AussieNick News

After the quarter-finals of the event, to be held on the evening of Friday Feb 1, the festivities will move to Marriott (Worldgate) for a social affair from 8 – 11pm. A wine/ beer coupon will be provided and light appetizers served, the cost is $10/head. There will also be a cash bar. The players will all be encouraged to attend, and this will provide a great opportunity for you to get to know the guys on tour. Bookings essential (phone 301 807 9905)

Rod Barnes will run a referee's course which is open to all at Bethesda. The rule book will be stepped through and explained, and many questions from the USSRA exam will be focused on. Some physical demonstrations of Rule 12 (Interference) will be provided. All the material required for competing the USSRA exam will be provided. More detail here.

Organizers have settled on the format of the ASTI National Capital Open Squash Tournament. The Capital Open will be a two start event ($20000 on site prize money) to be held between 29-January and 3-February 2008. Organizers have had to forgo the use of the glass court for this year due to lack of a supporting sponsor. Early rounds of the event will be held at Bethesda Sport and Health and the quarter finals will be held at Worldgate Sport and Health. Individual sponsorship is opened. Go to the tournament page for more details on how you can support the tournament. The tournament brochure may be found here.

Television coverage of PSA Squash is being provided on 'the Tennis Channel' (TTC) which is available locally on many bundled cable packages. Matches are being covered from the British Open, the Saudi Open and the US Open. The squash is airing on TTC at 7am most mornings from 11/18/2007. Washington DC is scheduled to host its own PSA events this year with the National Capital Open at Bethesda S&H in Jan/Feb 2008.

SIVL Sport & Health Interclub Varsity League 2007/08

Connie Barnes Director of Squash & Racquetball announces the start of the SIVL Sport & Health Interclub Varsity League with a record number of teams participating. The SIVL welcomes emerging teams from Holton Arms, St Albans, Langley and StoneRidge high schools. The teams will play in 27 matches over winter and also in the SIVL tournament Feb 8 – 10. To see when your favorite team is playing see the schedule here. This year the teams are playing for the beautiful SIVL silver cup which will be engraved with the winning team’s name and be held at that school for the year. Connie also announces the commencement of the SIML Sport & Health Interclub Middle School league – this winter we welcome emerging team Cooper Middle School. Middle school matches will be held at Bethesda Sport & Health on the new showcase courts on the following dates – Dec11, January 15 and February 12 – come and cheer for your team!

Yasser El Halaby, the 23 year old winner of February's National Capital Open at Worldgate, is returning to DC to assist SquashEmpower with its gala weekend. Yasser was born and raised in Cairo Egypt, and was an outstanding Junior player: Egyptian number 1 for age group in juniors, 3 time British Junior Open winner. He Led Princeton to two ivy league titles and was the first male ever to win four US national collegiate individual titles. He is now playing on the professional tour and has reached a ranking of 52 in the world. Not satisfied with this he now demands to play YOU in a play the SquashEmpower pro session fund raiser at Sports Club/ LA on Sat Oct 27 2.00pm-5.00pm. Each challenger pays $120 for one game against Yasser and gets $10 back for each point he or she wins. Try and get a point from the master young player! All levels welcome. Follow the footsteps of SquashEmpower president Scott Spector who said, "Last year's play the pro session was a gala weekend highlight for me, I am looking forward to this years". Full advertising flyer available here.

You can also meet Yasser on Saturday night at the gala (see below) where you can bid on him as an auction item for a personal Sunday 11am brunch.

In a real surprise for organizers nearly 150 people have signed up for Box League play across Sport and Health. Bethesda leads the way and may have over 75 people playing by the time the league starts this week. Box league appears to be attractive because matches are scheduled at mutually convenient times for players, and only utilize home clubs which avoids the drag of cross city travel which is proving the biggest headache for those seeking to increase participation in more involved competitions.

The S&H box leagues separate players of near equal standard in to groups of 4-7 players depending on numbers. A round is played and match data is entered in to the Sport and Health electronic ladder system and then to the web. After a round top players in the box move up a box and bottom players move down and another round is played. Costs have been kept to a minimum due to simplicity of the format and the enabling capacity of the electronic system. Competition is open to S&H members, who can contact Rod Barnes for more information.

The DOAR school SquashEmpower kids marched in to the most up market of all Sport and Health clubs on 9/27/07 and were so gob smacked by their surroundings it was hard to get them to stop checking out the place and to start thinking about squash. SquashEmpower has relocated its squash activities from the YMCA downtown to Tenley Sport and Health. SquashEmpower Executive Director Connie Barnes is very happy with the move and expects a very strong relationship to develop between Sport and Health and SquashEmpower in time. Barnes and program manager Brandon Swails reported it was a successful, if a little noisy, first venture in to the new premises. Tenley general manager was not perturbed by the racket, and appeared happy to accommodate some youthful exuberance in the club. Members who were down for their lunch time workout did a little gawking of their own as they stopped and watched the group begin their journey in squash.

