Christmas Parties

     Saturday was a busy day for Windsor Squash and Fitness.  Saturday afternoon saw 50 juniors show up for their annual party hosted by Graeme and Dave.  It is also at this party that the coaches reflect on the year gone by and give out their annual awards.  The emphasis on junior squash is that it is all about the effort so it makes sense that the awards given out were Effort Awards.  This year's winners were Mackenzie Elliot, Subhan Saleem, Wade Masse, and Courtney Furmanek.
     We also did a mannequin challenge on Saturday at the club.  Here it is:

In the evening, 50 or so adults gathered at Lilly Kazilly's for the annual Christmas party.  Thanks to Doug Lovegrove and Graeme for organizing this great night.

Canadian Junior Open

Juniors with Diego Elias (WR #23)

    What a great four days of squash!  WSF juniors played players from all over the world.  I guess we can't complain about travelling to Toronto when New Zealand brought a big contingent.  Also, Andrew was able to negotiate a home and home series with Barbados :).  The level of squash was unbelievable as the best juniors in the world descended on White Oaks.  No juniors were able to stay in the main round of their draws.  However, after the first round, many of our juniors began to win some matches.  To win any matches at the Canadian Open is a feat.  To win a draw is a great achievement as most draws had a full 64 best squash juniors in the world in them.  Congratulations to Luca Dalla Bona who won the Bronze division of the U15 draw in a gut-wrenching 15-13 in the 5th.  Well done Luca!  Complete draws can be found here and pictures from the weekend can be found here.

Ontario Junior Closed

       This weekend 10 juniors took part in the Ontario Closed at Executive Squash and Fitness.  Up for grabs were Ontario Championships and this brought out the best players in Ontario.  All juniors played strong and some even hung around the main round for a bit.  Phil Dimitrov had a breakout weekend by winning 2 matches in a row to get him into the bronze final where he finally tired, losing in a close 4 games.  Sara Khan also had a strong weekend by placing second in her round robin to put her into the main round, where she finished fourth.  Full results can be found here.

Ontario 50+ Champ

 Not only do we have the Canadian U11 champ, Canadian 35+ champ, but now we can add the Ontario 50+ champ to our Hall of Fame.  This weekend was the Ontario Masters Championships at Executive Squash and Fitness. Dave entered his draw as the 3rd seed.  He upset the second seed in the semi finals and went on to win in the finals 3-0.  I think Dave must be secretly training and was just using this as a warmup for the Fall Down Classic this upcoming weekend.  I think the WSF rule is if you win an Ontario Championships, you cannot play age groups at your own club tourney.  Just sayin....

Full results can be found here.

Ontario Jesters Gold #2

   This weekend 106 players from all over Canada showed up at Windsor Squash and Fitness to compete in the Ontario Jesters Black Knight Gold #2.  As this was a CORE event, many of these players were competing for a spot on Team Canada.  Many of our juniors played and all were competitive in their respective draws.  Armaan Sandhu was the winner of the Bronze U13 Draw.  But the biggest Windsor win of the weekend came from Amin Khan.  Amin was in top notch form all weekend and he treated the Windsor audience to an exciting finals in the U15 draw.  It went right down to the wire but Amin pulled it out 11-9 in the 5th.  Well done Amin!
      All matches that were played on court 2 were streamed live to the internet.  You can watch all the matches here.  Complete draws can be found here.  Pictures from the weekend can be found here.

Welcome Player!

to the

Junior Gold Core #2

Squash Tournament

21 - 23 October 2016

Hosted by 

Windsor Squash & Fitness Club

Click Here for the Tournament Program

Gold #1/ Grand Prix #1

     This past weekend 12 juniors took part in the first gold event of the season at Mayfair Parkway.  All juniors played really strong.  Amin Khan easily advanced to the semi-finals of his draw until he came up against the #1 seed.  Amin played every game very strong and both players put on a display of shot-making and retrieving.  However, Amin was edged out in a tight match.  Amin would go on to finish 4th in his draw.  Aaron, Sara and Ananya persevered in their draws to win the Bronze divisions.
     This same weekend also saw the first Grand Prix event in Windsor.  This is a monthly series that is being run on Sunday afternoons for players new to the game looking to get some tournament experience.  Strong performances were turned in by Rajun Sandhu, Colin Moore, and Kolton Brosseau were top players this Sunday.

