Gary Waite Tour

   Who would have thought that the day would come when we have 3 squash pros and in one weekend, we have enough juniors playing tournaments that they are in different cities and events.  While some players were at the Gold in Toronto, other were playing the ever-popular Gary Waite Tour in London on Sunday.  7 Windsor players made it to this event and they made their presence felt.  Maisie Williams has made it clear this season that she is the player to beat in the Under 10 group as she won this event to add to her last one.  Jacob Bhatti continues to improve as he won the 11-13 consolation draw.  Imola Nagy is following in her brother's footsteps by playing in the Gary Waite series and she continued with her strong play by winner the Grinner's division.  The last stop for the Gary Waite tour is scheduled for March 25th in London.

Junior Gold #4

    This weekend 7 juniors took part in Gold #4 at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and  Curling Club.  Almost all players won their first round matches to move on to the next round.  Far different from last year at this time when many of our players continued to have difficulty staying in the main round.   Ananya (seeded #1 in U13) cruised through to the finals where she met up with Gabrielle Waite of the great Waite squash family.  Ananya proved to be too steady with too many good shots for Gabrielle.  Congratulations to Ananya for a well-played tournament and bringing home the gold medal to Windsor.
     Amin has made the jump into U17 and quickly realized that it is a much different game.  In the second round, he met up with Dylan Deverill (4th seed), a player who he has never beaten.  Not this time as Amin was able to take Dylan in 4 games to move on to the semi-finals.  It was during this match that Amin had the rally of the weekend.  Despite numerous nicks by each player during the rally, neither one could finish off the rally.   After what felt like 50 shots, Amin was finally able to put Dylan away.  Unfortunately for Amin, in the semis he discovered what moving up to another age division means.  You can't get away with the same shots and suddenly you find yourself under intense pressure.  In the end Amin finished in 4th place.
    Dylan Charles made his first Gold appearance (outside of Windsor).  Despite playing his first two round very tough, he wasn't able to pull out a victory.  It wasn't until the 3rd round that Dylan found his form, easily dispatching his opponent.  Dylan ended up in the Bronze final where he played great and battled down to the wire but unfortunately could not get the victory.  However, Dylan showed that he is ready to make the leap to the Gold tournaments.
     Ryan drew the #3 seed in the first round.  He almost always draw a seed in the first round.  Playing the seeds in the first round has caused Ryan to raise his overall game and it really showed in the next round.  Round  2 was a 1 hour, 15 min affair.  He must have been inspired by Jahangir and Shawn's talk of the record.  The rallies were long and neither playing was making many mistakes and both were chasing every ball down.  Despite 2 match balls in the 5th, he could get the victory.  A great match all the same.  Ryan won his next round and ended up in the Bronze final where he again played very strong and lost in a close match.
     Hannah won her first match easily and drew the #1 seed the next round.  She played her very tough and every game was a carbon copy of the previous.  Play was tight, right up to 8-8.  A couple of bad bounces and uncharacteristic errors and the game was lost.  Game 2, repeat.  Game 3, repeat.  Despite the 3-0 score, the match was very close.  In the next round she drew her practice partner Sara.  Sara lost the first round in a very touch match.  She won down 2 games only to come back and tie it up.  Game 5 went back and forth but Sara lost in extra points.  Sara proved to be the stronger player against Hannah in the next round.  However, Sara wasn't able to get past her next round though, bringing her weekend to a close.
     What would a Gold weekend be without entertainment from Usman.  Usman won his first round easily, leading him to the #2 seed in the draw.  In typical Usman fashion, he chased down every ball and didn't give up any easy points.  Every game in this match was close but he wasn't able to get the victory.
     All in all, Windsor played great.  Final results can be found here.

Canadian Team Championships, Day 3

      After a great party on Saturday, matches began first thing in the morning.   First matches up on Women's side was a battle for the bronze with Ontario 2 battling it out with Quebec.  Team Ontario pulled out the victory, securing our first medal.  On the men's side, it was Ontario 1 vs. Manitoba and again Team Ontario won, giving us our second medal.  

     Then it was time for the big matches and the crowd began to swell.  First up were the women's matches with Team Ontario 1 taking on Alberta.  On paper it looked like this match could go either way.  In the opening match it was Hollie Naughton (Ontario) playing Jackie Moss (Alberta).  Despite the 3-0 score in Hollie's favour, the games were very tight.  1-0 Ontario with the #1s on each team up next.  Sam Cornett vs. Danielle Letourneau.  Sam came out in game 1 very strong and over-powered Danielle.  However, game 2 was all Danielle as she forced Sam into numerous errors.  Sam settled down for game 3 & 4 and took the match in 4 games, giving Ontario 1 the Gold medal.  To finish off Ontario's dominance, Micaala Seth defeated Jaime Laird in 3 games.  

