handoutMarch 2019

The 198 entries were from all over the eastern states. They numbered from Tasmania 1; Queensland 2; Victoria 24; ACT 63; and 108 from NSW (which included a troupe of 11 from Wagga). Overall there were 18 players who had never played Masters before and this was their first tournament. I guess that we must have struck a few chords with our promotion of the event. On the Friday for the ACT v. Rest of the World, there were 33 for golf, 42 for barefoot bowls, and about 70 who turned up for the meet-and-greet over drinks and dinner at the Yowani Golf Club. Even the illustrious President of AMSA and his wife were there. Many long-time Masters were perhaps surprised but very pleased to see past players Alan McLeod and Vince Patulny (among others). Good times were re-hashed with great pleasure. The tournament itself was declared by all to be a superbly directed and run event. With the large number of entries the grading was very even, and

most divisions were hard-fought and very close. Even the first rounds saw many 5-set matches. Saturday night at the Old Parliament House—what can I possibly say. There were 199 winers-and-diners who enjoyed very good food, reasonably priced drinks and a fabulous band for dancing. The theme of ‘1979’ was taken up by quite a number of venturous revellers. There were Star Trekkers, Squash players of the era, wide lapels and flared trousers galore, and even a Tennis (“you can’t be serious”) Player.

The Victorian contingent was there en-masse, resplendent in big bouffy wigs and their tour shirt—especially made up for the occasion with a vague reference to ’79, and with each of their names printed on the back. Impressive.

Heather once again proved herself a dab hand when it comes to ‘doing’ cakes. She arrived with a marvellously iced anniversary cake in our colours with our logo, squash

racquets and ball. A good thing too, as the caterers ran out of dessert and we had no bread, so we had to eat cake… The winner of the Keith Jones Memorial Award for 2019 was announced, and Keith’s widow Judy and daughter Kerry presented the award to none other than our treasurer, tournament director and general factotum, the inimitable Ron Smith.

Well-done, and deserved, Ron.

2 TOURNAMENT RESULTS. 3 TOURNAMENT PHOTOS 4 THE FERRET

WHAT A WEEKEND Our 40th Anniversary Tournament is over, and what a show it was.

There were 198 entries into the tournament. Such numbers of entries has not been seen in ACT—and many other states—for thirty years.

handoutNewsletter of ACT Masters Squash Inc.

March 2019 Page 2

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Presentations – 2019 ACT Masters PlayersLadies Events Award Awarded to

(1) Women's Division 1 Special plate Karreen WattPlate Julie Medway

(3) Women's Division 3 Special plate Karina Sommers(4) Women's Division 4 Plate Antoinette Harmer(5) Women's Division 5 Winner Susan Briggs(6) Women's Division 6 Plate Elaine Pugh(7) Women's Division 7 Winner Edwina Mulhearn

Special plate Vicki Kitchen(9) Women's Division 9 Winner Adela Salter

Mens Events Award Awarded to(10) Men's Open Runner Up Howie Johns(11) Men's Division 2 Special plate Mick Bayley (12) Men's Division 3 Winner Victor Holubinskyj

Special plate Lisa MatthewsPlate Doug Rogan

(13) Men's Division 4 Runner Up Aaron MatthesSpecial plate Lorraine Rae

(14) Men's Division 5 Runner Up Sebastian Schnek(17) Men's Division 8 Plate Bruce Morgan(18) Men's Division 9 Winner Michael Nuttall(19) Men's Division 10 Winner Michael Barrett

Runner Up Martin Shannon(20) Men's Division 11 Plate Alan Brownlee(22) Men's Division 13 Winner Scott Caban(23) Men's Division 14 Winner Matthew Hahn

Runner Up Frank CassidySpecial plate Paul Sweeney

(24) Men's Division 15 Winner Amir Sandhu(25) Men's Division 16 Winner Dennis Smith

Runner Up John Tasker(26) Men's Division 17 Winner Aaron Chuah

Runner Up Tom SpavenSpecial Plate Gerry Vassallo

The smooth-running of the two centres, Woden and Weston Creek, while overseen by Ron and Alan, was very capably seen to by our band of non-playing volunteers—and by non-playing, I mean not for years—namely Lyn Dunmore and Linda Barich at Weston Creek and Virginia Buring and Lisa Grice at Woden. Their dedication to the game is surpassed only by their love of it; that and their utter delight in re-visiting old friendships and acquaintances over the weekend. Not only that, they know what to do, how to do it, and exactly when to do it. They all deserve a medal.

