WSF Golf Tourney

     Another year, another successful golf tournament.  Yesterday, Rochester Place Golf Course hosted our 6th annual WSF golf tournament to benefit the juniors and it couldn't have turned out to be a better day.  The day started with reports of heavy rain in Windsor and LaSalle but the squash gods were smiling down on Rochester Place as it stayed sunny for most of the day.  This year's tournament saw 72 players and 19 foursomes competing for bragging rights and to get their names on the "Valente Travel" plaque.
     The day was full of laughs and good times.  There were some good shots (Ty Stacyszyn almost won the Hole-In-One) and there were some bad shots (Andrew Little???).  At the end of the day, there were only 2 teams still standing with an amazing -8.  Organizers had to go to retrogression to determine the winner.  In the end, it was the team of Andrew Little, Arthur Nagy, Craig Mustard, Rod Larson and Craig Guthrie (captain and on injured reserve) taking the 2019 title.  Not only has this team been working really hard on their games but they scouted the course in advance, participated in team meetings and for the first time, took this tournament seriously.  Congratulations and enjoy your winnings!

Also congratulations goes to the following winners:

1st place- Rod Larson, Craig Mustard, Arthur Nagy, Andrew Little, Craig Guthrie (Red Wings tickets)
2nd place- Barry Leavitt, Mike Wilbur, Al Valente, Rob Charlebois ($50 Mezzo gift certificates)
3rd place- Mark Stone, Graham Duguid, Kevin Furmanek, Stan Furmanek ($50 WSF gift certificates)
Top Women's Team- Marg Holman, Jan Caverzan, Ann-Marie Beaudet, Karen Montminny ($25 Parkside Grill gift certificates)
Top Junior Team- Jagroop Bhangoo, Noah Scholl, Armaan Sandhu, Rajan Sandhu ($25 movie passes)
Most Honest Team- well, you'll just have to guess from the pictures (sleeve of golf balls)
Men's Longest Drive- Berto Mill (that football training is paying off) ($50 gift certificate to Rochester Golf)
Women's Longest Drive- Jen Kociuk ($50 gift certificate to Rochester Golf)
Men's Closest to the Pin- Lou Prantera ($50 gift certificate to Rochester Golf)
Women's Closest to the Pin- none

Of course, the day would not have been possible without the support of everyone who donated an auction prize (there was a lot of them) and the following hole sponsors:

Riverview Steel (Andrew Dalla Bona)
Windsor Squash and Fitness (Tom Porter)
PromoWorks Marketing (Steve Demarco)
Windsor Family Credit Union)
Landscape Effects (Rochester Place)
Provincial Pharmacy (Melinda Nagy)
South Windsor Animal Hospital (Chris Chamandy)
Laurel Health Care (Anis Khan)
Gerald Duthie
Ciena Health Car (Anis Khan)
Global Textiles (Anis Khan)
SAZ Consulting Group (Anis Khan)
Breadth Consulting (Ryan Wakeman)
Windsor Machine and Stamping (Chris Pelletier)
Phillip Fernandes Custom Residential Design
RBC (Jim Allison)
Avenue Pawnbrokers (Craig Mustard)
QM Group (Boris Gavrick)
Medica Pharmacy (Fransesco Vella)
Tom and Donna Curlin

Pictures of the event can be found here.

Jim Mason Cup

     This weekend was the Jim Mason Cup in Toronto.  Jim Mason was a huge advocate of high school squash in Ontario and this event has been running since the mid-1980's.  The tournament is divided into 3 divisions, ranked, semi-ranked, emerging.  All schools participate as a team.  Players are ranked from 1-7 on each team and you play the other team's respective 1-7.  This year, 20 schools and 115 players took part.  Tecumseh Vista entered as the favourite in the ranked division and looking to defend last year's title.  Sandwich was a newcomer to this event and entered a team into the semi-ranked division.
     The Sandwich team of Gavin Chamandy, Mehrab Pirzada, Jacob Nixon, Dan Zuidema and Courtney Furmanek played incredibly, but being short 2 players put them behind in every match they played.  In the end, Sandwich finished in 7th place in their division.  On the bright side, every player on Sandwich's team is back for next year and they are adding a couple more strong player to their roster.  Sandwich will be a team to be reckoned with next year.
    Tecumseh Vista cruised through all their matches, barely losing a match leading to the finals.  In the finals they came up against a perennial strong team in Lawrence Park.  Lawrence Park had multiple nationally ranked players including Erica McGillicudy (2nd place in this years US Open).          The finals started with Phil Dimitrov going up against a regular on the Gold circuit.  Unfortunately for Phil, he woke up Saturday feeling ill.  Despite going down big in game 1, Phil managed to claw back to steal game 1.  After realizing he didn't want to engage in rallies, he relied on his shot-making which proved to be a great move.  Phil couldn't miss as he hit winner after winner, giving Vista a 1-0 lead.
    Next up was Rajan Sandhu.  Rajan also went down big in game1 but ended up turning it around and snuck out game 1.  After that, it was all Rajan as he easily defeated his opponent to give Vista a 2-0 lead.  Our next two matches of George Smyrnis and Armaan Sandhu didn't work out in our favour.  While both players played really well, they were up against very tough players.  2-2.
     With 3 matches to go, it was anyone's title.  Luca Dalla Bona was next up against a very good players who has been moving up the Ontario rankings.  Luca looked like the Luca of old, moving his opponent all around the court while hitting winners as he went up 2-0.  Luca was up 10-7 in the 3rd when he could have taken the match on a questionable stroke.  Displaying incredible sportsmanship, Luca didn't want to end the match on a controversial call.  Unfortunately, his opponent went on to win that game and the next game.  Tied at 2-2, Luca has his hands full.  Game 5 went back and forth with Luca edging out his opponent to put Vista up 3-2.