Cross Border/ Pro Exhibition

 

   Saturday was a busy day for Windsor Squash.  Many of our players headed over to the Detroit Athletic Club to compete in the Cross-Border.  It was a tough day for Windsor especially since we have been dominating the Cross-Border.  It was all the USA on Saturday as they won a large majority of matches.  Thanks to all players for playing and representing Windsor (or Canada).
     Many players headed back to WSF after the cross-border to watch the pro exhibition between Ben Coleman (WR 50) and Anthony Graham (WR 162).  The players hung around all day, giving lessons and helping with the juniors.  In the evening, the players entertained a crowd of 40 with long rallies, incredible shots and witty banter.  After the exhibition they answered questions, signed autographs and helped the juniors celebrate Jagroop's birthday.  The pictures from the evening can be found here.

Congratulations Graeme!

     Congratulations to our very own Graeme Williams.  This weekend Graeme was honoured as Coach of the Year at Coaches Association of Ontario in Toronto.  The Ontario Coaching Excellence Awards Program celebrates the dedication and commitment of exemplary individuals who inspire, innovate and share knowledge of sport with others. The Awards recognize the importance of leadership, performance and the value of human insight which are all integral to great coaching.   Pictures of the ceremony can be find here.

Pro Exhibition

     As a thank you to the Windsor Squash and Fitness membership for all their support of the junior program, they are hosting a professional exhibition match between Ben Coleman (WR 50) and Anthony Graham (WR 90) this Saturday at 6:00.  The players will be helping with the
juniors during the day and having their exhibition after.
     The event will be catered and we  are covering the costs of all beverages.  Drinks will also be provided during the Monday and Tuesday leagues (until supplies last).   Please sign up here if you are interested in attending.     Junior Committee.

Golf Tournament

        On Saturday, 92 members and non-members participated in the 3rd annual WSF Golf Tournament.  This year we moved venues, changed the usual date and added an evening component to it.  This year we played at Rochester Place and we had over double the number of people come out to play and another 26 came out for dinner.  Thank you to Ryan Hughes and the Rochester Place staff for hosting us and making this event a great day.  Rochester provided the perfect venue, a fun course to play and a great social setting.  With the addition of all these new golfers, it also brought a new component.... teams that can really golf!  Apparently -5 isn't even to win it anymore.

!st Place Overall (-13)- Mike Sovran, Ryan Walker, Ryan Walker, Chalen Fecteau
2nd Place(-9)- Graeme Williams (really???), Dean Scarlett, Peter Harrison, Dustin Edmunds
3rd Place(-8)- Mark Stone, Kevin Furmanek, Stan Furmanek, Mike Counsman

Best Mixed Team- Lou Prantera, Renzo Collavino, Paula Collavino, Lucia Prantera

Best Junior Team- Stefan Houbtchev, Kabir Bhangoo, Luca Dalla Bona, Aaron Nagy

Most Honest Team- Carol Higgins, Fran Stone, Theresa Ashworth, Brenda Hamments

Longest Drive- Alice Miller (women), Russ Hodgson (men)

Closest to the Pin- Diane Rawlings (women), Dave Bshouty (men)

Best Dressed (not really an award)- Rod Larson

After golf and dinner it was time for dancing.  Many people stayed late dancing into the night,
prompting a visit by the police :).   I heard they were there to arrest Dave Morrish for "bad dancing".

     This event couldn't have been run without the support of all the sponsors and people that donated items for the auction.

Hole Sponsors- Windsor Squash and Fitness, Radix, Riverview Steel, T-Sports, Archon Architects, Syles Mechanical, Landscape Effects, Ground Effects, RBC (offered a hole-in-one prize at every par 3), Jeff Derochie, Ciena Healthcare, Laurel Healthcare, South Windsor Animal Hospital, Robinson Transport, RJO Holdings, Fratelli, Shelley Automation, Cognex, Gerald Duthie, SAZ Consulting Group

Auction Items- Archon Architect, T-Sports, Trevor Charles, Tom Porter, Windsor Squash and Fitness, Janice Funkenhauser, Mary Shaw (Delcam), Matt McEachran (Centerline), Elisabeth Bistrev, Dave Porter (Hiram Walker), Jim Scarfone (Scarfone Law), Florence Melee (Shoppers Drug Mart), Erin Porter, Family Style Deli, Seea Couture Boutique, RBC, James Konrad, David Morrish, Graeme Williams, Carol Higgins (Vollmer)

Thank you also to all the adult and junior volunteers that helped put on this event.

