The Tell-Tale

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

As expected, the late renewal letter and newsletter brought in very few renewing, or new members. I hope that additional newsletters such as this one will once again spark interest in the NMSRA. I don’t believe that there is any less interest in Squash in New Mexico. There are plenty of players, old and new. Perhaps the NMSRA can give everyone a focus. The object is to have fun and improve skills, something that I believe the NMSRA can achieve. Attend the tournaments, go to the lessons and clinics, meet other players.

The new officers for the 1998-1999 season are:

Questions and suggestions can be directed toward any of these people for developing any new ideas for Squash here in New Mexico. The Address to contact us at is: NMSRA PO Box 914 Santa Fe, NM 87504. 505-450-5675. email HRSSQSH@aol.com.

"Don’t play with your vegetables, PLAY SQUASH."

Walter Burke

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS AND EVENTS

-November 6-8 ALBUQUERQUE OPEN. Midtown Sports and Wellness, Albuquerque. Men, Women and Juniors, all skill levels. Contact, Leslie Sanchez at 888-4811. (non-USSRA Sanctioned Event)

-November 20-22 LESSONS AND CLINIC WITH GUY COWEN.

El Gancho Santa Fe. Guy is a former World top 30 player and 3 time US National Champion. this an English SRA certified Level 3 (highest rating) Coach. Private, semi private and group clinics are available. Guy is "certified" to verify rating in New Mexico. (See later article on "Ratings and Rankings".) Contact Walter Burke @ 450-5675 to schedule lessons.

-December 4-6 KIVA CLASSIC.

Kiva Club, Santa Fe. Singles and Doubles. 40+, 50+, 55+, 60+. 65+. 70+, 75+. Contact, Charlie Perkins 986-1430. (USSRA Sanctioned Event)

-January 29-31 HI-TEC SANTA FE OPEN.

El Gancho, Santa Fe. Men’s 5.0, 4.0, 3.0. Age group 45+. Women’s C. (Sanctioned USSRA Events); also Juniors, Novice (non-USSRA Sanctioned Event). Contact, Walter Burke, 450-5675.

-February 12-15 NATIONAL SKILL LEVEL CHAMPIONSHIPS. Denver, Co. Men’s and Women’s 6.0-2.0. Contact USSRA 610-667-4006. (USSRA Sanctioned Event).

-March RENEWAL OF NMSRA MEMBERSHIP.

-March 17-21 UNITED STATES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Hartford, CT. Men’s and Women’s Professional (closed), Men’s and Women’s: 20-, 25+, 30+, 35+, 40+. 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+, 75+, 80+, 85+. Contact USSRA 610-667-4006. (USSRA Sanctioned Event)

-March ????? GREEN DOT DESSERT CLASSIC.

Midtown Sports and Wellness, Albuquerque. Men, Women and Juniors, all skill levels. Contact Leslie Sanchez, 888-4811. (non-USSRA sanctioned event)

-April ????? LOS ALAMOS OPEN.

Los Alamos YMCA. Divisions TBD.

Contact Los Alamos YMCA, (USSRA Sanctioned?)

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

NOT THE VEGETABLE. October 2-4. El Gancho, Santa Fe.

This event was more of an "Endurance Event" for some of the players. All divisions were played as round robins. The A’s and B’s had 2 sections each. The winners of each section played for the Chamionship for the division. In the A’s each player played 5 matches in 2-3 days. In the B’s each player played 3-4 matches in 3 days. In the D’s each player played 4 matches in 3 days.

Seven out-of-state players created a nice weekend of squash for the El Gancho-Santa Fe players. Although players from Albuquerque and Los Alamos were not able to show at the tournament, the Round Robin format filled court time with a total of 48 matches played over the weekend.

John Fasullo, the Winner of the A’s, didn’t lose a game throughout the weekend and taught players from Santa Fe the need for control and economy of court movement. Tremendous returns and expert racquet work, the hallmark of his game, drew positive exclamations from the gallery.

