Squash BC

Team BC at the May 2005 Nationals in Toronto

By Bob Zamboni, CBC Hockey Reporter

It was another lazy morning in my messy 15th floor office in the CBC building in downtown Toronto. I was playing solitaire on my computer while periodically dozing off when I was jolted out of my stupor by my boss yelling, “Wake up Zamboni, I have an assignment for you!”

I have to admit it was kind of good news, as like most employees in CBC sports, I had been doing nothing for the last 8 months with the hockey lockout going on and was bored silly. It seemed my assignment was to cover the 2005 Squash Nationals being held in Toronto this week. I then put two and two together and realized that all the construction and noise in the atrium downstairs that I had been walking by for the last few days was the setting up of this fancy-dancy glass squash court and bleachers for all of the open events.

I took my assignment seriously and went down to the atrium to see what I could find out. While looking around I came across some members of the contingent from BC who had flown out from the west-coast. There were 33 of them out of the 350 attending the event. Not knowing anything about the game other than it is played in a small room with a ball and racquets, I asked if they could be my guide for the tournament and if I could also tag along and watch the matches and events from their perspective. In true western hospitality they said, “Sure!”

The tournament was held in three clubs in downtown Toronto all within easy walking distance which eliminated the hassles of shuttle buses in past tournaments. One club was just 10 steps from the main hotel, another on the 36th floor of the many TD Towers, and the other in the basement of the Sky Dome (where the Blue Jays play).

Though team BC had many seeded players in the various draws that went in age groups from 30 to 65, most had burned in flames in the early rounds while I and Tim Bale sadly watched. I even got to witness a rare occurrence when a spectator, and member of the BC team, Carllie Hennigan, was given a “conduct warning for coaching” when she yelled out “Call your lets!” to her husband in his close-but-lost (like the fish that got away) match. In a later interview, however, she regretted not the specific no-coaching transgression, but giving a home-baked carob chip-cranberry cookie to the referee, John Roach, before the match started. Ouch!!

After the preliminary rounds of Wednesday through Friday, only a handful BC players were still in the hunt on Saturday to win their division. The top results were:

Melanie Jans 1st Womens Open
Lorrie Baildham 1st place Womens 45+
Cindy Brown 2nd place Womens 45+
Andrew Lynn 2nd place Mens 35+
Paul Marley 2nd place Mens 65+
Sue Wastie 3rd place Womens 50+
Ben Thomas 3rd place Mens 30+
Jerry Poulton 3rd place Mens 60+
Cathy Clackson 4th place Womens 40+
Carolyn Russell 4th place Womens Open
David Adams 4th place Mens 60+

The exciting women’s final had Melanie Jans winning over Alana Miller. Melanie had played well all week including a thrilling semi-final win over #1 seed Runa Reta. In the men’s final Jonathon Power defeated Shahier Razik who had finally beaten Graham Ryding in a grueling 105 minute men’s semi final.

The tournament was capped off with a dinner and party at Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant (Wayne was not there however). Everyone had a great time and many are planning to come back next year when the event will be held at another location in the Toronto area, possible Mayfair Lakes.

As for me, after watching about 48 and half matches, I think I will take up this exciting game and maybe I will be ready to compete at the Nationals next year. It is sure better than boring clutch-and-hold hockey…..