Pictures of the event can be found here.

Junior End of Year Awards

      Saturday was the last day of junior sessions for the year.  Most definitely it marks the end of the most successful year of squash for Graeme and Dave and the juniors.  We had a record number of players competing at the Gold level this season.  Ananya won National Championships, many others left their mark on many tournaments and Graeme won Coach of the Year.  Next year we will be even better and more dominant in the province with the addition of David Morrish this year.
      As per a tradition that Graeme started, on the last session of the year, the older players planned an afternoon of fun for the younger players.  All the juniors that showed up on Saturday were treated to fun games all afternoon.  However, the final session wouldn't be complete without the end of season awards.  The focus is always on effort and the players that won an award demonstrated consistent effort every time they stepped on the court.  Congratulations to the following:

Effort Awards

Jacob Nixon
Morris Harding
Julia Bondy
Gina Marinelli

Male/ Female Player of the Year

Usman Khan
Sara Khan

Congratulations

     Last Friday June 17, Squash Ontario held its annual general meeting which celebrated the last 12 months of squash in the province.  Windsor Squash was a big part of these celebrations.

I(Dave) was the keynote speaker and his topic was "Junior Squash @ Windsor Squash".  I spoke about how the junior program has grown from 5 players in May 2012 to just under 100 in April 2016. Graeme and I put a video together to show some of the activities that could be done in a school.   That video can be seen here.  I also spoke about the Active Schools program and how it is used to recruit players.  The presentation was very well received.

       Windsor Squash was recognized in the awards ceremony as a club that is a huge supporter of junior squash. Mark Porter received this on behalf if the club.

        The biggest award of the day went to Windsor's Head Pro, Graeme Williams as "Coach Of The Year'. He received a record number of votes. This was largely in recognition of the amazing junior program which he has built over the last 4 years as well as his coaching the Women's national team. 

        Sadly things only went downhill after that as I attempted to play golf!   

David Morrish

Doubles League - week 5

Below is the link for the schedule.  Last night saw Holman, Guthrie (Craig), and Roth all climb while Guthrie (Dave), Nagy and Deane went in the other direction!


Doubles Scheule

Club Championships Finals Day

On Saturday evening the Woman's, Juniors, C division, 40+ Division, Mixed Doubles and B Doubles Finals were played out at the club.

Those in attendance were treated to some entertaining squash with a couple of the matches going the full distance.

Stan Furmanek/ Janice Funkenhauser
Mixed Doubles Winners

C Final- Darren Brown Winner
Joe Soles Runner Up

Women's and Junior Girls Final-
Sara Khan, Winner
Hannah Guthrie, Runner Up

B Doubles Final- Mark Stone/ Stan Furmanek, winners
Barry Leavitt/ Mike Wilbur, Runner Up

Junior Final- Luca Dalla Bona, Winner
Aaron Nagy, Runner Up

40+ Final- Rob Charlebois, Winner
Dean Lansens, Runner Up

Weekly Update May 24th 2016

Dear All,

I hope you had a great long weekend.

LEAGUESThere are no leagues this week.  Please double check schedules for next week and inform your opponents if you cant make it.  Please please keep remembering to cancel courts when you rearrange matches.

 A League ScheduleB League Schedule

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPSThis Saturday is the final of the the club championships.  I have added the times to the draws which can be found HERE.


