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Singles Monitoring Event
Épreuve nationale de monitoring en simple
| Winnipeg, 1999
By Dan Smith, from Canadian Racquetball, vol. 1, no. 8. |
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The Canadian National Singles Monitoring Tournament was held in halifax, Nova Scotia Jan. 22-24, 1999. The groundwork for the tournament had been laid many, many months earlier ant the time had finally arrived for Nova Scotians who are known for their hospitality to shine. The tournament was designed as a huge event for all Maritimers to come and watch, rather than as an addition to another tournament. Some of Canada's youngest and brightest would be in Halifax to compete for a spot on one of the National Teams. President Dan Smith first conceived the concept of hosting this event. The major goal was to expose Atlantic Canadians, especially juniors and woment, to top Canadian Racquetball. Players and coaches started arriving as early as Wednesday and were all met at the airport with a welcome package and driven to the host hotel "The Season's Motor Inn." A hospitality suite was open to all the participants all weekend, where they could cook a meal, have a drink or just hang out with some of the volunteers and sponsors. Some of the players that arrived early took advantage of being in N.S. for the first time and were driven around to a couple of the tourist attractions like Peggy's Cove or the Graveyard where passengers from the Titanic are buried. Players from Ontario couldn't believe how bright and sunny it was, without a glimpse of snow anywhere. Play was to begin at 6:00 pm Fri. and the shuttle vans were full, with smiling faces and high hopes and just a little bit of friendly trash talking. The matches were held at two venues, Saint Mary's University "The Tower" and the Halifax, YMCA, for Friday and Saturday. A lot of the early matches were lopsided with a few exceptions like the very exciting match between Francis Guillemette and local hopeful Paul Albert. Paul jumped out to a 9-1 lead but Francis slowly inched his way back and was victorious 15-11, 15-12. Other Maritimers were not as fortunate, and soon realized they were out classed on the court. Some other close matches were on the Women's side where Karina Odegard defeated Chantal Turgeon 15-11, 15-9 and Amanda MacDonald just squeaked by Jennifer Saunders in a tie break 15-10, 10-15, 11-4. Friday night saw the athletes, coaches and local beating a different ball around, a cue ball. A night of free pool and pizza had been planned and most took advantage. Comments could be overheard, "Did you see how hard those guys hit the ball!." "She is so young and talented." Of course some of us who have seen caliber before could only say, "You've seen nothing yet!" "Wait until the later rounds when the matches are closer." A comment from the major sponsor, Wayne Ezekiel, of AA Munro Insurance was, "I am really impressed with the standard of play and am looking forward to the rest of the weekend." The matches started up early Saturday morning, especially for those on the western clock. All the matches went according to the big picture with, according to the rankings, only two exceptions. Darren Bryce beat 8th seeded François Viens and Ryan Powell def. Kelly Kerr in an 11-7 tiebreaker. All of the matches were great to watch and things were shaping up according to plan. Saturday night everyone was treated to a hot turkey dinner at a local tavern. Participants were given a choice of events for the remainder of the night. They could either stary for the Karaoke or go candlepin bowling. Nine people opted for the bowling. Candlepin is unique to the Eastern Provinces and the States. Those that went bowling had a great time. Not to be out done, everyone had an equally enjoyable time at Karaok. Sherman's rendition of 'I did it my way,' was definitely hard to follow, or was that hard to swallow, you decide. Sunday finally arrived and things shaped up like a well-scripted movie. On the Men's side Mike Ceresia defeated Mike Green two straight in the semi's 15-13, 15-10. Sherman had a little more trouble disposing of the persistent Brian Istace 12-15, 15-13, 11-5. This left the two older