Boasters League round
1~~
Finally, the squash season has blessed us with its presence.
After a summer that kept more than most of the players away on the golf course,
on the lake, up north, standing at the BBQ, and not watching the Tigers, it was
refreshing to see that you still remembered where the DAC is located, where the
keg stands in the court area, and where the Handballers located their taco bar.
Timing was perfect for those of you celebrating week 1 as we
introduced our new squash pro into the squash family mix. Stu Hadden is still
trying to let it all sink in as he tries to recollect the 100 plus names thrown
at him (and forgetting most, if not all of them!) and icing and massaging his
hand from all the handshakes. He is of course not the only one sore from all
the activity. I am going to imagine that a decent portion of you are suffering
with some sort of muscle tightness in the legs, shoulders, back and derriere
areas… actually, some of you probably are sore from the tips of your toenails
to the flaps of your earlobes. Our morning porter that sweeps the court is sore
from cleaning up all the rust particles as well.
The top team out of the gates this season was Mongoose. A tally of 31 points, helped
along not just by winning 7 of their 9 matches (so far) and picking up an
acceptable 11 bonus points, but having 4
of their team members attend last week’s referee clinic. Just 3 points behind
are the Wardogs, who actually scored
exactly the same amount of points on court and amount of bonus points as Mongoose, but only had 1 player at the
referee clinic.
Slower starts for Over
Served and Winky-Dinks,
completing just 4 matches and also receiving the fewest bonus points for the
week. We are only 2 days into the season, so I wouldn’t be reading anything
into the standings right now. But that being said, a good start is very
helpful.
We have over 30 bodies in the league this year that are new
to us. Many of those very new to squash as well. Aaron Haubert (Vivio’s)
and Landon Lefler (Wardogs) were 2 of those, and as Aaron
ventured out for his first ever match he declared that he was setting his
expectations rather low as not to disappoint himself! Well, he actually
exceeded those expectations, he didn’t win, but a 1-2 result for him was a good
start to his very young squash career.
Another first-timer, Will
Owen (Butter Nutz) actually won
3-0 in his opening contest against Spencer
Forester (Nicker Ballers), but
of course when you are over 6 foot 5 and Will is, there isn’t a lot of balls
you can’t reach.
Michael DiFrancesco
(Wardogs) started off his 2019 campaign
against his good friend (and squash nemesis) Max Ritter (Vivio’s).
Max had beaten three times in a row leading up to this match so he had the
mental advantage. However, Michael isn’t one to shy away from a challenge and
up to the task, he broke the streak with a 2-1 victory. In probably one of the
best matches of the round happened later in the evening when (I guess) no one
was watching. Blake Roller (Mongoose) bragged it was a ‘really good
match’ even though he lost 2-1 to Schuyler Hamill (Foss Nation). When the loser of the match compliments the standard,
it must have been worth something!
The race has started. Don’t let your matches pile up. Don’t
fall behind. Don’t be surprised at how much food John Mann can eat in one sitting. Don’t give up on the Lions just
yet, they have actually been impressive so far (even though there are many
weeks left to change that fact!). They can’t lose this week, so how often in
the history of the franchise have you been able to boast that after 5 weeks,
they have only lost once? Be proud!
And play more squash.