DAVE MORRISH 50 UP BIRTHDAY BASHThis Friday is a special social event.  To help Dave celebrate his big 50th I am organizing an evening of fun squash games.  Please sign up HERE to help me plan!!   ALL WELCOME

UK RACKETBALL V CABOTO CLUB  JUNE 10THI am still looking for sign ups for the UK Racketball match V the Caboto Club on June 10th.  Matches will start at 7.30pm.  Please sign up HERE

Ontario High School Squash Championships

     This weekend many of our juniors competed in the Ontario High School Squash Championships at Executive Squash in Vaughn.  There were 115 players competing from ten schools throughout Ontario.  The usual powerhouses were there including A.N. Meyer (Niagara) and defending champ, Lawrence Park (Toronto).  Tecumseh Vista was the 3rd largest team at 16.  It was great to see the addition of Kennedy and Massey this year.  The Massey team was started by the Khan girls and they were able to recruit enough players to field a team.   Grace Kim at Kennedy has done a great job all season getting her players out on a regular basis.   All told, the Windsor area brought 25 players to the tournament.
     The tournament divisions were broken up into ranked players and unranked players. The unranked players were divided into junior/senior and male/female.  The #1 seed, Akasham Rajagopaul, was fresh of his win at the Nationals the week before so to say that the competition was tough was an understatement.

   Team Kennedy quickly discovered how difficult tournament play could be, however as they played more matches throughout the tournament, all their play improved.  By the end of the weekend, Kennedy was eager to get home and practice more.  Massey was led by #1 seed in the ranked girls draw, Sara Khan, and by #2 seed in the unranked draw, Zahra Khan.  Sara dominated all the way to the finals where she was unable to put away the #2 seed.  Zahra dominated her draw all the way to the very end and won the Junior Girls Unranked division.  Well done girls!  Two big wins alone earned them enough points to be in the top half of all the teams.
      Tecumseh Vista had a mix of boys/girls, ranked/unranked and had a player in every draw.  Vista also made up 3 of the 4 ranked girls in the tournament.  Alec Cerimagic survived a couple of very tough 5-game matches to make it to the finals of the Junior Boy's Unranked final.  The final was incredibly close and saw Alec give up a 2-0 lead.  It went right down to the wire but Alec pulled it out in the end.  Well done Alec!
      Vista's other winners included Hope Hengsperger (2nd) & Simone Jankuloski (3rd) in the Senior Girls Unranked division, Berto Mill (3rd) in the Boys Ranked and Hannah Guthrie (3rd)  Girls Ranked and Matt Jankuloski won the Boys Unranked Consolation.
     However, in the end, Tecumseh Vista didn't earn enough points to take the title and ended up finishing 3rd.  All in all a great success for Windsor and the future looks very bright for our high school teams.  Pictures of the event can be found  here and final results can be found here.

Summer Solstice/ Golf Tournament

2014- Best Dressed,
Arthur Nagy

      Save the Date!  This year will be our 3rd annual golf tournament and we have decided to change the format.  We are sending this out much earlier than usual because we have much bigger plans for the tournament.  The venue has moved to Rochester Place and we have changed the date to take advantage of the nicer weather.  The new date is Saturday, July 16.  We have also combined the golf with a summer party for our non-golfers.
     Rochester is a great venue for a summer party and it will give our non-golfing members an opportunity to join the golfers for dinner and party after their round.  We will have a DJ, prize table and an assortment of games.      
     We appreciate those who sponsored last year and again this year we are looking for sponsors.  We have formalized our sponsorship program and a letter will be going out shortly to all potential sponsors.  Sponsorship this year will be $250 and that will get you signage on a hole, acknowledgement on the junior squash bulletin board and on our social media.  Also, we are accepting donations for items to auction off.
      Payment can be made by cash or cheque (payable to WSF Junior Fund).  Sorry no house charge.  Sign up is open and can be done at the front desk.

TTC

     

New junior game... don't ask, you
don't want to play it

What a weekend of squash!  The competitiveness (is that a word?) throughout all the divisions was incredible.  Where to begin?  Let's start with the B draw.  The B draw became the draw that the "bracket challenge" took place in.  It was a full 32 player draw and there were no clear favourites.  Luca Dalla Bona was the local favourite chosen to win it, while the out-of-towners stayed loyal and chose their players.  In the end, only 1 person correctly chose one of the finalists and he ended up $190 richer!  Complete breakdown of score can be found here. 

     The C draw was hotly contested throughout the weekend but in the end it was 2 local buddies playing in the final.  Adam Pole and James Konrad played their 34th match of the year to decide the winner.  Despite James' new found fitness, Adam had too many shots for James to handle.  Bragging rights belong to Adam for the next 6 months. Congratulations to Adam for winning the C draw!