Dynamic matches were played by Martin Casdagli, who beat his two toughest opponents from Colorado 3-2 in each match to reach the finals of the A’s. In each match Martin’s superior racquet skills over Ross Revenaugh and Joe Tustin showed that skill, not age, can be the determining factor in a match. Martin’s Semi-Final match with Joe found him down 5-2 in the 5th game. Then a wicked spin-off a boast, created by his "English Soft Ball Training", seemed to turn the tide in his favor. Martin went on to win 9-5.

Anesh Supershad, who left Oklahoma City at 3AM on Saturday to arrive in Santa Fe at 8:30am (do the math!), played 3 matches very well on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday.

The Iron Man Award goes to Jim Nelson who played 4 (!!!) matches on Saturday. Three of those matches were 5 games. We sent him home with the SQUASH MASCOT.

Saturday Night was punctuated by a reception scheduled around the A’s semi finals. Margaritas, beer and wine were served with hors d’oeuvres (some of them squash).

CLUB NEWS

Midtown Sports and Wellness is the center for Squash in Albuquerque. Leslie Sanchez runs the program for Juniors, Beginners and Intermediates. Josph Doljes teaches the advanced players.

There are 4 courts at Midtown. It is the host to more tournaments than any other Club in the State, including the Pro Tour/Talbot Agency Albuquerque Open in July.

Currently they are running a "League" format, 2 month long tournament for A/B,C, D, Juniors, organized by Leslie. Each player plays every other player in the division. Matches are scheduled on a weekly basis at each players convienance. Scores are posted. At the end of the season awards are handed out for best records.

At Midtown look for tournaments each November, March, June, July.

Also part of the New Mexico Sports and Wellness system are courts at Riverpoint and Highpoint. Although these courts are not generally used for tournament play they are in excellent condition and if you contact Leslie or Joseph you may be able to play at these locations.

The Kiva Club in Santa Fe is the original Squash club in the State. Although the singles courts are "North American" narrow they are in excellent shape. Ifan Evans is the Pro and Manager at the Kiva Club where the doubles game is King. They have the only Doubles court in the State. In October they hosted a club from Colorado Springs.

They also host the Kiva Classic each December, primarily for doubles, although singles divisions are played. The minimum age is 40. Over 35 doubles teams from as far away as Toronto, Boston, Philidelphia and Seattle make this as large a doubles event as the National Doubles Championships.

Inside word is that they will actually go ahead with a planned remodel of Court 2 this Spring 1999, to create the first international court in the State!

El Gancho is a hot bed of activity for the limited numbers of players that use the two 20’ courts. Two tournaments, October’s infamous NOT THE VEGETABLE with it’s giant Squash Mascot and January’s HI-TEC SANTA FE OPEN create a focus for sharpening skills.

Recently, with the help of Shelby Boggio, El Gancho has been bringing Guy Cowen from Houston to help Squash Program Director Walter Burke with all levels of instruction. Guy’s easy going attitude and Irish accent are deceiving. His clinics leave player’s arms sore from hitting the ball so often during the devious drills he creates. He can feed the ball so accurately that the best players cry for mercy when he asks for "One more now", or "Again" and "Again", "Keep that racquet back".

A Juniors program on Tuesday afternoon is helping to develop younger talent. Tuesday Night is "Squash Night" beginners and intermediate players from 6-7 PM with instruction by Walter Burke. Advanced players play from 7-9. The club is constantly trying to maintain the courts but they take a beating from a variety of uses.

The Los Alamos YMCA is the host of the Los Alamos Open, the oldest, continuous tournament in the State. Richard Hammer, Dick Silbar, Bill Krauser Chris Fontes and John MacCuish are some of the familiar faces you’ll see on the courts. Although injury (Bruce Takala) and job relocation (Mike H.) have sidelined several of the players there the Los Alamos players are always willing to be a part of any tournament. Support their tournament in April, the weekend after taxes are due.