   With only Hannah and Jagroop left, Vista just had to win just one match.  Both matches went on simultaneously.  Hannah was up against the reigning Ontario junior doubles champion, while Jagroop was going up against Ontario's Player of the Year.   Jagroop won game 1 in extra points while Hannah won 11-6.  Next game Jagroop lost in another close one, while Hannah managed an extra points win.  Game 3 saw Jagroop lose another very close one.  Fortunately, Hannah was able to take game 3 and secure the win for Tecumseh Vista.
     The win marks Tecumseh Vista's 3rd win in 4 years at this tournament.  Unfortunately, we are saying good-bye to 3 of our seniors who have been instrumental in Windsor junior squash over the years.  Thank you Luca, Phil and Hannah for your contributions and leadership to Tecumseh Vista and WSF squash.  You will be missed but you have gone out on a high note. 
     Pictures of the event can be found here. 

What a Weekend!

 

   What a weekend for Windsor's Juniors!  First, Amin Khan travelled all the way to British Columbia to compete in the Jesters Pacific Northwest Junior Championships.  This tournament was a CORE event, which means points earned at this event go towards your rankings to play for Team Canada.  Amin has won 2 of the 4 CORE events this year.  Well done Amin!

     Then we move on to London, Ontario where the Jesters Harrow Junior Silver was taking place at London Squash Club.  16 of our juniors made there way up the 401 to compete in this event.  Maisie Williams won the Girl's U11 division in a dominating fashion.  She obviously takes after Victoria.  Congratulations Maisie!  Gabe VanMorsel (kind of from Windsor), went on to win the Boy's U15 draw.  Dylan Charles continued solid play by placing 3rd in that same division.  Congratulations to everyone that participated in this event!.  The draws for this event can be found here.   

Windsor Juniors Do It Again!

   Another busy weekend for our juniors as they participated in two tournaments this weekend.  The 3rd round of the Gary Waite Tour took place in London this weekend and 9 of our juniors braved the bad weather to participate and it turned out to be a Windsor-dominated event.  Imola Nagy took another big step on her squash journey as she defeated fellow training partner Olivia Bhatti to take the the under 13 division.  Brendan Karpala has shown much dedication to squash and it is paying off at he took the over 13 division.  I am sure that we will be hearing more about these players in the next tournament.
     Another group of our juniors were in Toronto competing in Gold #3 at Ontario Racquet Club.  Amin Khan was outstanding in his play all weekend.  In a great final match, Amin showed great retrieving and shot-making ability.  It was tight all the way until the end and Amin was able to pull out a very nerve-wracking (if you were in the crowd) 5th game.  Congrats to Amin for winner another Gold tournament. 
     Sitting in the audience watch our Gold players players, I listened to a couple of parents talking and they were in awe of how much Windsor players have improved and the fact that Windsor is now
considered the strongest program in Canada.  Those accolades are really due to everyone at Windsor Squash and Fitness that has sacrificed and supported the junior program. 

Ontario Junior Closed

     This past weekend 10 of the WSF juniors competed in the BMO Nesbitt Burns Ontario Closed tournament.  This is one of the biggest tournaments in Ontario as it counts for points to make Team Ontario at the Canadian Winter Games.  In other words, the best players came out including those that are playing on University teams. 
     The highlight of the weekend was Ananya Maheshwari.  Ananya was seeded 2nd in the U15 draw but her first round opponent pushed her to a tough game 5 which Ananya was able to win.  After that, there was no looking back for Ananya as she end up defeating the #1 seed in 4 games, making her the U15 Ontario Champ.
      Our other highlight was Amin Khan.  Amin was coming off a win at our tournament and came into this tournament seeded #3.  Unfortunately, Amin couldn't beat a hot Dylan Deverill as he did in the last tournament.  However, Amin went on the win the bronze medal in the U17 draw.
     Other highlights from the weekend include our newly-adopted Phil Shillington.  If you haven't met Phil yet, he is a co-op student from Ottawa who has been helping out Graeme and Dave.  Phil is relatively new to the Gold scene, coming off a recent victory in a Silver tournament.  Phil ended up playing on Sunday in the Bronze division final.  Phil quickly went down 2-0.  However, he snuck out games 3 & 4, pushing the match to a game 5.  Phil ran out to a 9-2 lead, only to have his opponent tie the match at 10-10.  They went back and forth for many points until Phil finally emerged with a 14-12 victory.
     Jagroop Bhangoo and Hannah Guthrie both played stellar by beating higher seeds in the their draws.  Jagroop lost in a very tough consolation semi-final match.  Hannah shook off one of her nemesis and won the Bronze division. 
     Vishaal Mehta continued his improved play and also took home the Bronze division crown.  Usman continued to give all his opponents tough matches and never going down without a fight.  Sara Khan drew top seeds early on but played them tough.  Luca Dalla Bona made his return to provincial level squash and played like he never left.  Complete draws can be found here.  Next up, the Canadian Open at White Oaks.

