2004 Handicap
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Saturday, 11th December - Finals Night
Well, for those of you who attended, it was good entertainment, and for those of you who weren't there, you missed the funniest match of the tournament.
2004 Handicap Tournament Plate Final - Richard Avery (6) v Martyn Whiting (-7)
We could see straight away that Richard had a secret game plan, but had some difficulty in understanding it, as it seemed to involve him conserving energy from an early stage (later it turned out that he hadn't fully recovered from his semi-finals match played earlier on that day; Martyn had had a bye courtesy of a certain unreliable Scottish player!).. Martyn seemed quite pleased with Richard's game plan as it allowed him to keep Richard pinned at the back with accurate powerful crosscourt drives and then get some easy winners with the odd volley drop or boast. Martyn took that game 15/8 - a drop of just two points - impressive.
In the second game, both players displayed their hitherto hidden talent for squash comedy. It was based around Martyn continuously hitting Richard with his racket. Occasionally, he would hit the ball, but mostly he concentrated on hitting Richard. Lesser men than Richard would have kept out of Martyn's way, but not Richard. Every time Martyn raised his racket to strike the ball, Richard leapt into the path of the racket swing. It was very entertaining to watch!
Next they indulged in a sport which is being seriously considered for inclusion in the 2008 Olympics - synchronized racket breaking. In a beautifully timed and executed manoeuvre, Martyn struck Richard's racket with a crisp forehand, breaking both rackets in identical places.
They did have time for a little squash, and Richard's match tactics began to pay off, as Martyn was lulled into a false sense of security and made several mistakes, allowing Richard to take the second game 15/5. In the final two games, Martyn kept his concentration and took them both with a pretty convincing 15/11.
The final score was 3-1 to Martyn in games (15/8 6/15 15/11 15/11) and 1-1 in rackets!
2004 Handicap Tournament Final - Neil Healey (5) v Brett Green (-6)
Nelly did his best and played magnificently to take a game off Brett, but Brett ran him into a standstill - I've never seen Neil give up on a shot before - his legs must have turned to jelly.
The score was 15/12 1/15 15/12 15/9
Tournament Summary
Another enjoyable tournament. Brett and Martyn could have been handicapped a little more, but then again, in previous years, they've been knocked out in early rounds. In general, the handicapping was pretty good, with Neil Healey in particular having some epic matches. The best match that I saw was the Lisa Barlow (6) v Jonathon Bomford (-7). Both players played exceptionally well with fortunes swinging back and forth and ending with a cliff-hanging 15/14 in the fifth to Jonathon. Tremendously exciting stuff to watch.
The draw wasn't that large this year, but on the other hand, there were very few withdrawals.
The attendance on finals night was definitely on the low side. My take
on this as follows:
If you enter a tournament, you have an obligation to ensure that you are free at
the scheduled times for the later rounds; earlier rounds can be rescheduled
(within reason). In an intra club tournament, you also have an obligation,
after you've been knocked out, to come down and support the later rounds -
particularly finals night. If something else comes up, fair enough, but
please try to make the effort.
I'm already working on the handicaps for next year's tournament. See you then!
Friday, 10th December
Granthan Speake (1) v Neil Healey (-1)
No idea what the score was, but Neil is living up to his reputation in this
competition.
Brett Green (-10) v Jonathon Bomford (9)
Brett's not finding his handicap difficult enough! He must be playing
rather well.
Jimmy Harrison (3) v Martyn Whiting (-4)
Jimmy cancelled at the eleventh hour - too late to substitute a player from an
earlier round.
Thursday, 9th December
Martyn Whiting (-1) had an easy victory over Richard Chinn (1). The score was 15/10 15/10 15/5.
We have had two players drop out of the plate due to other commitments - Anne Tomkins and Brian Cole. Their places have been taken by the players they last beat, so Granthan Speake now plays Neil Healey, and Tom Richardson plays the winner of Richard Avery and Martin Sutcliffe.
I'm not around tomorrow (Friday), but I'm sure everything will be OK. Games start at 18:00 - should be good to watch
Please bring nibbles to Saturday's Finals. It starts at 18:30.
Monday, 6th December
Neil Healey (-8) v Bob Speake (7)
This email says it all:
From: Neil Healey [mailto:neilhealey@btinternet.com]
Sent: 07 December 2004 09:25
To: 'Paul Heneghan'
Subject: RE: Handicap
Paul
I won 3-2. Errol marked a very close game. 15/14 in the fifth. Good handicap eh!!