The 2008 Sport and Health Open squash tournament will run October 26-28. The tournament had over 80 people in its inaugural year and with tighter coordination between S&H centers promises to be bigger and better this year. Early rounds of the tournament will again be held across three venues, Regency, Bethesda and Worldgate to encourage local entries. maximize enjoyable court time and minimize travel. The tournament is open to all standards and has been timed to coincide with all the festivities of the SquashEmpower fund raising weekend including the wine tasting and gala dinner on the Saturday night at the Australian Embassy (see story below). Tournament application can be found here

Results

Photos

Sunday September 16 - PARENTS MEETING at Bethesda S&H - would you like to know about squash and its relationship to college applications, what about tournaments - how to register, which ones to register for, and why? School teams and matches, national rankings and the SIVL, AussieNick Junior Squash Scholar Athlete Award and more. More information and application available here.

The third annual gala for the 501.3c urban youth squash program SquashEmpower will be held on October 27, 2007 in the Australian Embassy located at Scott Circle. The event kicks off with a wine tasting at 5:30pm then the formal dinner, presentation and function starts at 7:30pm and goes to 10:30pm. This function has proven to be the marquee social event on the National Capital squash calendar and has raised tens of thousands of dollars allowing the organization to maintain its efforts in assisting disadvantaged youth in DC. This year's auction goes way beyond last years offering and includes expensive artwork, rare wines and several great travel packages. Go here for the full list. You are invited to help maintain this momentum by enthusiastically supporting this year's event. For more details click here.

SquashEmpower continues to go from strength to strength and the team backing the organization is now undoubtedly one of the most qualified and talented in the US. On the operational side, the inclusion of Brandon Swails as a full time program manager has provided outstanding progress in day to day activities of the group. The SquashEmpower board has also recently been strengthened by the addition of Bill Marmon a former Verizon communications executive. Bill has played squash in a half dozen different countries and loves the game enthusiastically.

The function is being run in coordination with the Sport and Health Open Squash tournament which will be held at Bethesda, Regency and Worldgate Sport and Health Centers. Entry forms for the tournament will be available shortly on the tournament page.

Sport and Health would like to offer all non-member squash players, the chance to join our club with zero enrollment and also receive one complimentary lesson from our wonderful squash professionals. Please contact Dan Hoskinson at (202) 701-7541, or through email at dhoskinson@shcorp.com, if you would like to take advantage of the offer. ****This offer expires August 31, 2007****

Programming for Adults

Tournaments

Oct 26 – 28 Sport & Health SquashEmpower Open. Social event is the Embassy of Australia SquashEmpower wine tasting and Dinner Gala on Saturday night Oct 27 see www.squashempower.org hope to see you there!
Wintersun Open 2008 will be held in conjunction with the PSA event, Feb 2008
*Juniors may play in these tourneys

-Heads up for the tremendously exciting National Capital PSA 2008 Tournament to be held February 2008 – for sponsorship opportunities or help us with the preparations see www.aussienicksquash.com

-Members have expressed interest in Strength and conditioning classes, we will be holding these at Bethesda S&H (details to follow)

-Womens program – recommences Sept Sun 16 – this activity will alternate between Regency and Tenley contact Saif Ullah (Womens League coordinator) http://www.aussienicksquash.com/women/07Ten-WomensSquash_fly.pdf

-Book a Coach online facility – to make life even easier for you, we have added this facility to our online system at Bethesda. Click on reserve coach and then select day and time that you would like a lesson with Ian – we will have this set up by the week-end.

-Challenge Ladder – an email feature will be set up on the challenge ladder by tomorrow, you will be able to click on your opponents name and send him/her an email requesting a match.

-Refs course – will be held at Bethesda 6 January 2pm cost $10pp and will assist you to pass the club referee exam.

