TOM MAC-BLITZ-ERN

Blitz Tournament October 9, 2015

The first squash event in our sparkly new court center had 23 participants vying for the Blitz Tournament honors. It’s one of my favorite formats since it gives the underdog, not only an opportunity to step on court with many stronger players, but a decent chance to beat them as well. The handicapping does place that added pressure on to the higher ranked player, especially when the lower ranked player is only a couple of points away from victory and they try that much harder. All it takes is one unforced error... a lucky frame... or bounce... The exciting part is watching the points unfold, desperation at its finest, the crowd cheering all the way for the underdog!

Haytham Hermiz and Mark Montgomery

With groups of 6, winning 4 of the 5 matches would guarantee advancing to the knock-out rounds. Nobody won all 5. In group 1, Sante Fratarcangeli redeemed himself from April’s event where he failed to get out of the group stage, by winning 4 matches, although he could have been left on the outside again had he not taken the final point against Mark Montgomery. If Mark had won their 15-14 score, he would have taken Sante’s spot in the next round. The same could be said for Cathy Lysack. Cathy also took 4 wins, one of them being a 15-14 nail-biter over Mark as well. In fact, at one point in their game, it was so intense that Cathy made Mark literally run out of his shoe! Mark won his other 3 games, but 3 wins wasn’t enough. Haytham Hermiz took 3 wins as well - the cause of Sante’s one loss - but he also won a match 15-1... again, the beauty of the Blitz is that games can also end up on the opposite side of the spectrum.

There were two 4 match winners in group 2 as well. Peter Birgbauer squeaked through, two of his matches went to the sudden death 14-all play-off point, with a mixed result. The win was against the other 4 match winner of the group - Jon Dengel, the loss was to Colin Bayer. Colin ended up with 3 wins, he’ll be ruing the 15-13 loss to Maggie Durant, a tough match-up where he only had to give 3 points handicap, the one that got away could have placed him the next round.

Group 3 ended up being the first group to have 2 players draw straws to see who could advance to the finals. Tom MacEachern was not one of them. He won the group with 4 wins, his one loss was at the hands of Matt Hayduk 13-15, Matt started off with 9 points. A couple of new faces to the DAC squash family were present here. Colin Bayer’s brother Chas (a sibling rivalry brewing to say the least!) and Russell Rhea. Both held their own very well although neither of them advanced, Russell did pick up a 15-14 victory over Matt Hayduk, and Chas took down Russell and Josh Slominski. The drawing of the straws maybe a little controversial (!) but rather than have a ‘play-off’ or see who beat who, this method gives everyone an equal chance to win, regardless of your playing level. “May the odds be forever in your favor...” (Hunger Games) Josh and Matt were tied with 3 wins each, both of these guys have actually won the Blitz Tournament in the past... and it was Josh pulling out the straw of victory!

An even closer group 4, we also had to leave it to the Squash Gods to see who would be able to compete in the knock-out round. This time, 3 players would be contending for the 1 play-off spot. Ian Edwards did not have to worry about that, he won 4 of 5 games to take top billing in the group, taking care of business rather comfortably and not having to stress over the straws. There was only one 15-14 result in this group, Paul Fershee’s magnificent effort over Dane Fossee. Most memorable, and You Tube worthy, was Paul’s sprint into the back forehand corner, no-look-no-recovery-over-the-shoulder-forehand-boast for a winner that left Dane stunned, the crowd agape, and Paul utterly clueless to what just happened. The dark horse of the group was Paul Gormley. After pleading mercy for friendly handicaps, I completely ignored that, and instead decided that crucifying him in his match-ups would be more beneficial for his squash! Paul stepped up to the plate. He took 3 wins and put himself into contention to advance with 2 others - Dane Fossee and JC Tibbitts. Paul’s reward for his efforts was noticed by the higher powers and he drew the correct straw to move on.