Neil
Sunday evening, 5th December
Another good evening - lots of good spectator sport.
Granthan Speake (-8) v Anne Tomkins (8)
A close one this - Granthan did some really good retrieving and some very
accurate drops, but he hit one or two down at critical moment, and Anne played
steadily and went for her shots when the opportunity arose. The score was
15/12 14/15 15/8 15/12.
Neil Healey (-8) v Bob Speake (7)
To be played midweek.
David Preedy (11) v Brett Green (-14)
Another classic match. Brett started off thinking that with such a large
handicap, it meant that Dave couldn't retrieve or hit winners. Dave could
and did! In fact in the first game which was over in seconds, Dave hit two
winning drops, Brett tinned two drops and Dave took it 15/-12 - he got four
points to Brett's two. Interesting! This was the wakeup call that
Brett needed and in the next game, he kept Dave pinned to the back with powerful
drives almost all of which Dave returned. Dave was also getting to all of
Brett's safe drops, so he had to lower his margin for errors and go for drops a
few millimetres above the tin, all of which came off. Brett got the first
18 points in a row, then Dave got a point, served and got the next point - funny
how often that happens. At 13-all, Dave got another point, Brett pulled it
back to 14-all and took it 15/14. The third game was similar, except Brett
had to save 8 game points. 2-1 to Brett. In the fourth game, Brett
was really pumped up on adrenaline, and could do nothing wrong. There was
one superb rally where Dave dropped front right, Brett dropped front right, but
found himself trapped against the wall by Dave who came in played a really good
cross court drop. There was no way Brett could get from the right hand
wall to the left hand wall to return the shot, but somehow or other he did and
scraped up a shot which Dave tried to put away, but didn't quite. I think
that rally ended with a let. I bet Dave was wondering how many winning
shots he needed to hit in a row to score a point. Brett took the fourth
game without letting Dave get a point - an interesting contrast to the first
game. The score was -12/15 15/14 15/14 15/11.
Ros Porter (8) v Jonathon Bomford (-9)
I didn't see this, but looking at the score, it looks like Jonathon must have
played pretty well. The score was 13/15 17/14 15/12 15/11
Brian Cole (6) v Tom Richardson (-7)
I didn't see this either, but Tom did well to take a game off Brian with that
handicap. The score was 15/2 15/3 12/15 15/3.
Paul Heneghan (-1) v Jimmy Harrison (1)
The final match of the night was the plate game between Paul and Jimmy.
Paul was trying unsuccessfully to enter into a rallying game; Jimmy was trying
to keep the rallies short. Jimmy took the first two games fairly easily,
but faltered after a couple of long rallies in the third. However, Paul
couldn't make the most of his opportunities, and Jimmy took the fourth
easily. I wonder what handicap Jimmy will get next year? The score
was 15/7 15/12 12/15 15/8
Once again, there was a good turnout to watch these matches.
There are still a few outstanding competition fees. Please try and get the money to me ASAP, otherwise I will name and shame!
Saturday evening, 4th December
This was one of the best days ever in a handicap tournament that I recall.
Granthan Speake (-14) had a VERY narrow victory against Lisa Hobbs (11). Apparently at 2-all in games, Granthan found himself 14/-3 down and came through to win it!
Karen Ferris (0) took a game off Anne Tomkins (0) - 15/14 9/15 15/12 15/13
Brian Cole (8) nearly gave himself a coronary against Neil Healey (-9). In fact, several spectators came up to me afterwards and said they had never seen Brian play so well and they suspected he might be on performance-enhancing drugs! At 2-all in games, Brian got to 14 first, Neil pulled it back to 14-all, and then Brian called 'set 3'. Of course, Neil, thinking the pressure was off, tinned the next shot, but then he pulled himself together and won the next three rallies to take the match. The score was 9/15 17/15 15/11 4/15 17/15.
Another match worth watching was the Christina Todd Jones (8) v that wily veteran Bob Speake (-9). This was another close affair, and Bob took it in the fourth 15/14. The score was 15/13 10/15 15/9 15/14
David Preedy (7) had an easy match against Steve Porter (-8). With a handicap as tough as that, Steve was feeling the pressure and put himself in all kinds of difficulty with tinned shots and a few serves out. Dave played well, and Steve had his usual moments of brilliance, but the end result was inevitable. The score was 15/9 15/10 15/1.