     The A division was a very tough division all weekend.  All matches were close and it was anyones draw to lose.  However, our own Mr. Ben Gay... I mean David Morrish,  somehow was still standing (barely) late Sunday afternoon to claim the A draw.  Dave's shot-making overcame all his opponents strengths.  I think David has booked himself "unable to walk for the next week".  And to think he wanted to play 40+......

     The Open final brought out many spectators who were keen to see how the student-who-moved-away would do against the teacher-who-trained-him.  Yes, David Mill vs. Graeme.  Both players seemed in top notch form all weekend and the final was a very entertaining event.  However, as all of us adults will find, our upward curve (or is it downward?) isn't quite as steep as the juniors.  David proved too much for Graeme and took the match 3-1.  

     While many of the juniors opted to play in the skilled divisions, we still had a strong junior division draw.  The winner of the junior division and possibly also the player that played the most matches in one weekend was newcomer Alec Cerimagic.  You could see Alec get stronger every match he played as the weekend went on.  Oh to be young....

Open Final, Graeme v David Mill

     The doubles draws proved to be as entertaining as always.  The Women's division was extremely close with Hannah Guthrie and Mackenzie Elliott winning two 5-gamers in a row to take the win.  In the mixed doubles division, Herb Funkenhauser and Marg Holman defeated Steve (I haven't slept this weekend) Allen and Janice Funkenhauser.  Janice, in an attempt to improve her chances for a win, upgraded her partner with a newer and younger model but to no avail.  The B doubles final went the distance with Dave Guthrie and Dean Lansens taking on an all-female Seth team.  In the end, the girls out-mistaked the boys. 

     The A final was an all-London affair, well almost.  Windsor was represented by Mark Eugeni as Brad Hanebury's partner against Chris Boden and Caleb Quinlan.  Mark and Brad just had too many shots for the young upstarts from London.  

     All in all it was a great weekend.  Thanks to everyone that came from out of town (London, Sarnia), thanks to the beer sponsors (Jeff Derochie, Sleeman's, Anonymous(no, not the hacker group)), and thanks to Graeme and Dave for putting on a great event.  Final standings can be found here.  

     

Ontario Open

Ananya Maheshwari
U11 Ontario Champ

      White Oaks in St. Catherines was the host site of this year's Ontario Open and Windsor had 15 players participating.  This tournament always brings out the best players and the competition was fierce.  Windsor players were also fortunate enough to be coached by Anthony Graham, an active PSA pro who was in town for the weekend to train with Dave.  However, the strength of the draw took its toll on Windsor as Aparna, Ananaya, Amin, David, Sara, and Berto were the only ones who were able to pull out a first round victory and stay in the main round.  The rest of the weekend saw great squash amongst all the Windsor players.  Once again Ananya Maheshwari dominated the U11 without losing a game the entire tournament and add another title to her amazing season.  Well done Ananya!  Sara Khan also won the consolation draw.
      This tournament is also when Squash Ontario awards one female and one male player for the Jim Mason Play Fair Award.  The award recognizes players who have demonstrated fair play on and off the court and is an ambassador for the game of squash in Ontario.  This year's recipient was none other than our David Mill.  David was honoured for his great demeanour as a player and also being a positive influence on squash in Ontario.  Jamie Nicholls (Executive Director of Squash Ontario)

also took this opportunity to recognized the "amazing" things that are going on in Windsor right now. Congratulations David, you earned it!
     All the juniors would like to thank Anthony for coaching them this weekend.  Full results can be found here.

Bottle Drive Over

     If you ever wondered how much your garage that is full of empties is worth?  Well, you don't have to wonder anymore.   We had an informal contest as to how much money sat in the front room in the form of empties.   Any guesses?  Let's just say that the guy working at The Beer Store had a hard time believing that all this came from a health club.  Don't worry.  We said it was our members "friends" that brought in the empties :).  After 2 hours of counting the junior's added $507 to their fund.
     In regards to the junior fund, a lot has happened with it over the past year.  The fund has grown and now supports many more things.  It subsidizes lessons, clinics, pays for Windsor players to have a coach at out of town tournaments, provides a bursary to graduating juniors, and help supports our gold tournament.  The juniors appreciate the members support of them and would like to thank everyone that donated bottles (including the person that dropped off full ones).

