GRADUATING CLASS OF 2020

DAC Squash Classic Feb 6-9, 2020

Have we all recovered yet? I am typing this report 6 days after the completion of the DAC Classic, and I still feel like I need more sleep. Although, that could very well be because I am no longer a spring chicken  (more like a hackneyed and wrinkly rooster) and nothing to do with the tournament at all! It could also be that Stu ran me around a couple of times this week as well and his young legs clearly don’t make it a fair contest.

By all accounts - and I mean feedback not just from the competitors, but from the fellow DAC staff and managers - the DAC Classic this year ran very much like clockwork. Matches were on time, most people were able to turn up (we did have a couple of late cancellations but all due to legitimate personal reasons that certainly outweigh the banality of a squash tournament), the food was plentiful and as always up to the expected standard of our club, and we thankfully didn’t have any injuries or… off court festive, over-indulging incidents to deal with. No one lost their shirt, right GS? I did deplete my stock of Band-Aids though as one of the London players had no issues diving all over the court and leaving half his skin behind every other rally! But that’s not to say every single person was happy. As is with any event, some are unhappy with the way the draws pan out, feel like there is a conspiracy against them based on who their opponents are, and make arguments to me that are head scratching at best. It’s all part of the deal, I hope the keg eased their pain somewhat!

So who won? Rather than go through category by category this time, I am going to highlight the outstanding performers…

Farzin Habib Pour, Brad Hanebury, Jed Elley, Ryan Covell

Jed Elley and Ryan Covell. Doubles A. Team “Jed-Co” - or “Covelly” were unseeded and to be honest I didn’t hold much hope - or thought - they would do any damage in this event. How wrong I was. The Doubles A draw must have been the toughest we have had since at least 2005, teams from Toronto, Chicago, London… a number of candidates to take the title. But Jed-Co? Talk about finding form at the right time, Jed and Ryan swatted away their first 2 opponents 3-0, including the number 1 seeded team from Chicago. They then had their toughest challenge in the semifinal against a team from Toronto but all in a day’s work for our lads, a 3-1 win had them in the final and many of us wondering if, after all these years of dreaming, a DAC team could actually win the Doubles A…

The finals opponents were out of London - Brad Hanebury and Farzin Habib-Pour. They had swept through the draw up to this point without dropping a game and looked formidable. It appeared as though that trend would continue for the final after Brad and Farzin controlled the first 2 games and were sitting pretty for a 3-0 victory. Cue the “Covelly” comeback. Cracks appeared in the London wall, they suddenly were not as sharp - errors started to creep into their game. Ryan and Jed stepped up the pressure, they started to sense a little opening and they were not going to let this opportunity slip. Egged on by the local crowd, our boys turned it on, grabbing the momentum and never looking back. They completed the comeback and ended up winning the 5th 15-10 and earning what was an unlikely - but fully deserved - title.

Dave Devine in action during the Doubles C final

Marc Lakin and Brian Ellison. Doubles C. The DAC are no strangers to winning the Doubles C at the Classic - in fact we have won the title four of the past five years. A big reason for that is numbers, we make up a good percentage of the teams… still have to win though! Brian Ellison was actually paired up with Patrick Petz for this event, but Patrick was struck down with the flu last minute and had to withdraw. Luckily we had Marc on standby who was more than ready to jump in and like a kid on Christmas morning, Marc grabbed his racquet and started tearing the place up. With no problems, Marc and Brian won their first 2 matches 3-0, had a slight hiccup in the semi where they won 3-1 against David Pontes and our long lost missed friend Ken MacDonald (who comes back to visit us from Denver every year) and were waiting in the final for their last victims.

Meeting them there was another DAC pair - Jeff Rogers and newly elected DAC Prez David Devine. Jeff and Dave also stamped their authority leading up to the final without dropping a single game. This would be Dave’s second chance at the winner’s trophy - he came very close to winning the C draw in 2017 with Alan Howard only to lose in 5 games. Unfortunately for Dave, the Ellison / Lakin team was merciless. Nothing more than “too good” would be the theme for this match, there wasn’t much Rogers / Devine could do. Clinical work for the 3-0 win, Marc and Brian should be proud of the weekend’s work.

Scott Beals in the Doubles B final

Scott Beals and JB Miller (Maryland). Doubles B. The DAC almost got a clean sweep of the doubles categories which would been a monumental achievement given our past history of results. Scott Beals teamed up with a buddy of his out of Maryland and they were certainly going into the draw as an unknown entity. My money was leaning towards the Jason Currie / JC Tibbitts team, who won the B’s last year and I saw no reason why they couldn’t repeat that effort. The two teams met in the semifinal and even though I didn’t see any of it, I am predicting it must have been a great contest considering it went to 5. (I am of course assuming all 5-set matches are awesome!) Scott and JB ended up winning it, earning their ticket to the final.