Errol Ferris (4) had the unenviable job of taking on the club champion Brett Green (-5). The usual form in a handicap tournament is for the higher ranked player to play safe, cut out risky drops and boasts and wait for the lower ranked players to make mistakes. The lower ranked player usually goes for as many fluky winners and off-the-frame shots as possible, and tries to avoid long rallies at all costs. Well, tonight, Errol seemed keen to enter into long rallies, trying to find a good length, and Brett attempted a huge number of really low drops and boasts, which with one or two exceptions all went up. Brett's retrieving was also exceptional, and with Brett playing like that, Errol had no option but to lower his margin for errors with catastrophic results. The score was 3-0 to Brett: 15/11 15/9 15/12
Sam Porter (2) took advantage of her new handicap to give her mum Ros Porter (-2) a run for her money. Sam played exceptionally well - I've never seen her retrieve like that before! Also, Sam has a really useful volley - little gets past her. In the end, Ros's experience won through and she took the match 3-1: 15/12 17/14 11/15 15/11
The match of the tournament so far was definitely the one between Lisa Barlow (6) and Jonathon Bomford (-7). Lisa had already demolished Chinny in the first round, so obviously she was on a favourable handicap this year. In the first game, Jonathon was stunned to find that Lisa could sprint like Denise Lewis, retrieve like Jansher Khan and had a set of lungs like Mathew Pinsent. All this and a head start of 13 points. When she easily won the first game, he should have done the sensible thing and thought "I can't possibly win off this ridiculous handicap", and just gone through the motions in the next two games. However, in the second game, at 13/3 down, the Bomford fighting spirit kicked in, and with some excellent high cross courts, he pinned Lisa to the back of the court and clawed his way back to 14-all. Lisa called 'set 1' (I'm glad SOMEBODY reads my invaluable hints and tips!) and took the point. At this stage, if Jonathon had any sense at all (which he clearly hasn't), he would have thought "I've just killed myself and still lost the first two games - what's the point?" Fortunately for the spectators, Jonathon has no sense at all, and in the third game he produced some near-perfect squash - high cross courts, good-width lengths, good volley kills and tight boasts. Lisa didn't play badly, and Jonathon had to work very hard, but most of the time, he was in control - in fact, he took the last ten points in a row! The fourth game was a clone of the third, except Jonathon managed 12 points in a row at the end. The fifth game was the most exciting of them all. Lisa was showing no signs of tiring, Karen Ferris had done a great job of inter-game coaching, and Lisa was now going for everything - drops, powerful straight drives, volley drops - the work. She got to 14-12, lost the next point, Jonathon served at 13-14 and Lisa hit a brilliant cross-court volley kill - brilliant in every respect except for the fact that it skimmed the top of the tin. Lisa called 'set 1' and it was match ball to both players. The tension on court and in the gallery was at fever pitch. Jonathon served, a short rally followed, Lisa hit a loose shot and Jonathon's forehand drive went just out of reach of Lisa. The score was 6/15 14/15 15/9 15/12 15/14
It was great to see a full gallery watching this match - there were players of all standards there - club no. 1 downwards. And on a Saturday evening as well! Please come along and support the rest of the tournament as well - particularly finals night next Saturday.
A few people have commented on the accuracy (or otherwise) of the handicaps. Let me explain where they come from! It's all very scientific really. Every year, I tot up the scores in each match and calculate the total number of points won by each player. Let's say Jonathon wins 100 points to Lisa's 35 - that means that Jonathon gets a rating three times that of Lisa. If Brett beats Jonathon 100 points to 25, then Brett gets a rating of four times Jonathon and 12 times Lisa. If Brett were then to play Lisa, I would expect the score to be something like 120 points to 10. This works out surprisingly well - as proved by the number of five-setters and 15/14 games we've had this year. Where it doesn't work well is where you get a player with a one-sided game - retriever with no shots, or shots with no retrieving. These players can do really well against lower-ranked players, but poorly against higher-ranked players or vice versa. The system also fails, if new players enter the tournament who's handicap I guess incorrectly, a player improves (or disimproves) significantly between one year and the next, or a player has an off day (or an on day). There you are! I'm sure you all wanted to know that.