Windsor U15 at RTC Cup

     This weekend 7 of Windsor's top U15 players took part in the inaugural Round Table Cup at Mayfair Lakeshore.  This team tournament was open to all clubs in Ontario and the intent was to get the province's top U15 players together for some meaningful matches and, of course, crown the top club!  8 of Ontario's most prominent club were up for the challenge.  Windsor Squash and Fitness team consisted of, Imola Nagy, Ananya Maheshwari, Carter Furmanek, Dylan Charles, Vishaal Mehta, Gavin Chamandy and Gabe VanMorsel coached by Dave Morrish.
     Windsor cruised through the first two rounds barely dropping a match.  In the semi-finals they came up against a very strong Mayfair Lakeshore team.  WSF managed to squeak through with a very tight 4-3 win, putting them in the finals verse the #1 seed, Ontario Racquet Club.  First up was Imola Nagy.  Imola's game has been coming on strong and she showed this weekend she was ready to take the next step in her game.  She played a strong match, hitting great shots and moving her opponent around the court.  Unfortunately, her opponent was a veteran of many high level squash tournaments and he was able to hang around and take the match. 
      There was no concern on the WSF team because Gavin was up next.  Gavin has really picked up his game and he was very steady on the court thus far.  Gavin continued his great play with amazing retrieving and shot-making and tied up the match 1-1.   Next up was Dylan.  Dylan came out firing Game 1 and put on a brilliant display of steady, error-free play and easily won game 1.  Dylan's opponent wasn't going down without a fight and Game 2 could have gone either way.  A couple of great shots by his opponent allowed him to take Game 2.  Game 3 & 4 were equally tight but Dylan just could not pull through.  ORC 2, WSF 1.
     Next up was Carter.  Carter had plenty of opportunities to win game 1 with 3 game balls.  A couple of bad bounces caused Carter to lose Game 1.  The rest of the match was equally tight.  Either player could have won this match but ORC took the win, 3-1.  While this was going on, Gabe was also battling it out on the court next door.  Gabe put up a fierce battle against a very tough opponent and he couldn't put a stop the ORC wave.  This meant that mathematically, WSF couldn't win.  That didn't stop Ananya and Vishaal playing for pride and make this a closer match.  In the end, ORC was too strong, winning the tournament 6-1.  However, Windsor did amazing finishing 2nd out of 8 and finishing higher than their seed.  Well done team!

Ciena Healthcare Gold #2

   Windsor Squash and Fitness was the second stop on the Ontario Gold circuit and 95 of Ontario's best squash players made their way to Windsor.  For some of Windsor's newer juniors, this was their introduction to high-level tournament play.  For others, they were looking to continue to move up the rankings and improve their play. 
     Friday and Saturday saw some amazing squash.  Top-seeded Ananya Maheshwari moved on in her round-robin after playing a tough 5-gamer.   Amin Khan (#4 seed) upset the #1 seed in 4 games.  Vishaal Mehta and Jagroop Bhangoo cruised through the consolation draws. 
     Saturday night was the Ciena Healthcare sponsored dinner.  Windsor is the only tournament that puts on a dinner/banquet for all its participants.  The highlight of the night is the iPhone draw for the players, courtesy of Ciena Healthcare.  How appropriate that Phil Shillington (Dave's co-op student) won a phone given that he just dropped and broke his this week. 
     Sunday was finals day for all the draws/division.  Without a doubt, the most anticipated match of the day was Amin's.  Amin was out to revenge his loss to Daniel Malik in the last tournament.  Today was Amin's day as he rode the home crowd support to take the U17 title in 5 games.  Well done Amin!
     Not to be overlooked was another important match.  Ananya was in the U15 finals on the court next door.  Windsorites were torn about what match to watch.  Ananya's match also went 5 games and game 5 was only separated by a couple of points.  Unfortunately Ananya couldn't pull out game 5.  Ananya's play showed us that she is going to be a tough competitor in future tournaments. 
     Other notables from the weekend.  Jagroop had a really strong tournament by winning the consolation.  Vishaal stepped up his game and making it to the consolation finals.  Nathan Brockenshire showed that he is ready to compete in Ontario Golds. 
     Once again, the Windsor community stepped up and helped make this event the best junior tournament in Ontario.  Many compliments were given by out of towners about WSF hospitality and the greater community.  Thank you Anis for sponsoring this event and making it the great tournament it is.  Thank you to Graeme and Dave for running a very smooth tournament.  Thank you to the junior committee for all of your work behind the scenes. 
    Pictures of the event (courtesy of Iris and Isobel) can be found here.  Complete draws can be found here.