Yet another awesome weekend in the Squash Tigers world with the players doing wonderfully well at the Maryland Gold and EA Silver conducted over the weekend.
In the Maryland Gold we saw a bundle of the squad travel south and deliver clutch performances, highlighted by JJ and Tyler making semi-finals in their respective age groups! JJ, who was fresh from his 5th placing in the Boston JCT did us proud playing up in the BU15 and had several solid wins on his way to 4th place! Any time a player defeats another competitor rated 0.33 above them, as JJ did, it is a “big win” and he deserves much credit for his performances. Although eventually going down to the eventual winner Kunal, in a semi final, a reverse of their Rehearsal Tournament result, he can be pleased with his weekend's work. Congratulations to JJ on a great tournament and likewise, well done Kunal on the big win! Tyler, on his behalf was also knocking it out of the proverbial ball park, defeated a player rated 0.22 ahead of him and played exceptional squash in his final Gold at BU13. Tyler in particular put in a big summer at Squash Tigers, with not only a lot of good technical work accomplished, but also moving his physicality to a higher level and this was evident throughout the event! Bigger things ahead guys!
We also had three other competitors in the BU15, Shrikar, Eric and Edward. Eric was also awesome going through to a quarter final and defeating a player rated 0.25 ahead of him in his eventual highly creditable 6th place finish. Edward wanted in on the glory, defeating a player rated 0.20 above him and having his best ever Gold results. Finally Shrikar, after an early disappointment, won out in his final three matches. Madeleine in the GU13 also did exceptionally well, getting through to the quarter finals as did Erika in the GU15.
There is a famous quote by former NFL head coach Bill Parcells that goes, "You are what your record says you are." The point is that you can't reason the distance between you and what you accomplish (or don't accomplish.) Results speak for themselves, and we can be proud of the weekend in Baltimore!
As if this wasn’t exciting enough, we also had representatives at the EA Silver in Philly. Congratulations go to Sriya and Chloe on finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in the GU11. Ayan similarly fought through a tough draw to finish in 9th in the BU17.
The next two weekends are busy, but I guess every weekend is busy in the Squash Tigers World! Next weekend we have a solid crew going up to the Baird E. Haney Brooklyn Junior Gold, and we’ll have all the coaches on Zoom duty! The following weekend we have Rehearsal Tournament #2 (entries here) at the club with a chance for everyone from our beginners through to our top ranked guys to get some excellent match play and maybe get a chance to try and beat up on Coach Jamie!
In training this week we have a DROP WEEK ahead, always popular, and some fun speed agility work emphasized in our off court training. Finally, good luck to Coach Jamie, who is off to contest his second professional event of the season, the St. Louis Open - you can follow his journey via the PSA website.
The squash world is buzzing, and its never a better time to be a Squash Tiger!