    On a side note, book off Saturday, July 16 for this year's golf tournament.   The venue has been moved to Rochester Place and it will also coincide with a summer party for club members.  Stay tuned for details.

Ontario Junior Team Squash Championships

     The Squash Ontario Team Tournament was held this weekend at the Ontario Racquet Club in Mississauga.  The province is broken up into 8 regions (Toronto gets 2 teams) and each team consists of 8 players.  All the regions are then split into 2 round robins.  The top 4 teams in the round robins move onto a 4-way playoff.  Team Southwest consisted of:

U13- Usman Khan/ Aparna Maheshwari
U15- Riley Bore (Sarnia)/ Hannah Guthrie
U17- Berto Mill/ Anna Houbtchev
U19- David Mill/ Arden McKillop (London)

      The tourney got off to a good start for Team Southwest with Aparna dominating her opponent with her improved play in the first match of the night.  However, in the end, Mississauga beat us 5-3.    
      The next day we took on Team North York.  In an interesting series of events Team North York had a new player on their team, one Amin Khan.  Amin actually lost out in a qualifier to Riley Bore  (Sarnia) to get into the tournament.  However, North York was short players (as was Team Western Ontario who recruited Sara Khan and Team Muskoka who recruited Ananya) so they recruited Amin Khan.  As luck would have it, Riley and Amin met on Saturday morning and the match did not let down the spectators.  Both players made incredible shots, showed incredible retrieving ability and entertained the ever-growing crowd.  However, thankfully for us Riley proved too tough.  Sorry Amin :).  We ended up defeating North York 5-3.
     Our next match was against Ottawa and again, we won 5-3.  This was enough to get us into the playoff round where we drew one of the Toronto teams.  Unfortunately, Toronto was just too strong and took the match 6-2.  However, we went out on a high note as Berto Mill pulled off an upset in his match by leaving blood, sweat and skin all over the court.
     Sunday saw Team Southwest in a battle for 3rd place with Western Ontario.  The battle went back and forth throughout the lineup.  By the time the last match of the tournament rolled around, Western was up 4-3.  That left a lot of pressure on David Mill's shoulders.  David had to win to go to a tie breaker.  David was playing Ravi Seth, yes Micaala's younger brother, and the match went back and forth until they reached the final few points of game 5.  It was standing room only as the crowd cheered and hollered after each point.  However, David made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes in the last few points that allowed Ravi to take the match.  Team Ontario 4th place.
     This is definitely one of the more enjoyable tournaments for the kids as they hang around and cheer on their teammates throughout the weekend.  It is by far the loudest squash tournament you will attend.  Team Southwest proved that they are a force to be reckoned with.  Who would have thought the other teams would be looking to southwestern ontario for extra players???  Big thanks to Derek Moore of London for coaching the team this year.  Complete draws can be found here.
                             

Gold #4- Toronto Cricket and Curling Club

  If you haven't been to the Toronto Cricket and Curling Club, it is quite an experience.  It is a very hopping place with an unbelievable amount of activity.  The club dates back to the 1880s yet still has the feel of a very new club.  If you get tired of watching squash, you can go watch curling or figure skating or tennis.  Or you could just hang out in large and quaint restaurant.  The squash area has 6 single courts and 3 doubles courts, all with great viewing.  Good thing too because while we were there, they were playing the semis and finals of a PSA event.

   14 of our juniors participated in the Gold event here this weekend.   Our progress was very clear this weekend as David Mill, Sara Khan, Amin Khan, Aparna Maheshwari and Hannah Guthrie all advanced into the main rounds.  Unfortunately, none of them won in the next round.  However, David Mill lost 12-10 in the fifth, while Sara, Amin, Aparna and Hannah all lost in very close matches.  The same can be said for all our other juniors.  No one was outplayed and all matches very tight.  We even had U11 Canadian champ Ananya Maheshwari playing up a division.  Ananya has dominated the U11 division and felt it was time to take her game to the next level.  That would be a 10 year old playing against 12 year olds!
     By the time the weekend was over, 10 out of our 14 ended up winning at least one match and for a few of them, this was their first gold tournament win.  Aparna Maheswari won the U13 Consolation, David finished 3rd and Ananya won the U13 Bronze division.  To sum up how close we are.  Berto Mill had 4 match balls in the first round against the eventual winner.  