Their opponents are also past B Doubles champions of the Classic. Laura Savage and Betsy Carson from London won this title in 2018… although consistency seems to be their Achilles heel a little - they lost round one last year. Laura and Betsy had an easier run to the final, dropping only one game in the first match, and winning 3-0 in their semi over John Mann and Ryan MacVoy. (John and Ryan won their second round 15-14 in the 5th!) So would Scott and JB be compassionate to the lovely ladies of London? Ummm. No. No they would not. It was a tough final though, but the boys were not standing down to the girls and they took a 3-1 victory!

The DAC had 5 of 6 doubles winners this weekend. Remarkable.

Matt Paradiso - 3.5 singles.  How much as Matt improved in the last 12 months? Plenty. A year ago

Stephen Canis and Matt Paradiso

he was coming fresh of his 2.5 singles win in the Classic, this year he was agonizingly close to pulling out of the event with the flu. He decided to stick with it - and good thing he did too. Skipping the 3.0 altogether, Matt got stronger as the weekend moved forward. His toughest challenge came in his second match against Nathan Labenz (Franklin) who stretched Matt to 5 games. Outside of that, he was relatively untroubled all the way through the tournament, taking every other match 3-0 including the final. At this rate he’ll be competing for the 4.5 title next year…

Drew Barr and Alex Ford

Drew Barr (BAC) - 5.5 singles. Gotta love the youngsters. Drew is 17. Drew was the number one seed. Drew is very unassuming and quiet spoken young man. Drew is also good. Drew has committed to the University of Virginia next year, and they are picking up an excellent recruit. And he proved himself to be rather mentally tough this weekend as well - something you don’t see every day in someone so young. His calm demeanor and temperament is to be admired.

He did win the 5.5 the hard way. A 3-0 win in his first match, he then took on our club number one - Stefan Houbtchev. One of highest quality matches of the weekend for sure, Stefan actually headed into the fourth game 2-1 up. But Drew never gave up and worked very hard to keep the pressure on Stefan who was finding it difficult to put an end to this match. Sending it into a 5th, the two kept it very tight all the way, but it was Drew who was the steadier player. You could see that he made sure his shots were not going to hit the tin, whereas Stefan was cutting the margins just a fraction too much. Timely unforced errors, Drew held on for an 11-9 in the 5th win. Onto the final just 4 hours later. It would test his fitness too.

His opponent would be Alex Ford from London. Alex cruised through the draw, slicing and dicing everyone 3-0 and with the easier semifinal of the morning, certainly held the edge on Drew over energy levels.

Alex almost pulled it off. In fact, in reality, he should have. A 2 games to 1 lead, and a 10-8 in the 4th to earn 2 match balls as well, Alex may have lost sleep on this one. Drew’s never-say-die attitude came to the fore, rock solid steadiness, forcing Alex to win the rallies rather than gift him any, he got back to 10-all. The tie break was rather epic as well, Alex won himself two more match-balls only to have them squandered with Drew’s brick wall squash. The 14-12 to Drew in the 4th broke the Londoner. Drew didn’t let up in the 5th, kept to the same strategy of just clinical, relentless squash and grabbed the win. Impressive stuff!

For all the winners, finalists and consolation winners, please see this LINK.

Ironman Award… Howie Webb (Franklin).  Howie is a glutton for punishment. I always say that you enter 2 singles categories at your own risk. Of course that warning goes often unheeded, and Howie was this year’s victim of that unheeded-ness. Howie reached the final of the 3.0 main draw and the final of the 3.5 consolation for a total of… TEN matches. He lost both finals, but at least picked up some hardware for being the 3.0 finalist. He also picked up a desperate need of a massage, hot tub, steam, beer, a week off, new set of legs, and a desperate inner reflection of one’s self as to why he abused his body so violently and appeared to enjoy every minute of it.

Dancing Queen Award… Gary Sullivan (London). Won’t go too much into this one, but needless to say, we hope we don’t have to see this again in future years, as the photos I received of his… ‘moves’ were not exactly Michael Jackson -esque but maybe more Elaine Benice -esque (Seinfeld reference for those who aren’t that old!).

Fashion Faux-Pas Award… Joe Longo (London). Now, where you would shop for a pair of black sparkly pants is beyond me, but why would you would even think of wearing a pair of black sparkly pants is beyond-er me. Not many people can pull this off. And I am not sure Joe did either.

It goes without saying that without the support of the sponsors, the DAC Classic would be a shadow of its current form, so my hat goes off to you all. There are countless thank you’s to hand out, another reason this tournament gives all involved the unforgettable experience the DAC can provide year in, year out: My (new) right hand man, Stu Hadden; Assistant Athletic Director Nick Peet; Men’s and Women’s locker room staff; the Catering department, chefs, housekeeping crew. Dave Devine, Josh Slominski… the list is long, everybody plays an important role. The behind the scenes - the un -seen work - is what sets us apart.

2021 is scheduled for Feb 11-14…