Sydenham Tennis Club (Squash & Tennis)
Lawrie Park Road • Sydenham, London • SE26 6ET
Tel: 020 8778 4217
The racketball finals produced many close and exciting matches, despite giving the not entirely unexpected answer to the question of the hour, which was whether anyone could do in the finals what no one had managed in the league stage of the tournament - take a game off Paul Shade. The answer was "no", so congratulation to Paul for winning the tourament and in magnificent style.
Curiously, one of the most excitng matches in the Division 1 was the only one that, on paper, looks one sided, the semi final between Paul and Bradley Sawyer, who came into the finals as a last minute "wild card" because Paul Lindsay had to drop out. Paul won two love, dropping only 11 points in total but was forced to play very hard for every point he won by Bradely's insistence on regarding no ball as unreturnable until he had done all he could to chase it down, showing a determination and skill that I would describe as "terrier like" were it not for the risk that one of the spectators actually owns a real terrier and gives the poor dog grief for not fully living up to the name. In the other semi final, John Rowe overcame Ian Moody by two games to one, 15.10 9.15 15.7. In the main final, played, "best of five", John came quite close to claiming a game off Paul but in the end lost three love 15.10 15.6 15.11. In the "best of the rest" final Bradely's determination at last paid off when he beat Ian in a very close match by three game to two. 15.11 9.14 15.9 9.15 15.10.
In Division 2, the semi finals were a massacre of the top seeds. Peter Lewis, seeded 1 was unexpectedly beaten by Pete Edwards, who won to love 15.8 17.15. In the other semi final Mark Waddel, another wild card entry, beat David Roberts seeded 2. To do so he had to climb back into the match from one game down and from facing a match point against him before winning 12.15 15.7 17.14. In the main final, Pete beat Mark 3-0 but in an increasingly tight match 15.8 15.13 17.15. In the" best of the rest" final (played best of three)Peter beat David two games to one 12 15 15.13 14.6.
Now that the tournament is over, a new league is up and with a new league a few changes in the handicaps, which I will pin up onf the board. We welcome Tony Moyes as a new member of our league but even so we have a net reduction of two players compared with the tournament. Sean Baron is dropped because he played none of his gamee in the last league, James Siu has been forced out by work commitments and Paul Lindsay joined us only for the tournament. This leaves us with 21 players - enough, but only just enough, for a three box league. This underlines the obvious point that there will always be players who leave the league for one reason or another, so we need always to recruit new players. We all, no doubt, have our own views on the best way to do this. In my opinion it is for the racketball players who also play squash to persuade people we meet on the sqaush court to give racketball a try. A high proportion of those who do so take to the game and indeed become enthusiastic players once they have been lured into trying our bigger ball and shorter raquet.
David Roberts
19/03/2018
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