     Final results can be found here and pictures can be found here. 

Windsor High School Tournament

2016 Windsor squash champs- Kennedy Clippers

     If you came by the club Friday you might have thought that you had your days wrong and it was Saturday with all the juniors around.  Or you may have thought you haven't seen many of the juniors of late and wow, have they grown.  No, it was just the 2nd annual Windsor High School Tournament.  The tournament has expanded in it second year and this year we had 25 students from 3 schools (Kennedy, Massey, Vista) competing.  This tournament is designed for players either new to the game or players that are not yet participating in Gold level tournaments.

     After a quick seeding round, players were placed in A, B, and C divisions.  Players were competing for individual honours as well as team points.  The better you did in your draw, the more points that went toward your team.  Vista, the reigning champs, showed up with a handful of players that dominated in last year's tournament and also some new face to the team.  Massey was a very new addition to the game and many of their players had only played a couple of times.  However, under the tutelage of Sara Khan, they showed much promise.  I think Kennedy thought they were in a basketball tournament as I don't think they had one player under 6 feet tall. 

     Grace Kim has been working hard with the Kennedy, training twice a week for months.  The other teams knew they were in trouble when Kennedy showed up sporting some nice uniforms.  And it was Kennedy's day as they dominated the draws.  The A final saw Kennedy's Dante Fornaserio defeat Vista's Matt Jankuloski.  The final match saw great retrieving and shot-making by both players.  In the B final it was an all Kennedy matchup as saw Erik Erickson defeat his teammate Gina Marinelli.  The C final had Massey's Mohid Nadeem defeat Vista's Hana Obeido in a very close match.  

     Congratulations to coach Kim for doing such a great job with her team.  They clearly improved as the season went on.  However, I heard Vista and Massey talking about dominating this event next year.  Kennedy and Vista are moving on the Ontario High School Squash Championships in Toronto at the end of April.
     Special thanks to Nik Bistrev, David Morrish and Graeme for helping run this event.

Bottle Drive Going Strong

WSF Bottle Drive is picking up a lot of steam.  You may (or may not) have noticed all the bottles piling up in the front room as you enter the club.  The drive has been extended one more week for anyone who wants to donate bottles.  Only wine and beer bottles will be accepted.  Thanks for your support

Gold #3- National Squash Academy

     11 of our juniors, plus adopted Windsorites, Rily Bore (Sarnia), Gabe VanMorsel (Chatham), Natasha Pensler (USA) participated this weekend in Gold #3 at the National Squash Academy. Unfortunately, high school exams kept many of our juniors out of this tournament.  This was also David Morrish's first tournament with our juniors.  I know he was very impressed with their conduct this weekend.
     It was a great weekend of squash as our juniors continued to improve at these events.  On Friday night, our juniors played very tough and were losing in 5 games to players that beat them in 3 or 4 games in the past.  A number of opponents and parents commented on how much improvement our players have made in just a couple of months.
    Saturday saw some incredibly intense squash.  Berto Mill was typical Berto, diving all over the court and making his opponents suffer with his incredible retrieving.  He also had the rally of the weekend that saw him dive, play his next shot from his bum and get up to win the rally.  Maanav made an incredible comeback after being down 7-0 in game 5 to win his match.  Mackenzie made every rally tough on her opponents.  Vishaal had some incredibly long rallies with the top seeded player in his division.  Natasha Pensler, playing up a division, played a great match in beating one on the tougher players in her draw.  Luca Dalla Bona played by far some of the best squash he has ever played.  He played a smart game and worked his opponents all over the court and clearly has jumped to the next level.

   Come Sunday, Ananya, Hannah, Vishaal, Maanav, David, Natasha, Gabe, Riley were all still playing. At the end of the day, Hannah won the Bronze division and David won the consolation. Ananya won her 3rd Gold tournament.  Ananya continued her dominance despite making a concerted effort to transition to one-handed play.  She looks stronger than ever!
    Draws can be find here.  Pictures from the weekend can be found here.

