DOUBLES DUELS

Doubles Club Championships- Starts March 16

Some of you may not know that hardball doubles is a rather unique adaptation of squash. It is only played in North America, and I only saw it for the first time in my life 13 years ago when I first moved to Montreal. Growing up Australian, we had heard of the hardball game, but it was like a ‘mythical’ American invention, a bastardization - if you will – of the internationally renowned ‘softball’ version. Once, back in the last 1980’s, an American named Marty Clark (you may have heard that name before) came to train with us in Australia for a few weeks and he bought a singles hardball with him. We thought it was ridiculous, smashing a ball as hard as you could in the enclosed area of the squash court, a ball that could literally kill you if your head happened to be in the way.

But of course now that I live here, hardball has drifted into the realm of normalcy, but it had me wondering, now that the shoe was on my other foot, what other sports out there in the world would appear alien and bizarre to the American. For example… Cheese Rolling. Yes, who doesn’t equate a round block of cheese with rolling it down a steep hill and having a hoard of Brits chase after it? First to catch the cheese wins, but since that rarely happens, the first to cross the finish line is declared the victor. So why the cheese? Underwater Rugby. Natural evolution would suggest that all sports will eventually end up under water, right? After all, we started in the ocean as single celled organisms. Underwater Rugby comes from Germany and is a similar concept to aboveground rugby; I guess the scrums would be a little… umm… uncomfortable though. Bossaball. Simply, this is volleyball on giant trampolines. Hmmm, sounds safe. The name ‘Bossaball” comes from the Brazilian music style “bossa nova” because the referees in this sport play the drums during the game. Coming from Belgium, were they high when they invented the rules? Imagine playing squash underwater or on trampolines…

Now that I am way off topic, the 2015 Doubles Club Championships kicks off in a few weeks. So, you will need to get your partner secured and enter. Take note – I will be placing you in the category I believe best fits your team. We will an A, B, and C category. It would also be helpful that you enter with a partner. Please refrain from asking me to find a partner for you.

On another, very important note, you MUST be flexible with your schedule. The tournament cannot fall behind because you are taking a 10 day vacation (for example). If you are going to be away for more than a week in between March 16 and April 15, then do not enter. It is not fair to your fellow participants. Be prepared to be accommodating when organizing times to play, be considerate of your opponent’s timetables, and make concessions. All the finals can hopefully be played on April 15 – would be great to get a crowd out to watch them all on the same day. If you plan on making the final, pencil that date in your calendar now.

Registration deadline is Thursday. March 12. There is no limit to how many teams can enter, but there is no consolation draw. All matches are best of 5 games to 15 points, no tie break. And everybody will be fair and understanding with the ‘let’ calls, correct?