Silver Tournament in London

     On Saturday, a number of our juniors travelled to London to compete in the next stop in the Silver Series.  The Silver events are meant for players that aren't necessarily ready for the Gold events but moving beyond the Gary Waite events.  Also, participation in this event stops at players who are older than 15.  Windsor found great success today.  Aaron Nagy won the U15 division and Aparna Maheshwarhi won the U13 division.  Also, Hannah Guthrie, Vishaal Mehta and Ananya Maheshwarhi were second in their respective divisions.  Phil Dimitrov won the consolation over all people..... but Luca Dalla Bona.  It seems like these two have met in the last 10 tournaments!  Way to represent Windsor!!

Photos of the event can be found here

Windsor Squash and Fitness Youtube Channel

With all the videos that we have been collecting, we have opened up a Youtube channel.  It is called Windsorsquash2475 or you can access it here by clicking this link.  If you have any videos you would like to add, email it to Graeme or Craig to get it online

Pro Exhibition

Tom Richard, Darin Peterson,
Graeme Williams, Chris Simpson

      On Tuesday night, WSF was fortunate to have a couple of the top squash players in the world join us for a night of squash.  Tom Richards (#40) and Chris Simpson (#22), came to Windsor Squash and Fitness.

     The night began with our juniors meeting the pros and playing a game of "Who knows the pros better?  Phil or themselves?  To their amazement, Phil won!  The juniors then headed on court with the pros, where they learned about each of their favourite shots.  All the juniors then practiced these shots as Tom and Chris assisted.  Let's just say there were a lot of nicks being hit!  After that it was a 3/4 court challenge with our juniors playing for either Team Tom or Team Chris.  To wrap up our junior session, they finished as always with domino court sprints.  The juniors on Team Chris would like to thank him for continually drawing a double set of dominos :).

     As the crowd started filing in to enjoy the free beer and pizza they got to see Darin Peterson, the Khan family, Kathy Corchis,  Jody Brown and the Guthrie kids take on the pros.  WSF got off to a great start with Doc Peterson hitting a frame winner off the first serve.  However, it would be all downhill for Peterson after that.  Jody did more running in his one game than he did in his previous 2 matches as Chris worked him over from corner to corner.  Chris and Tom agreed the toughest matches came from the juniors who managed to win a couple of hard earned points.
   

      Then came time for the main event.  The exhibition match.  Those that showed up were treated to the highest quality of squash ever played at WSF.  We saw everything from trick shots to long rallies with incredible retrieving.  It kind of reminded me of Valente/Wilbur matches, minus the tins, heavy breathing, double bounces and made up scoring.  Tom Richards ended up winning in the fifth.

Q & A

      After the match, Chris and Tom did a Q and A with the members.  What is your training like?  (hard) Do you ever take time off? (no) Who do you find hard to play? (Gaultier) What separates you from the guys in the top 10? (fitness, skill, speed, power).  Tom and Chris were nice enough to hang after and chat with the members and sign autographs for the juniors.  This was a great opportunity for Windsor Squash and Fitness and hopefully next year we can gain some more support to bring in some more players.
     Pictures from this evening can be found here.
   
     Thanks to all the members that supported this event and a special thanks to Darin Peterson made sure this event was possible.

Busy Junior Weekend

Ryan and Niki warming up on the
all glass court

   

      For many of our juniors this was a big weekend.  This was our second opportunity at competing at a Gold level event.  This weekend also gave some of our newer juniors another opportunity to get some tournament experience in at the fourth stop on the Gary Waite Tour.   For some diehards, they did both!


Dunlop Gold #4 

    The National Squash Academy (NSA) in Toronto hosted the 4th Gold event of the season.  After our event in November, many juniors we looking forward to once again testing their skills against Ontario's best.  17 of our juniors participated and represented Windsor Squash and Fitness in great fashion.  Day 1 saw only Berto and David Mill move on in the main round.  Day 2 was full of many great and close matches.  It was evident that WSF juniors have greatly improved, we were just lacking a shot here and there to take many of the matches.
     The following juniors took part in this event; Niki Bistrev, Maxi Bistrev, Jagroop Bhangoo, Kabir Bhangoo, Luca Dalla Bona, Phil Dimitrov, Ryan Guthrie, Hannah Guthrie, Mackenzie Elliott, David Mill, Berto Mill, Sara Khan, Amin Khan, Ananya Maheshwari, Aparna Maheshwari, Vishal Mehta, and Aaron Nagy.  Complete results can be found here.  A special thanks to Graeme for bringing his whole family up to coach all the kids.  And thanks to all the juniors who were called upon to do some impromptu babysitting (Phil........).