-Name Discs – you’ll notice the discs have been moved to the new boards at Bethesda, please let me know if your name is NOT on there so I can update, thx

-iMASKS – eye protection is important and some of the best we’ve found are the lightweight iMASKS usually $60 + tax, I am selling these for $50 + 5% tax, drop me a line of you would like to purchase one. Heres a pic of one http://www.imask.com.au/orders.htm

-Prolotherapy – as most members know, I’ve had serious ongoing issues with my knee, I’ve had success with Prolotherapy – here’s my story, if it also works for you, I’d be delighted. http://www.aussienicksquash.com/Blog/blog.htm#prolo

Programming for Juniors

School squash

Students from these schools will be playing or are looking to set up clinic/ school programs for the upcoming school year –

Bethesda S&H – Bradley Hills Elementary, Pyle MS, Westland MS, Holton Arms MS & HS, Landon HS, B-CC HS, Maret, Whitman HS.
Regency S&H – Langley HS, Cooper MS, Williamsburg MS, Madeira, St Agnes & St Stephens
RIO S&H – Churchill HS, Wooton HS, plus overflow from Bethesda - Holton Arms MS & HS, Landon
Tenley S&H - Sidwell, Washington International School, Georgetown Day School, St Albans, Edmund Burke
Worldgate S&H – Wakefield

Students will participate in coaching and matches as part of the SIVL (Sport & Health Interclub Varsity League) or SIML (Sport & Health Interclub Middle School league). Look out for the email or announcement at the school or go to www.aussienicksquash.com take the Juniors link then the club the school will be based at for further information – updated flyers will be posted over the next few days. If your school is not on the list and you’d like it to be, feel free to contact me.

Please note – SIVL Match schedule will be online in Sept with matches commencing mid October. For last years schedule see http://www.aussienicksquash.com/juniors/leagues/Interschool/06SH-VarsityLeague_sched.pdf

Clinics
Clinics commence Sept 15, please note that there are cut off dates for discounts
Bethesda http://www.aussienicksquash.com/juniors/clinics/07Beth-SquashClinics_fly.pdf
Regency http://www.aussienicksquash.com/juniors/clinics/07Reg-SquashClinics_fly.pdf

Tournaments
Trifecta 1 will be held Nov 30 – Dec 2 – see here for details of this and other Tifectas to be held at Bethesda, Regency and Worldgate
http://www.aussienicksquash.com/juniors/juniors.htm

Sunday League
The Sunday round robin program commences Sept 16 at Bethesda http://www.aussienicksquash.com/juniors/leagues/surburban%20maryland/information.htm .

Refs course – will be held at Bethesda 6 January 2pm cost $10pp and will assist you to pass the club referee assessment. The passing of this test is essential to secure a national ranking at the seasons end.

Jeff Wollstein – Sept 12 - clinics to be run by one of the most highly rated coaches in the world –
5 – 6pm juniors clinic (good beginners – intermediate)
6 – 7pm adults clinic (good beginners – intermediate)
Cost - $45 pp
(this is a fund raiser for SquashEmpower, all proceeds will go to the urban youth program bringing squash and academic tuition to DC youth www.squashempower.org

Parents - Save the Date – Sunday September 16 – PARENTS MEETING at Bethesda S&H – would you like to know about squash and its relationship to college applications, what about tournaments – how to register, which ones to register for, and why? School teams and matches, national rankings and the SIVL, AussieNick Junior Squash Scholar Athlete Award and more. Guest speakers and information session from 1 – 4pm cost $15 (this is a fund raiser for SquashEmpower, see above)

Members have expressed interest in Strength and conditioning classes, and we believe they are very useful for juniors who spend a lot of time on the court, we will be holding these at Bethesda S&H (details to follow)

-Bulls Win Summer 2007 Premier League

In what turned out to be an appropriate celebration of the new international courts at the Bullpit, the Bethesda Bulls bounced back from a mediocre Winter league to win the 2007 Summer Premier league. The emergence of teaching pro, Ian Brown playing at #2 was a big difference. Ian was clearly the best player in that position significantly strengthening the line up.

On Wednesday 15 August, Rod Barnes and Page Lansdale joined Brown in the final to steer the Bulls to victory over SCLA on their own turf. On the scoreboard, Rod Barnes outlasted Shai Ingber 3-1, in a match that became closer as time went on and Ian Brown held out Juan Carlos Climent 3-2 to clinch the title. The best of career form that Page Lansdale displayed all season deserted him in the final going down 3-0 to Jason Harrow. As always the spirit of the city's top league was alive and well with vigorous competition displayed on court and camaraderie enjoyed afterwards with SCLA and the Bulls joining in the SCLA bar to celebrate the season.

Now there are more ominous signs emerging from the Bulls camp for opposition sides, including the form of youngster Bryan Keating. He demonstrated he has stepped up a notch and reached Premier League standard, who knows where he will be come October/November. Former Rochester coach Matt Dankner has also signed at Bethesda strengthening the top of the line up. With a bunch of 5-6 players nipping at the heels of these five, all the signs are the Bulls will be a force again in Premier league next season.

