TEAM MATE OF FATE

Doubles Select Tournament – Starts September 8

Enjoying the summer? Golfing, sailing, barbequing, swimming pooling, outside activity-ing? I’ll excuse you all for the transgression of not spending this time working diligently on your squash game. Summer is – after all - the best time of year to train, perfecting your overhand backhand volley reverse boast nick. But since we are under renovation in the court area, I can reluctantly see how on-court practice would be problematic. Although slamming your forehand rails around the construction workers would be a great way to focus on ball control…

Kicking off the 2015-2016 season (as we do every year) is the Doubles Select Tournament. Since no one has been able to practice recently, no one has any advantage. And if you think that the hours you have spent on the golf course has helped you – it hasn’t. Chasing a blue ball around a doubles court is hardly akin to wasting my time searching for a white one in the trees that is impossible to locate or watching it sail into a lake that isn’t even in the same postal code as the green I was aiming for. The trajectory of a small round ball arcing so far off course defies the laws of physics.

You won’t have the same issues playing squash. No long grass, no deciding which racquet to use for certain shots, no having to keep a stockpile of balls ready to go because you lose 12 of them per game, no having to wait for your playing partner to take 10 minutes to line up his shot, take 14 practice swings, and then flub it 3 feet sideways. Squash is so much easier on one’s faculties.

Although I have no guarantee your doubles partner will flub a few shots sideways (or whiff completely), I will guarantee that I will do all I can to make all the teams as equal as possible. In other words, your partner will be determined by me. So be nice.

·         Bribes Gifts absolutely accepted.

·         Register as an individual. I will assign your playing partner.

·         Tournament will be a knock-out format.

·         All matches are best of 5.

·         All matches will have a deadline for completion. Let’s try and stick to it, okay?

·         Be flexible with your schedule. We all need to sacrifice a little now and then.

·         Safety. Absolutely NO arguing let’s. Common sense from everybody is not only expected, it’s required.

·         Register no later than September 1. I highlight this because every year, without fail, somebody ‘forgets’ to enter and begs to be let in. Once the draw is completed, I will not be accepting any more entries. Apart from that, I need an even amount of players to sign up.

The wonderful thing about this event is that any player of any level can (and has) won it. So, if you think you aren’t good enough to play, you’re wrong. I encourage you to jump in, experience it, and it’s a perfect way to learn the game.

E-mail me your registration. We should get a very good field this year, the DAC doubles competition is getting stronger.