The food at our tournament is known on the Masters circuit as being, well, legendary. It is far and away the best catered of all the NSW and Victorian tournaments and this year the proof of the pudding was once again in the eating. What with Jenny jigging the kitchen kids, Richard rousting the barbecue blokes, and

Mike managing the supplies situation, it all went off bigger and better than ever before. Delicious, satisfying, lip-smacking and very good value. What

more could a hungry squash player want? Even more medals are definitely needed for this rather complex effort.

Virginia and Lisa keeping the wheels turning at Woden

Richard making more new friends

Scott and Al doing their thing at the barbecue tent

March 2019 Page 3

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Some bloke with a silly grin who found that he had more to say than Ron—and then said it…

Total Traction Services All Mechanical Repairs and Servicing

All Makes and Models

Unit 1a Gillott Street Belconnen

6251 3115

Squash ACT President Michael Nuttall and VIC Masters President Lou Morsch with trophies presented by PSNews President Frank Cassidy and squash.com President Steve Walton

Desiree and Jeff looking just the part

Some of the excellent band

Mike and Jo Hogan. Hmm… Nice haircut Mike…

Alex Fenwick and Peter Bastow—Peace Brother…

Ye olde time Squash player.White shirt, white shorts, Dunlop Volleys, little round racquet…

Alan McLeod with his partner Annette, with his Life Member

Badge proudly displayed

Some of that ACT rabbleSue and Aaron –YeeHaa

Some of that NSW rabble

March 2019 Page 4

Richard Horlock 0418 687 887

6231 0822

TO ALL CAPTAINS The increase in player numbers this competition has required us to revert to four person teams. While some people love the four person team format others hate it, but the underlying challenge for everyone is to finish the night at a reasonable time. There are a few very simple things people can do to help finish the night earlier:

• Be at the courts and be ready to play at 7:30, • Agree who is going to play the next match before

the current match finishes, • Make sure those playing next are dressed and ready to

go when the current match finishes, and • There is now only a four minute warm-up before play

should commence. With these couple of very simple steps you can easily finish 30 minutes or more earlier. Why not give it a go and see what happens. Thanks, Mark.

Squash Coaching Denis Mettam

AIS Certificate in Community Coaching General Principles of Coaching—Certificate 0013796/2016

Australian Sports CommissionNational Coaching Accreditation Scheme

Club Development Coach, Squash—NCASSQ01038

0418 485 675 denismettam1@bigpond.com

One person: $30 per hour or $20 per half hour court hire not included.

Two people: $30 per hour court hire not included.at Weston Creek Community Centre

nd then there was the musical match-up of Jeremy Redgrove and Chad Addison at Weston Creek, which dissolved into great hilarity when an audience member asked the rest of the crowd which 1960s pop group the pair reminded them of.Everyone seemed to have a guess although some were less than kind to the players suggesting they were the Animals, Monkees, Zombies, to name a few, until Geoff Coggins hit the jackpot naming British duo Chad and Jeremy. Well done Geoff!Sadly, word has it Geoff couldn’t keep up the high standard when asked at a later date to suggest the Australian Band that came to mind when Richard Fry was seen playing Minh Pham.Geoff ’s suggestions of the Choirboys, the Cockroaches and Air Supply were all well wide of the mark until he was prompted with the correct answer —

Minh at Work!!! !

Don’t Forget…For this comp suppers are scheduled by player line, as per four (4) person teams. 1’s & 3’s on odd rounds, 2’s & 4’s on even rounds.

Please forward any items of interest to: actmasters squash@gmail.com attention ‘The Ferret’

FerretTHE

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RECIPROCATION At our March tournament there were 24 players from Victoria and their presence, vitality and joie-de-vivre added greatly to the HUGE success that it was—and it was good to see them again, too. Let’s Reciprocate at their State Championships.

Bendigo Victoria, 13–14 April 2019. It would be really nice if more than the usual few suspects went. Go t0 https://vmsasquash.com.au/bendigo-apr-2019. Do it now!