Recap – 2009 George Armstrong Classic

December 1st, 2009 Mithun Mukherjee Posted in Events, General, Tournaments | Comments »

By Jack Fitzpatrick

Rochester’s 2009-10 squash tournament season started off during Halloween week with the 9th annual George Armstrong Squash Classic at the Genesee Valley Club.

Division 3.0
Reflecting the spirit of squash, the three entrants were a veteran and eventual winner (Mary Jo Gabel), and 2 beginners, a young guy and lady who, after getting the basics behind them (BS, MS, PhD, marriage, finalization of career choice, etc.) finally figured out that squash should have come sooner, but better late… Jim Roger- PhD (3rd) is a good tennis player who just took up squash and cannot believe that it is that complicated, but found out that it is. Emily Sulks (2nd) (MS-music) found out that rhythm is really helpful on the court, but technique must follow. Mary Jo Gabel (1st), the wily veteran, had both the rhythm, and when she needed the big point, the technique to enable her to win her first GA title.

Division 4.0
This is always the most interesting draw because it always has the most entrants and also features the widest variety of styles. Eventual winner was Mark Thrall, a terrific athlete, who was able to cope with the best tactics of his opponents. He was able to retrieve their best shots and then pound crisp crosscourts or rails for winners or weak returns (which he was delighted to pound again).
Scott Fitzpatrick, for the 2nd year, lost to the eventual winner in an early round. He played strong and skillfully but Mark was equally determined, winning a very close one. Rudy Small (2nd) showed a talent for making the most imaginative shots but, again, Thrall maintained his winning strategy: retrieve and then pound the ball for a winner or weak return.

Division 4.0 – Consolation
Katie Calihan won by first getting past the hard hitting veteran Fred Hagen. She was able to retrieve Fred’s power shots, and then just had to stay focused against the all-court, but looser game of Brent Dubeshter.

Division 5.0
This year, the seedings were all correct because all the players lost (or won by 3-0). Brendon Bascom became the first ever GA singles winner to defend his title, marching straightforwardly through Glenn Fjermedal and Eric Hernady. Eric had defeated Thomson Chew to reach the final.

Doubles
This perennial fun event had 5 teams, all who played each other in a round robin. Jack Fitzpatrick and Tim Sladden had a lot of fun winning against very athletic, but less experienced teams, with Tim scoring a lot of signature reverse corner points. However, in the finals, when they faced the great retrieving and very hard-hitting team of Thomson and partner Ilya Voloshin, the match early on became one sided. Thomson started the 1st game by blistering 2 three-wall nicks in the first 3 points, and then Ilya retrieved 3 normally winning ’shots’ by Jack/Tim and turned them into his own winners. They won it all 3-0.

When the Friday matches were finished, cool drinks and food were featured for the players and after the finals were played on Saturday, all the parents had plenty of time to take the kids trick-or-treating. Thanks to everyone for playing and supporting the 2009 George Armstrong Squash Classic.