One other thing - I don't pick the draw - Microsoft Excel's random number generator does. I don't know if it's as random as ERNIE, it has a strange habit of pitting family members against each other, but it's the fairest way I can think of doing it.
There are lots of games tomorrow (Sunday) evening - starting at 18:00. Please contact me if you need to rearrange the time.
Saturday, 4th December
It's difficult getting money out of you lot! To date only Martyn Whiting and I have paid. You can remedy that today.
I won't be around for the first part of this afternoon - I'll be down later. Could some of you (Richard, Jonathon, Steve and Errol?) print out the new schedules and stick them up. Two people have changed groups - Sam Porter is now in M and Neil Perry is now in K.
Friday, 3rd December
Martyn Sutcliffe (-9) had a good match against Lisa Hobbs (8). Martin is new to this and it took him a game to adjust to the different style of play required for a handicap tournament. He played really well in the second to win that. When the games were 2-all, Martin had a good start to the fifth game, but Lisa then hit three superb winners that nobody could have returned abd took the match.
Richard Avery (-3) and Karen Ferris (3) had a very close match. There were four very close games which they took 2 apiece, but Karen's superb boasting in the early games took their toll on Richard, and in the fifth, he was running on empty. The score was 15/14 11/15 15/13 11/15 15/8.
Matthew Powell (-2) and Anne Tomkins (2) are playing tomorrow morning at 09:45.
Christina Todd Jones (10) had a good victory over Tom Richardson (-12). Apparently there were one or two (or was it 15 or 16?) footfaults, but the match was played in good spirits, and Tom would probably have won had he not missed an easy backhand at the end. This was another five-setter: 15/10 14/15 14/17 15/12 15/10.
Pete Bolshaw (3) had another close game against Steve Porter (-3). The handicap was spot on and resulted in a win for Steve - 14/15 15/11 11/15 15/11 15/12.
Errol Ferris (-1) and Paul Heneghan (1) had a surprisingly close match given the ludicrous handicap (what idiot invented those handicaps anyway?!). Errol played quite well and Paul played very well, so it was close all the way. Result: a win for Errol 17/16 15/13 15/13.
Brett Green (-7) and Jimmy Harrison (6) had an enjoyable match to watch. Brett took a little while to settle in and was trading points equally with Jimmy for the first six rallies. Then he dug in and played good percentage squash and ocassionally forced Jimmy into some long rallies. These took their toll on Jimmy, and although he still hit some stunning winners, he wasn't interested in running forwards towards the end. Result: a win for Brett 11/15 15/12 15/14 17/15. Good handicapping!
Martyn Whiting (-14) played well against Sam Porter (12), and towards the end of the fourth looked like taking it to make it 2-all in games. But then he tinned an easy drop, and was so surprised when Sam hit one down the middle that he jumped out of the way only to see it nick at the back. This was a big handicap to overcome, and the score was a creditable 15/11 17/14 15/13 15/11.
Newcomer Neil Perry (-7) enjoyed his game against Ros Porter (6), but found the handicap a little steep (I've dropped Neil a couple of groups for the later rounds). The score was 15/-1 15/10 15/2.
Lisa Barlow (10) and Richard Chinn (-12) had an exciting game. Chinny gave it his usual 110% even took the third game 15/12 - quiet an achievement against Lisa with that handicap. The fourth game just ran away from him though and he got only seven points to Lisa's five. The score was 15/4 15/11 12/15 15/-5.
There are lots of rearranged games tomorrow. Please check with your opponents. I'll publish the times (if people tell me) on the website.
Thursday, 2nd December
We've got an entry of 27 this year, not as many as in previous years, but it's quality that counts!
Special thanks to the representatives from the 1st and 2nd teams, Brett and Martyn. It's good of them to set themselves up to be knocked down by us mortals! Brett has the same handicap that Glen had a few years ago when he got to the finals, so it's all down to his concentration levels. I'm predicting his match against Jimmy tomorrow (17:15, handicap of +6/-7) will be one of the highlights of the tournament.
Martyn has a much tougher job against Sam Porter (handicap -14/12). Sam can put the ball away when it's put on her racket, so Martyn will have to keep it off her racket.
Another match of the night should be Lisa Barlow (10) v Richard Chinn (-12) at 20:15. Chinny excels at coming back from the dead in these tournaments.
Thursday, 25th November
Just waiting for the names to come in.