gladiators, Mike and Sherman for the finals. On the Women's side the finals found Lori Jane Powell head to head with Christie Van Hees after defeating Josée Grand'Maître 15-13, 15-12. Christie had an easier semi defeating Lucie Guillemette 15-10, 15-2. The chairs were filling up as the Women's Final began. Christie defeated Lori Jane two straight in less than an hour 15-9, 15-10. The Men's final however, wasn't as quick. Sherman led the first game 14-7 but had trouble closing it out. Mike fought back to 14-14 and Sherman finally won the first game 15-14. Mike had found his groove and won the second game easily 15-4. This set the stage for an exciting finish and no one was disappointed. Mike played strong and jumped out to a commanding lead that Sherman wasn't able to fight back from, going down to Mike 11-6. Closing ceremonies were held at the Alpine room, Moosehead Breweries where free refreshments were disbursed. President, Dan Smith and Major Sponsor Wayne Ezekiel handed out cheques totaling $5,000 to the top 8 male and female participants. Christie and Mike were both presented with a Tournament 1st place jacket provided by AA Munro Insurance, a Moosehead watch and a cheque for their accomplishments. All in all, the first Canadian Naitonal Singles Monitoring Tournament ever held in the Maritimes was a huge success. Everyone, from the players to the spectators seemed to have a great time and hopefully were able to take home a memory from Nova Scotia that they will treasure forever. |
Les équipes en double se forment et se re-forment : on ne peut deviner ce qui arrivera lorsque deux joueurs se réunissent pour jouer en double. À Winnnipeg, deux vétérans de l'équipe senior de Racquetball Canada se sont réunis pour affronter les champions canadiens. "Nous formons une très bonne équipe" a affirmé Lori Jane Powell après avoir défait Karina Odegard et Amanad Macdonald avec sa partenaire Josée Grand'Maître en finale 15-5 et 15-5. Josée a ajouté : "Nous avons bien joué ensemble pendant tout le week-end. Si nous nous rendons au Honduras, je sais que nous aurons une excellente chance de remporter le titre en double." Powell et Grand'Maître, classées troisième au début du tournoi, ont défait une autre jeune équipe : Jen Saunders et Julie Neubauer. Saunders explique : "Elles étaient meilleures que nous au niveau des services. Nous n'arrivions jamais à les faire jouer en défensive." Malgré un pointage de 8-8 dans les deux matchs, Jen et Julie ont par la suite perdu 15-9 et 15-9. Du côté masculin, en double, les champions canadiens Mike Ceresia et Mike Green n'étaient pas à Winnipeg ce qui a ouvert la porte à d'autres équipes pour montrer de quoi elles étaient capables. Il y a eu des bouleversements dès le départ lorsque Kam Barteski et Loren Prentice ont déclassé les #2 Corey Osborne et Tom O'Brien. Vincent Gagnon et Francis Guillemette ont défait les #4 au classement Daniel Denis et François Viens. Un autre grand bouleversement est survenu en demi-finale lorsque Gagnon et Guillemette ont défait les têtes de série Kelly Kerr et Greg Starodub au cours de deux matchs consécutifs. De l'autre côté du tableau, Kris Odegard et Ryan Powell ont défait Barteski et Prentice, pour créer une finale masculine où se sont affronté deux équipes affamées. Le duo québéois et celui de la Saskatchewan jouent avec leurs partenaires respectifs depuis plusieurs années et les deux équipes ont choisi le bon week-end pour bien jouer. Tout s'est joué au bris d'égalité. Vincent et Francis ont remporté la victoire 11-9. Vincent a déclaré après la fin du match : "Francis a très bien joué. Nous avons bien couvert le terrain et nous en sommes tenus à match de passage." L'épreuve de monitoring en simple aura lieu à Saskatoon pendant le week-end du 9 au 11 mars. À chacune de ces épreuves, les joueurs accumulent des points qui seront utilisés pour déterminer qui représentera le Canada au Tournoi des Amériques au Honduras en avril procain. Comme l'a dit Ron Brown : "Nous avons observé beaucoup de profondeur autant du côté féminin que masculin ce week-end. Le Canada sera bien représenté, peu importe qui ira au Honduras." |
Results : Résultats | |
Women : Femmes
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