And his fortune didn’t end there. Taking a 12 point head start into his quarter-final against Cathy Lysack, Paul nervously and sporadically made his way to 14. A true gentleman, though, he allowed Cathy to also reach 14 before closing her out to take the victory, no one more surprised than Paul himself. Another 15-14 result in the quarter-final had Sante a little shaky over Jon Dengel. Jon made Sante a little edgy, this could very easily could have fallen Jon’s way. But in true Sante fashion, he overcame the pressure and pushed through.

Tom MacEachern also advanced to the semifinal with a 15-7 win against Peter Birbauer. Tom took a 6 point lead into the game, but never let Peter get settled. He jumped on the accelerator early, pressured Peter with his short game and in the end showed the handicap wasn’t necessary on this occasion. Ian Edwards mirrored Tom’s effort in his match with Josh Slominski. Ian had a 7 point head start, and Josh looked a little tentative giving up so much. A few timid shots, twitchy swings, and the 7 points turned into 11 quickly. Ian didn’t let Josh get any momentum back and took the game 15-7.

The big boys proved themselves in the semifinals. Tom stepped on with Paul Gormley 12 points in the hole and took no chances. Just don’t make a mistake. Hit solidly. And he did. One error only, the rest was clockwork. It was the way a stronger player should perform against the underdog. Tom moved onto the final 15-13.

Sante Fratarcangeli and Tom MacEachern

Sante repeated the same tactic with Ian. The 9 point handicap did not phase the 2-time Blitz Tournament champion, and Sante took care of business. Ian is a hustler, and he still made Sante work harder than he wanted to for the victory, but the 15-11 score in the end was rather emphatic.

To me, the final was the most interesting of all the matches of the evening. Tom walked on with a 4 point handicap. To be honest, I was debating with myself to make the handicap 6 or 7, but Tom was playing well so I went against my gut feeling. Normally that’s a bad idea, but it turned out just right. The game started off as I expected - good rallies with Sante winning roughly 2 out of every 3. He caught Tom half way through the game at 7-7, and that’s when I was kicking myself thinking I should have gone with my original handicap. But then it turned around. Tom stepped it up and took the game to Sante. The extra pressure seemed to blow the wind out of Sante’s sails, and try as he might, Sante could not regain the dominance. Tom would take his first Blitz Tournament title, winning the final 15-13.

Ian Edwards and Paul Gormley

In the 3rd and 4th play-off, Paul started off with 11 points over Ian and this time would not let this one slip away. A great effort by Paul, he took the game 15-12, earned himself a spot on the podium!

What a thrilling way to end the evening. Thank you to all who participated, for sticking around, abusing the keg, and supporting the finalists. Hopefully we’ll see many more of you in these tournaments throughout the season.

THE FIRST WEEK ZOO

Boasters League round 1~~

If you were not here for the first round of the Boasters League, then you missed out big time. What a zoo this place was. A fantastic atmosphere greeted us to kick the season off, we were swimming with squash and handball players all evening, the courts were choc-o-bloc, the new updated area overwhelmingly well received, and the matches were competitive as usual. I did hear a few complaints over personal form however, the summer rust not quite out of the system just yet and I’m sure there are a couple sore bodies this morning.

 We started the league off with our best foot forward as the number 1 players of the teams strutted their stuff first. A couple of good results for the underdogs in these matches. Sante Fratarcangeli (Butter Nutz) will be tested this half of the season as he competes in the top spot and having to play club champion Jed Elley (Wardogs) straight away was a tough assignment. But Sante went out strong and took Jed a little by surprise, picking up 1 game of the 3. Robin Basil (Fire Birds) did the same thing to Vikram Chopra (Winky-Dinks), taking advantage of his opportunities and also picking up a game. Just proves that underestimating anyone can be dangerous.

The Nicker Ballers had a very positive night winning 7 of the 8 matches they completed, 6 of them 3-0. Poor Paddy’s Dropshots were on the receiving end of the pummeling, their lone flag flyer so far being Paul Gormley who got past new comer David Schaden 2-1.