     Next up was the men's.  Team Alberta vs the favourite, Team Quebec.  These matches were

difficult to view if you didn't get there early and staked out your spot.  The first match was a hint of the kind of match it would become.  #2s, Graeme Schnell (Alberta) vs. David Baillargeon.  The first game was full of long rallies, incredible retrieving and great shot-making.  David took the first game 13-11 in about 1/2 hour.  

     Just as game 2 got underway, Jahanger Khan arrived to watch the match.  You could feel the energy on the court rise (if that was even possible).  Game 2 saw more of the same with Graeme taking this one.  Graeme would go on to win the match 3-1.  Alberta 1, Quebec 0.

     Because the first match took so long, matches 2 and 3 were sent off about the same time.  The match that drew the biggest crowd was Shawn Delierre (Quebec) vs. Andrew Schnell (Alberta).  Shawn forced Andrew to hit perfect shots as he retrieved just about everything Andrew hit.   On the court next to them, Shawn's brother, Jason, was battling it out with Jacob Hooker.  Both matches finished about the same time with Shawn winning 3-0 and Jason winning 3-1, giving Quebec the Gold medal.  

     Somehow during all this, Jahanger found time to get on the court and play 3/4 court with all the juniors.  No matter how long since you last played, some things don't leave you, like the pure hitting of the squash ball.  Thank you Jahinger for spending time with our juniors, it is a memory they will cherish the rest of their lives.

   The streams of the matches can be found here.  A write up from Squash Canada can be found here.  Pictures of the weekend can be found here.  Overall it was an amazing weekend of squash and camaraderie.  It was great to hear the players praise how great everyone treated them in Windsor and how great Windsor is and what a fabulous event we put on.  Graeme and Dave showed Canada that Windsor is the place to be for squash right now.  Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of Anis Khan and Darrin Peterson.   Thank you to all the VIPs and spectators that came out to support this weekend.  

Canadian Team Championships, Day 2

   Welcome to day 2 of the Canadian Team Championships!  Matches began at 9am and went right through until 7:30.  In the Men's draw, Alberta won 2-1 over Ontario 1 (hosting province gets an additional team).  However, it was no walkover as matches were very tight and heavily contested.  On the other side of the draw, Quebec breezed through.  This means an Alberta/Quebec final as seedings predicted.
    In the Women's draw, Ontario 1 cruised past Manitoba to earn a place in the finals.  On the other side of the draw, Alberta defeated Saskatchewan to advance to the finals.  All finals matches begin at 11:30 on Sunday.  Not to say those are the only matches tomorrow.  There is still bragging rights up for grabs and all the provinces are still competing for final placements.
     The highlight of the weekend was definitely the Saturday night dinner.  So many thanks to Anis for organizing all this.  160 people game out for the dinner, including many WSF members and supporters.  Once seated we were "surprised" with the legendary Jahanger Khan, winner of 555 consecutive matches and without a doubt, the most dominant squash player in history.  Jahanger talked about the importance of hard work and fulfilling our ambitions in squash.  After dinner, he was was kind enough to pose for many, many pictures.  This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Again, thank you Anis.
     Saturday reaffirmed how much of a social sport squash is.  Members mingled with players from around Canada who were more than willing to talk squash.  Squash is the great equalizer in conversation and our visiting players were more than willing to accommodate.  Sunday looks like it is going to be a very good day for squash.
     Links to the draws can be found here and pictures from the weekend can be found here.

Canadian Team Championships, Day 1

    Wow!  What a day of squash.  Matches started at 11am and ran until 8:30.  There were a ton of great matches and a lot of exciting squash to watch.  For those of you unfamiliar with a team event, each province enters a team of 3 players.  Each province gets seeded based on those 3 players.  Women and men compete in separate draws.  In other words, men and women from the same province are not the same team.  Every province (minus the territories) submitted a team (except for a female team from BC) plus the Canadian Armed Forces had a male and female team.  If your team wins, you advance to the next round.
     In the men's draw, top seeds Alberta and Quebec looked very strong today.  The Schnell brothers put in a strong performance, showing they will be a tough team to beat.  Quebec was equally impressive with Shawn Delierre leading the way with an impressive win full of incredible shots.
     In the women's draw top seed Ontario and Alberta easily advanced to the next round with Sam Cornett and Danielle Letourneau leading the way.
     Be sure to come out tomorrow to watch all the amazing squash taking place.  Matches begin at 9am and go until 6:30.  Attached are links to todays results.

Men's results

Women's results

Pictures from today