Mike Corren is a PSA touring pro, recently recuperating from injury in New Zealand. Mike's world ranking peaked in 2004 at #38 now he is trying to rebuild whilst working in New Zealand. Enjoy Mikes musings on two of the great players from a bygone era of wooden racquets and tight shorts. See the full story.

A new on-line software system that will facilitate challenge matches and box play between squash members in Sport and Health was released this week. This is an extension of the court booking system that Bethesda racquets members are already familiar with, however the online challenge ladder system is Sport and Health wide. To access the system go to our home page www.aussienicksquash.com and select the ’reservation’ system tab towards the top right. For account and password information please click here and send, noting your club affiliation, you will need to be a Sport and Health member of course. Once in the system you will see the court booking system for Bethesda courts. However now there are some extra tabs at the top. The two of chief concern are marked “Enter Challenge Scores” and “Squash Challenge Ladder”. The former allows you to enter the result of matches you have with other Sport and Health players, you choose your name and your opponent from the drop down menus. These results could stem from casual challenge matches, league matches, box matches etc.

In the “Squash Challenge Ladder” portal you will see an ordered list of the 950 or so squash players in Sport and Health and they have all been assigned a starting rating. Once challenge match data is entered the ladder will routinely update and adjust according to the data that have been entered. You will be able to go in at any time and see how your rating and ranking have changed. The system is a beta release for testing purposes and coming within the next week or two will be the ability to send challenge match requests to prospective challenge opponents. This will be implemented in the “Squash Challenge Ladder” page. It will simply be a matter of clicking on a name and sending a request to start up a conversation for a challenge match.

It took quite a lot longer than initially predicted, but now the final county approvals have came through and the doors have swung open at the new squash and racquetball center in Bethesda Sport and Health. First impressions are quite striking due to the fact that the white walled, 4 court block is situated in a cavernous room, which also accommodates two full size tennis courts. The courts themselves and the viewing area out front sport a clean, spacious layout, with fixed seating tiers set back providing some mingling space closer to the courts. The courts themselves were built by McWil and initial reports are they are a real joy to play on. They are certainly true and quite lively which makes for a vigorous game. The courts are convertible between the two racquet sports but are set to international squash court width. This is only a foot wider than the previous courts, but has had some of the members sucking in extra breaths to cover the territory!

For Connie Barnes (left), the Director of Squash and Racquetball at Sport and Health, the opening of the center is a great milestone after a four year mission on her part to build the racquets program at Bethesda. To have corporate Sport and Health invest in racquets in such a demonstrable way is very pleasing and a just reward for our patient membership. Barnes says she is committed to lift the profile of racquet sports in Sport and Health, where it has to compete for floor space with many other activities and sports, many of which like spin, weight training and cardio etc do not take as much real estate per person. However, she believes that more and more the decision makers within Sport and Health are recognizing the potential growth in racquet sports and have always valued the loyalty of the racquets membership and hence there is likely to be further investment in the future. To this end, Barnes is predicting that Sport and Health will be upgrading and constructing more courts at other venues in the near future.

Bethesda S&H regular, Ben Rind, is spending 6 weeks in an intensive training program under the tutelage of Australian coach Marc Forster. Marc is currently coach to several Brisbane based PSA and WISPA players and has taken students of Ben's age on a temporary basis from around the world. His program is based at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Ben will train daily with the squad and compete in several local tournaments. Of course a little time is also planned for exploring some of the culture of sub-tropical Brisbane and South-East Queensland including the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Australia Zoo etc.

In the 1980's Brisbane was arguably the hot spot of world squash. It was the home of the

Australian Institute of Sport's squash program which churned out players of the caliber of Chris Robertson, the Martin family, Rodney Eyles and other top 10 stars. So great was the depth of squash talent during that period that one league team (Bardon) had a world top 10 player at the number 2 position, and the same club had three other teams with world top 10 players listed! Brisbane League had over 50 divisions early in the 80's, and getting to play in the top division, 'State 1' as it was called, really meant you were world class or not far off. Whilst the depth of squash in Brisbane has receded from those heady days, the competition is still relatively strong, and coaches like Marc understand what is required to be a top player. Ben, who is starting at Tufts in fall, is keen to improve his game as much as possible before he starts, and we know he is in the right place to do that.

Ben enjoying the view after a set of
'Dune Sprints' at Moreton Island
Read Ben's Blog to see more

Ben's adventure comes courtesy of a newly formulated program offered by AussieNick in conjunction with Marc Forster and his team. Sessions are available any time through the US summers and are offered over a duration of 2-8 weeks. If you or your child are interested in exploring this opportunity in more detail, please direct inquiries to Rod and Connie Barnes at AussieNick.

Flashes