In familiar territory, we once again see Space Geckos leading the charge after round 1. But, you can’t argue they do not deserve it. Along with Mongoose, they have played the most matches so far of the round, picked up the most bonus points (equal with Wardogs), and helping their cause had 5 people attend the referee clinic last week. It adds up.

Foss Nation haven’t stepped out of the gate just yet since they did have the unenviable schedule of the first round bye. They were also 1 of 2 teams that did not have any participants in the referee clinic…

It’s tough to pinpoint a match of the week because we had numerous 2-1 close results. Almost 70% of the scores so far! A great sign of the competitiveness. One can only hope the rest of the season will be very similar to what we have seen so far.

To finish, I’ll quietly step onto my podium… GET YOUR MATCHES PLAYED! I know it’s only round 1, but you will find if you do not keep up, you won’t be able to catch up. And remember, anyone not playing at least 4 matches for the first half, risks being replaced for the second half. No excuses… Now, I’ll quietly step down…

WE ARE NOT WORTHY

Well, it’s official. Squash will not be a part of the 2020 Olympic program in Tokyo. Yes, it’s shocking. It’s heartbreaking. It’s tragic. It’s positively, undisputedly, unquestionably, categorically, irrefutably preposterous.  But, it is not a surprise. And we really should not have been expecting anything less than a screw-you-who-cares-about-squash rejection. So, with nothing more to lose, I’m ranting…

From the 8 listed sports that were vying for a spot on the agenda, the Tokyo Olympic Committee recommended 5 of them for inclusion to the 2020 Games. Squash was not one of them. We were snubbed for: Baseball / Softball – which is hardly unexpected considering the following baseball receives in Japan; Karate – which, again, shouldn’t dumbfound anyone; Skateboarding… are you freakin’ kidding me? Neither the International Skateboarding Federation nor World Skateboarding Federation are even recognized by the IOC. How on earth are they even considered? Sport Climbing… errr, I am at a loss for words; Surfing. Dude. Wow. I believe sports such as Skateboarding and Climbing actually demean the esteemed sanctity of the Olympics. They’re dumbing down.

It’s been a downhill slide for squash for years. It was actually voted in for the 2012 London Games, only to be voted off immediately thereafter when the IOC decided to take another, controversial ‘secret’ vote where many of the IOC officials had a sudden change of heart and probably a change in their bank account balance.

Squash made it to the final 3 sports for consideration for the 2016 Rio Games, but lost out to Golf and Rugby 7’s, and then the recent voting debacle for the 2020 agenda had squash (and every other sport) waste all their time and money as they witnessed the train wreck proceedings of the IOC voting off wrestling, and then merrily reinstating it 9 months later.

A new IOC president announced it would allow more sports in for the 2020 Games, but instead of allowing the sports that made it to the final 3 for the original 2020 voting to be automatically included, they forced all interested sports to go through the entire bidding process anew. This time, squash made it to the final 8, before not even getting into the final 5. Squash is getting pushed further down the totem pole.

Japan’s reasoning for their choices was simple. Their aim was to have a representation of sports that embodies “traditional and emerging, youth focused events”. What bollocks. Screw the rules. Clearly, the IOC have zero interest in an actual sport that truly meets all the criteria. Instead, it’s money, money, money. If squash wants to be in the Olympics, it needs to start to play by the real world rules and grease the right pockets.

Which really begs the question, “is it worth it?” Is all this time, money and effort really the thing the squash associations should be spending their efforts on? Of course squash has vowed to keep trying for 2024 (and in all reality, what choice do they have?), but why are we trying to get into an exclusive society that has continuously looked at squash like the annoying red-headed stepchild asking for a hand-out? If the Olympic Committees truly believe that “sports” such as Skateboarding and Sports Climbing are more worthy of Olympic status than squash, then we have no hope and are wasting our time.  Back to the grass roots, I say. Juniors, juniors, juniors. Courts, courts, courts. The world cannot have enough squash players or venues. In the meantime, the IOC can take their Olympic “values” and comprehensively, violently, consummately, copiously, and unabashedly, shove it in their Olympic sized rings.