Nick Matthew/Ryan Cuskelly Exhibition

     Tuesday night Windsor Squash and Fitness was treated to the best squash it has ever seen (other than Wednesday nights Wilbur vs. Leavitt) as Nick Matthew (#3 in world) and Ryan Cuskelly (#16) came to town.  The evening started off with Nick and Ryan working with the juniors and discussing their favourite shots.  Then it was onto the court to work on those favourite shots.  Nick and Ryan helped feed and offer advice.
      After drilling for a bit, games of cutthroat began with Ryan and Nick mixing in.  All the juniors got an opportunity to rally with each of the guys.  Maxi took full advantage of this when he taxied Nick on a beautiful crosscourt.  It was great to see Ryan and Nick having so much fun with the juniors.  Graeme noted that it was the most intensity he has seen from them in a while.  
      Soon the sponsors arrived to play their games against the pros.  Darin Peterson, Derek Moore (London), Ty Stacyszyn, Amin and Sara Khan all got the opportunity to take on Nick Matthew.  Hannah Guthrie (courtesy of David Scarfone), Peter Urdell (London), Jody Brown and Mark Eugeni all took on Ryan.  While there were many entertaining rallies by all, it is safe to say that Ryan and Nick's world rankings are safe for now.

      After that it was time for the big event of the night.  Ryan vs. Nick.  We had a packed house and there was no extra viewing space at all.  The match had great rallies with amazing nicks and trick shots.  However, the players encountered something they have probably never seen before.... a streaker.  Yes, one unnamed Chatham individual decided that the match wasn't entertaining enough so he stripped down to his skivvies and streaked on the court.  No attempt was made by security (or anyone else) to bring him down.  If you want to see the full, unedited video you need to follow us on Twitter (@wsfjuniorsquash).
     After the match both guys were kind enough to do a Q & A and sign autographs.  All in all it was a great night for Windsor Squash.   I have posted photos here and if you could, email me so I can add yours to our collection.  It would be nice to have a nice collection of photos from the night.  If not, follow us on Instagram (windsorsquashandfitness) or check out snapd windsor.

Gary Waite Tour- Windsor

 

Gary Waite Tour Winners

  On Sunday, 32 juniors from around Southwestern Ontario gathered to take part in the 4th stop on the Gary Waite Junior Tour.  The Gary Waite Junior Tour is designed for up and coming squash players to experience what squash tournaments are like and to get some competitive experience.  Most of our experienced juniors played on the Gary Waite Tour before moving on to the next level of tournaments.  On Sunday, there was much amazing play from the youngest (under 10) division to the oldest (over 14) division.  Sebastian Stojanov, the youngest competitor, hung tough with the older kids and showed much improvement in his game.  Colin Moore is becoming a tour veteran and his improved backhand was in fine form.  Dylan Charles proved that hockey doesn't throw off his squash game.   Most importantly is seemed that everyone had a great time.  Follow us on Twitter @WSFJuniorsquash and Instagram @windsorsquashandfitness

Over 14                                                    

Champion- Aparna Maheshwari (Windsor)
Runner-Up- Hunter Gowan (London)
Grinner- Colin Moore (Windsor)

11-13                                                  

Champion- Sujai Shah (London)
Runner-Up- Rajan Sandhu (Windsor)
Grinner- Emily Guthrie (Windsor)

Under 11                                                    

Champion- Carter Furmanek (Windsor)
Runner-Up- Subhan Shabaz (Windsor)
Consolation- Serena Marcon Windsor)


   

UK Racquetball/ David Morrish

Saturday was a busy day at the club.  For starters it was our new assistant pro, David Morrish's first day at work.  And what a tough first day it was.  At noon it was "Bring a Friend" Day to squash and apparently our juniors have many friends.  Over 30 newcomers came out to try the game and a number of them immediately signed on to play more.
     Immediately after that, over 20 adults members came out to experience UK racquetball.  For those of you that don't know, UK racquetball is very much like squash only you play with a racquetball and racquetball racquets.  You wouldn't think that is would be that much different but surprisingly it was.  This is a great game for anyone looking to continue playing squash but not at as a physically demanding level.  The other great thing about UK racquetball is that players of two vastly different squash
abilities can still be competitive with each other.  In the end, Andrew Little walked away with a new UK Racquetball racquet.  Thanks to Dave for showing us this game.
    Be sure to stop by and say hi to Dave when you are in.