The MSA sponsored the first one day tournament at the brand new Lifetime Fitness facility in Lakeville, MN. Four very nice regulation size courts that are snuggled into two corners of this huge facility are going to stimulate squash in this community that had previously been largely enjoying Racketball.
Now about the tournament. Dan Pepper did a wonderful job of running the event. We started off at 9 am with a referee clinic led by Hannu Koho. More that 15 people gathered around the court and were engaged for over an hour as Hannu went over the basics and the details of squash rules and refereeing.
Just after ten play got started with 18 participants. Dan designed what turned out to be a very equitable handicapped play.
Players were paired up by drawing names at random. The handicapping was then done by giving two points for each half division. For example when a 5.0 player opposed a 3.0 player the score started out at 8 to 0 with rally scoring to 11.
The games went on until around 1 pm with a final match between Hannu and Anne Robertson determined Hannu as the overall winner. In the consolation round Tedd Hoyt prevailed over David Baker.
Dave Baker got to the finals of the consolation round after playing Jeff Ballantyne in a hard battle that left the spectators undecided between looking for the defibrillator or the Tony awards.
Congratulations to Dan and Hannu who were so ably assisted by Anna Masselis.
Thank you MSA,
Carlos Gutierrez
Lakeville
Captivating correspondence Carlos. Looks like another career opening. Our daily papers could use a good writer!
Lakeville 1 day
Nice write up Carlos! Thanks Anna & Dan for putting together and Hannu for showing the referree light!