World Masters, Final Day

     This is it.  A week of world class squash (not by us of course) comes to a close.  In our finals matches, Trevor played off for 5th place in his division and won 3-1
      Dave finished off the week on a very positive note.  Dave was playing the Canadian 50+ masters champs, Trent Haase.  However, Dave never let Trent get comfortable during the match.  Dave kept Trent on his heels and used his arrays of shots to frustrate him.  Despite Dave's 3-0 win, it was a hard-fought victory.  Dave ended up in 13th place.  Well done Dave!

Highlights from the week

Craig

1.  Meeting so many squash people from around the world
2.  Winning an international match
3.  Corrupting Jay

Al

1.  Meeting like-minded individuals from around the world
2.  Playing on Day 6 of an international tournament
3.  Realizing Cheetos were a vegetarian source of protein

Dave

1.  Catching up with old friends
2.  Reaching final 16
3.  Hanging out with WSF guys

Jay

1.  Interacting with so many friendly people
2.  Meeting former top players in the world
3.  Hanging out with WSF guys

Trevor

1.  Catching up with great players from the past
2.  Creating new friendships
3.  Doing everyone's laundry :)

Thank you Charlottesville for being a great host and putting on a first class event.  Photos of the week can be found here (well, some of them :))

World Masters, Day 6

    As we approach the final days of the tournament we have a guest blogger for today.  Yes, Mr. Boast himself can actually write......

     Today started off as it usually does with the clattering of pots and pans in the kitchen followed by the shrill of Dave Morrish’s voice through the walls of our tiny apartment as he and Trevor (our newfound room-mate and Morrish’s buddy from South Africa and former world #22) reminisce in great detail about a match they played back in 1984.  The juniors would recognize this voice which similarly echoes through the triple thick pane glass squash court walls at Windsor Squash & Fitness. Craig lays there motionless on his blowup mattress in the living room with a pillow over his head seemingly i’m assuming for the dual purpose of comfort and/or a noise barrier. Today’s bonus discussion was how Dave ordered too much food at dinner last night but that problem was easily solved as Trevor quickly woofed down his vegetarian ravioli when we met him back at the apartment last night. Trevor‘s timing was right as Jay didn’t have an opportunity to take advantage of this rare opening of uneaten food and had to settle for his normal bowl of twigs sprigs and sprouts which includes some magic potion to keep him so young looking. He must have forgotten that the corn he boiled three days ago is still sitting in the same water in the pot on the stove. Having said that some may not recognize him as the picture of health as he discovered Cheetos on this trip and Craig and i are still trying to figure out how we’ve gone through 4 bags and need to go to Kroger for reinforcement.  Yours truly is sitting in bed writing this blog as we speak and waiting for the dust to settle before Dave, Jay and Trevor head out the door to the club. Only matches today include Trevor at 12:30 PM and Al at 1 PM. I am considering going into the kitchen to make breakfast but see a motionless Craig in the fetal position out there taking advantage of the peace and quiet. I’ll give him a few more minutes of R.E.M time before making my move. Even if I did happen to wake him up we all know that Craig is a team player and not a complainer. He’ll have to get up soon and visit the “loo” soon, as Dave would say anyway.

     First up was Trevor.  As Al mentioned Trevor is a world-class squash player but today he was feeling the effects of his previous match against previous master's winner, Willie Hosey.  Trevor came out flat today against a sharp-shooting Dominic Hughes from the USA and put an end to his tournament.

     Next up, our guest blogger.  Al was playing a guy that was born in Windsor and now lives in Waterloo (now he has a game when he travels).  His opponent was deceiving in warmups and it looked like this was going to be an easy win for Al.   However, once the match started his opponent turned it on hitting winner after winner.  Al had his chances to win and was slowly tiring out his opponent.  Unfortunately, Al needed to get a game win to extend the match and probably get the win and that didn't happen.  Congratulations Al on a great tournament and exceeding your tournament expectations.   

     Today was semi-finals day and the matches were incredible.  Dave Morrish was the guest commentary on Alistair Walker's match.  You can listen to Dave here (with a big shout out to Windsor Squash) and decide if Dave has a potential second career.  

Live streaming can be found here. 
Complete draws can be found here.

World Squash Masters, Day 4 & 5

Wednesday

     Today didn't get off to a great start for Windsor.  While Al did earn his second win of the tournament by playing his best game yet as he won over a French player named Default.  It was an amazing match as Al couldn't miss and his opponent had no answer.  So Al moves on to the next round with his "victory".
     Craig, on the other hand, had a really tough match against a true frenchman from Quebec.  Oddly enough, Dave used to give him lessons when he was in Ottawa.  However, the advice Dave gave Craig was clearly the wrong advice as his opponent took him down in 3 games ending Craig's tournament.
      Next up was Windsor's golden jewel of this tournament, Dave,  and wouldn't you know it, he was playing on the show court so you can see his match here.  Dave came up against a South African player, Mike Tootill, that Dave used to play against on the Tour.  He beat him once once on tour but Tootill's game really took off in his later years and Dave knew that he would have his hands full today.  Dave prediction came true as he went down 3-0.  However, that didn't stop Dave from making highlight reel shots and keeping his opponent guessing.  Congratulations Dave for making into the round of 16, no small feat when there are 128 players in your draw.  If you want to watch his match, you can find it here.

Thursday

      Well, today got off to a rough start thanks to a US Squash sponsored party :).  First up was Al, who was playing the owner of Squash Gear.com and drinking water last night.  Al got off to a very rough start and didn't wake up until the end of Game 1 when he turned it on to squeeze out Game 1.  After that game there was no looking back and Al earned a 3-0 victory.
      Next up was Dave at 7:00, no wait, make that 1:30.  Apparently Dave is just learning how to read a draw.  Dave was feeling the effects of his previous matches and clearly didn't have it today, losing to a strong player from Ireland.  Fortunately for Dave he has a day off until his next round.

Here is a news story the local CBS ran on the tournament.

Live streaming can be found here. 
Complete draws can be found here.