crosscourt from the front left corner that veered over
his own head, and as David was running for the straight drive he managed to
stick his racquet up enough to get the ‘stroke’ decision. Magical squash. And
it deserved every second of the standing ovation it received.
The fact that Thierry ended up winning the 4th
17-15 was inconsequential. The crowd was buzzed. What a performance.
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| Thierry and David post-match! |
Once the boys had regained their breath a little, they spent
a good 20-30 minutes answering questions from the members – a first-class touch
for everybody to listen and learn some more. Another comment to me from one of
our members expressed that the time these two spent off court with the audience was even more impressive than the time
they spent on. I’m sure many would agree.
It was an exciting evening. The lads will be back in the
first weekend of May for the 2014 PST
World Championship that we will be hosting (May 2-4). Make sure you make
the effort to back this event – we need your support. Come and see me for all
the information.
