LUCK OF THE PARTNER

Doubles Select Tournament – Starts September 4

I’m not sure why this is called the “Select” tournament since none of you can actually “select” your own partner. Nor, really, do I. Your doubles partner depends 100% on who enters and how I rank everybody. The top ranked player will be matched up with the lowest, the second ranked player with the second lowest and so forth. So, there is really no selecting going on at all. It’s fate. As the knock-out draw will be. I’ll be pulling teams out of the hat as I fill in the bracket. No seeding. Should be called the Doubles “Kismet” Tournament… Feeling lucky?

As the summer winds down and the squash leagues loom, this is the perfect opportunity to get back into the swing of things. We had 34 registrations last year, 2 short of the record, many 5 set matches, and the winners were Shail Arora and Bob Garvey. Bob has now won this event 2 years running (he won it with Mike Skaff in 2010), and I’m sure he’ll be searching for a three-peat. I am hoping to eclipse the entry record of 36 (set in 2006) since we have been slowly getting more play on the doubles court over the past 12 months. Even if you don’t believe you are ‘up to scratch’, I recommend you jump in and have a crack – let your partner carry you!

Just keep these few items in mind:

• Each match will have a deadline. It will be the player’s responsibility to complete the match no later than the assigned date. Failure to do so will result in severe sanctions, incarceration, a ban on drinking beer for 12 months, and the large probability of a forfeit.
• Draw will be a knock-out format. Once you lose, you’re done. Try not to lose.
• The winning team will receive a nice shirt with their name stitched on it proclaiming to be the champions. If you want one, then heed to the bullet point above.
• All matches will be best of 5 games. You just have to win 3 of them.
• Don’t hit anybody with the ball. It really, really, really hurts.
• Be very understanding and considerate with the ‘let’ calls. Safety and common sense first.

Registration deadline is Friday, August 31. For obvious reasons, I need an even amount of players, so the earlier you sign up, the better chance you will have of not being the odd one out.