April 16th, 2009 Mithun Mukherjee posted in Board of Directors, General
By Mark Raeside , RSRA President 2008-09 at the Annual General Meeting of the RSRA on April 14th, 2009
As President of the RSRA for 2008 to 2009, I would like to provide a brief summary of the squash activities we have conducted or supported in the past year. It is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the Rochester squash community that so many things happened, and on behalf of the Board of Directors, I would to thank you all for your commitment and participation.
First in June, RSRA promoted the training/exhibition night at GVC in support of the US Junior National team visit. The juniors were impressed by their, treatment and this was good not only for Rochester squash, but for Rochester in general. RSRA fronted some of the costs, which were generously reimbursed by a donation from Alan Cameros and others from the local squash community.
Crazy Squash Clinic 2008
In September, RSRA sponsored our second Youth Clinic at GVC, organized by Troy Zarcone and run by Eric Hernady and Kate Guyer. This was enthusiastically received by the participants, who hopefully will be valued additions to the squash community.
Also in September, Doug Bennett organized a referees’ clinic at Midtown, with the expertise provided by certified referees, Herb Barbehenn and Eric Hernady.
Jonathan and Brendon
In November, RSRA promoted the annual GVC George Armstrong tournament, where there were three draws this year: Brendan Bascom winning the 5.0, Nick Greaves-Tunnell the 4.0, and Sam Selonick the 3.0.
We also publicized the activities of the University of Rochester Yellow Jacket squash team, under the direction of Martin Heath, by promoting attendance at their home matches, particularly the big matches against Dartmouth and Trinity, and publicizing a season opener exhibition at the Meliora weekend in October. Mithun gets the credit here for his tireless blogging of their activities. UR vs Trinity in Feb saw a record attendance.
In the City League, we reverted back to the single season format. There were three divisions and twenty-one teams, a good turnout once again. The leagues were won by Thomson Chew’s GVC team (Div 1), Hugh Higgins U or R team (Div 2), and Peter Brizee’s MidTown team (Div 3). This time, for the first time in a while, every division winner also won the playoffs. A welcome change was that the University of Rochester was represented once again. My thanks to all the captains for managing their teams, and to the club representatives for organizing the teams and captains.
We also converted to the new US Squash system for scheduling and reporting the matches. This was not without its challenges, and there are still issues to be resolved before we fully commit to converting to this site.
And, finally, the flagship event: the 2009 ProAm and Awards. This is the eighth year the RSRA has run this event, but the first time it was elevated to the SuperSatellite level. Consequently the pros were ranked higher than before, and this led to a fascinating tournament, with some high quality matches, including the final where Ryan Cuskelly of Australia beat Amr Mansi of Egypt.
The City Tournament was run to coincide with the event, and there were almost 40 entrants across three divisions. Brendan Bascom was beated in the final by visitor Bumpei Kawano in the 5.0 draw, John Puskas won in the 4.0, and Johnathan Davis in the 3.0.
We held the Peter Lyman and Fred and Carol Weymuller awards presentations after the final event, where I had the honor to present the Weymuller award to joint winners Eliza Callihan and Alex Greaves-Tunnell,
and Hugh Higgins presented the Lyman award to Jack Fitzpatrick. I also presented the league and playoff trophies to the winning captains.
We have had one low light, but one that is shared by the whole economy, namely that our Investment Account lost approximately 35% of its value in 2008. Hopefully that, along with our personal retirement portfolios, will recover somewhat in 2009!
So in summary, this was an active and successful year, and I look forward to another one in the coming season. I thank those involved for their time and effort, and encourage others to step forward and help.
Mark Raeside
RSRA President, 2008-09
“…He will attend Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. in the fall and play for the Ephs. “I wanted to play in college, and to have that become a reality was a special sign of how hard I had worked,” said Greaves-Tunnell, who graduated first in the class of 2009 at McQuaid. “I’m very proud of the ranking and all the success up to this point.”
So its the summer and you’re having a hard time finding the motivation to drag yourself to the court when its warm and sunny outside? Its okay - take a break. But if you want to stay in shape and be ready when the fall squash season comes around, do it like former World #1, 
Hello Rochester Squashers;
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