Hannah and Mackenzie hanging with
#1 in Canada, Samantha Cornett

Pictures from this event can be found here.

Gary Tour #4

     As if two full days of squash wasn't enough, some players left the Gold event and went right to the Gary Waite stop in Waterloo. Others made the trip up from Windsor.  The results were quite opposite of the gold event where we struggled to win matches.  At this event, Windsor again dominated.   Aaron Nagy dominated the day winning the 14+ division with little difficulty.  Phil Dimitrov won the 11-13 division but not without some effort.  Phil encountered Luca Dalla Bona in the semi-finals in what has to be their 100th match against each other.  I think the series is tied 50-50.  Today Luca got into a hole early and wasn't able to respond to Phil's deadly drop shots.  It is very evident that our juniors are improving by leaps and bounds and will be competing with Ontario's best very soon.

Weekly Update Jan 6th 2015

A busy update this week so please bare with me!

Leagues:

All leagues start next week.  I have attached a copy of all sign ups I have received so far.  If you can't see your name that means I don't have you so please email me before the end of play today.  All schedules will be out by the end of the week!

Pro Exhibition  Tom Richards V Chris Simpson.

Tickets are still available for the Exhibition on the 20th January.  Tom and Chris have both been top 20 players in the world.  You need to email me to reserve tickets.  I will be sending an email to Coboto members and Chatham members in the next 24hrs so please act fast!  Tickets cost $50 including beer while it lasts and food.  We have a few premium tickets at $150 which includes the chance to hit with the pro's.  Junior tickets are $20 and moving fast!

Ladder:

I am starting to remove names from the ladder to ensure it keeps moving.  I have been slack with the up keep of this but my new years resolution will see this becoming more of a regular piece!

UK Racketball:

Steve DeMarco won the UK Racketball event this Christmas.  The feedback has been good and I honestly believe this should be a big hit at our club.  Anyone who has been tempted to play pickle ball should give it a try.  It is much easier on the body than squash but you still get the great workout.  I am going to start a Saturday League in January if interested please let me know.

Junior Squash:

Junior Squash starts as normal this Saturday.  Please register ASAP if you have not already done so.  Silver and Gold sessions are invite only.  We are always looking to for new players so please pass on to anyone you feel may be interested!

Junior League:

Remember to also register for the Junior League here.  Matches start this Sunday and is a great way of getting more matches in.

DAC Classic:

Mick is taking entries for the DAC Classic in early February.  All information can be found here.  My only advice is act fast as it sells out quickly!

Adult beginners Clinic:

This Saturday there is a there adult beginners clinic.  The sessions starts at 3pm till 4pm and cost is $10 plus HST.

Ontario Masters Team Event:

For those interested in playing in the Ontario Masters Team Event at White Oaks please email Dan Van Moorsal.  The event is being held the weekend of Feb 27th, 28th and March 1st.  It is a great event and I know some of you played last year. 

Lessons:

My schedule is almost full on a weekly basis. I still have openings in the early afternoons but all of my evenings slots are full.  If you would like evening sessions I will be happy to put you in touch with Dave Guthrie and David Mill.

Have a great week

Graeme

Junior Squash Christmas Party

Squash Juniors Christmas Party - December 13th 2014

The juniors finished off a successful year with a pizza party at the club.

The junior program has evolved so much over the past few years and we are proud to have a great group of kids on board.

Well done juniors!

80's Squash Christmas Party

80's Squash Christmas Party - December 20th 2014

Avid squash players of the Windsor Squash & Fitness club were invited to an 80's Squash tournament/party thrown by Graeme Williams, the pro at the club.

Wooden racquets at the ready, members certainly made an effort in both costume and Squash and a great time was had by all (although an overall agreement was made that the wooden racquets certainly hurt the body and that Graeme's shorts are probably the reason why he threw his back out.)

Thank you to all that attended and for all the pot luck dishes that were provided.

Please do send in any photos that you may have taken during the evening!