SIZZLING SUMMER SQUASH

2024 Summer League Breakdown

 Like every year, we all look at each other and declare that we can’t believe the summer has gone by so quickly. It felt like last week when I had to pull out the lawnmower for the first time, a chore I don’t mind doing, especially compared to shoveling snow which is a something I despise as much as that dude who plays on the local tennis courts without his shirt on thinking his muffin top is something the whole world needs to drool over. Of course, mowing the lawn once every couple of weeks is no issue, but I’m sure my wife fed the grass some type of super-enhanced growth hormone since it seems to sprout up like Jack’s beanstalk where I’m almost hacking away at it with a machete just 7 days later.

Anyhoo, now that the summer is over… well, not technically, that would be September 22 - but over in the squash league sense… it’s time to delve into the nitty-gritty of the season and take a gander at the statistics. No, not my lawn mowing stats, although they would be impressive (!), but the summer court usage was up rather significantly, and the numbers most certainly reflect that.

Firstly, the doubles league. Each category had 10 weeks, and across the 4 levels, we had 66 regulars sign up. At the end of the season, a total of 72 different players had stepped on court (including subs) so it was a healthy participation.

• Overall, 100 matches were scheduled. Six matches were not played because subs could not be found. Exactly the same as in summer 2023.
• MONDAY A LEAGUE: All 30 matches were completed. Subs were required 37% of the time, a slight improvement on 2023. Only 4 matches didn’t require any subs. 60% of the results were either 3-1 or 3-2, so it was relatively competitive overall. Manny Tancer ended up with the most points although he did not play the most matches, and he also had the best average as well. He won all his 10 matches.
• TUESDAY B LEAGUE: Once again, all 30 matches were completed. Subs were required 34% of the time, although only 3 matches didn’t need any at all. One of the matches needed all 4 subs. 17 of the 30 matches were 3-0 scoreline – or 56%. A little too high for my liking. (I, of course, would love every match to go to 15-14 in the 5^th!). David Zack picked up the most points, but he did play the most number of matches (twelve, along with 2 others) and best average went to Tom Pastore who almost won all of his matches 3-0.
• WEDNESDAY C LEAGUE: A full 16 registration for this level was a first for the summer. It was also the most competitive as only four of the matches ended up 3-0. Two of the 20 matches were not played, however. Subs were needed 34% of the time, 3 matches didn’t need any subs at all. All 3 of those matches were 5pm time slot. Jim Fair accumulated the most points, but he also played the most matches. Renée Fershée got the best average.
• THURSDAY OPEN LEAGUE: This league was the hardest to get the matches running. Playing at 6am and 7am proved to be a tough time to commit to. Of the 20 matches scheduled, 6 were not played because subs could not be found, and very often last minute subs were requested which obviously made it challenging. Subs were needed 40% of time, only 2 matches didn’t need any. Konstantin Houbtchev stepped up to the plate, as he played 12 of the 14 matches scheduled – he of course also ended up with the most points. Tom Howe had the best average.

Moving onto the singles, it was a record breaking summer. My fingers were almost cramping at times entering all the scores…

• 141 players. A record. We are almost reaching Boasters League levels with that.
• A total of 1146 matches were played. A record. By a lot. That averages out to 67 matches a week or 9.5 a day. Incredible.
• It was the consistency that was very pleasing. The most matches in one week was 97 in week 5 – also a record (by just 1 match) – and the least was 51 on week 9. Although matches do drop off after Labor Day, the difference was negligible. Even the final week of the season produced 67 results – spot on the average.
• Six of the 14 teams played over 100 matches. A record. They made up 69% of the complete match total.
• Least number of matches played was by Tears For Beers with 5. In fact, they didn’t play any match at all from week 8 onwards. A record. One not to brag about though…
• Most matches played was by Waist Removal with 157. However, they did not win. Running From Reality played 140 matches but managed to complete 2 full rounds of matches (a record) and earned a 30-point bonus in doing so, thus propelling them to top billing.
• There were only 2 weeks were all 14 teams played at least 1 match.
• Five teams played at least 1 match every week.
• 15 players did not play any matches. The most disappointing stat for the summer.
• Most matches by any team in one week was 19 by Racquet Scientists – surprisingly they did this in the final week.
• Biggest individual scorer was by far Miguel Tobon from Mission Slimpossible with 455. (A record.) He played 89 matches. 83 of those matches were against David Edelman. He won 74 of those. I almost ran out of space on the spreadsheet for their results.
• 3 players scored more than 300 points, 6 scored over 200, and 23 players scores at least 100.

Give yourselves a huge round of applause for these staggering numbers. It will be tough to beat (or even match) them in 2025, but I am forever the optimist. We now focus on the upcoming season, which if the summer is anything to go by, should be jam packed.