MEMBER NEWS

This seems to have been the year of legitimizing relationships for several of our members.

Martin Casdagli married Lynn Lucas in July.

John MacCuish married Nora Shemeltulsty in Santa Fe and had a reception catered by Walter Burke.

Shelby Boggio married Olga in Prague. In September he had a reception catered by Walter Burke at the Palace of the Governors (no cake was served - ask Shelby why) in Santa Fe.

RATING AND RANKINGS

One of the many functions that the United States Squash Racquets Association performs is the maintenance of tournament records. From these records they can determine where a player is ranked, if they have played in enough tournamets in their age group or skill level. The cornerstones of this system is the "Rating System".

The rating system is based on the tennis 6 point system, 6 being he most experienced players, 2 novices. In the United States there are "Certified Verifiers". These are professional players who are approved by the USSRA for rating players skill levels. For $10.00 they will play with a player who wants to be rated and give them a rating, usually between 2 and 6 which is sent into the USSRA. WHEN THIS PERSON PLAYS ANOTHER PLAYER WHO IS RATED (IN A SANCTIONED TOURNAMENT) THE RESULTS ARE RECORDED BY THE USSRA AND THE RATING OF THE 2 PLAYERS ARE ADJUSTED, ACCORDING TO WHO WINS, AND BY HOW MUCH.

This system was adopted by the USSRA in response to a need for a more consistent measure of players abilities and the need to eliminate "sand bagging" in tournaments. The beauty of the system is that it gives players an accurate gauge to measure their abilities by. What fun is it to go into a tournament and be beaten by a much more skilled player in a 27-0 match? In theory this system would eliminate this all too frequent circumstance.

To make the system work more players need to be ranked and more tournaments need to be sanctioned, so that results may be compiled. A 4.0 player from New Mexico would in theory be similar in playing abilities to a 4.0 player from Boston, or Atlanta. Here in New Mexico we have maintained the older system of A,B,C,D. As was recently discovered a local "A" is not an "A" on the national or even regional level.

Setting up tournaments where players of similar abilities are played against each other is a very good system for developing skills. If more players were rated and more tournaments were sanctioned the system would work better.

At this point there are only two rated players in NM. This number can be expanded through additional NMSRA members who join in the rating system.

Rankings are still another function of the USSRA. If you play in enough tournaments, either in age groups or skill levels, that are sanctioned you may end up with a ranking in the division that you qualify in. Currently there are several New Mexico players that are ranked. In Singles Charles Perkins is 7th in the 65+ Division. Walter Burke is Ranked 21 in the 40+ Division and 11th in the 45+ Division. (Burt Alpert who resides in Rhode Island but plays in Santa Fe during the winter when he is not skiing is ranked 5th in the 65+ Division.) Charles Perkins and Stevenson Yost are ranked 3rd in 65+ Doubles. Mark Bolsterli and Doug Schwartz are ranked 4th in 65+ Doubles.

TECHNIQUE TIPS

From The Squash Workshop, by Ian McKenzie. 1992 The Crowood Press. Available through "The Squash Connection". Chapter 28, on "Tactics" is titled "The Plan", and gives five steps to winning points, something we all want to do.

Five Steps to Winning Points (and Not Losing Them)

The first thing you must do in a rally is get to the ball. this involves movement, fitness and positioning aand brings in the crucial role of the T. The very best players are the best at getting to the ball and getting back to the T.

The second step is to get the ball back without a mistake. We have already looked at this area. Of course it’s rather elementary but if you can get to every ball and get it back without making a mistake it’s impossible to be beaten.

The third step is to deprive your opponent of the opportunity to hit winners - that is, eliminate weak shots.

The fourth is to create openings and force mistakes by using pressure and positional play.

The fifth is to play winners.

THE FINAL WORD

Next issue is due out in January 1999. Board meeting will be held in November. Contact us with news or gripes. Keep it deep and don’t play with your vegetables, PLAY SQUASH.