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South Africa Fixture

Jesters Fixtures,

South African Jesters Tour
Sept. 24th to Sept. 28th, 2012

The British Columbian and final leg of the South African Tour of Canada officially commenced in Kelowna the morning of Monday, Sept. 24th, 2012. Mssrs. Hungerford, Zaplatynsky, and Bowen met Jackie and Paul Stevenson in Kelowna to greet our guests and enjoyed a marvelous lunch at Quayles Gate Winery to get acquainted and consume the proper fortification for the dive to Vancouver.  The SA’s were extremely complimentary of all their destinations across the country and were definitely looking down a quart. A special thank you to David Clements for his help in assisting the SA’s on their trek from Edmonton to Kelowna. The brunch at Quayles Gate was superb. It was a beautiful day with brilliant sunshine giving us a wonderful view of Lake Okanagan. We travelled to Vancouver in good time and met our hosts and some nest members at the Lawn for an official welcoming reception where our guests met their hosts, had more cocktails, and then went off to their respective homes. The Lawn under George Walkers supervision did a superb job in putting our reception together.

On Tuesday morning the SA Jesters were met a Spokes Bicycle Shop and taken on a tour of Stanley Park, some even ventured as far as Ambleside, led by John Zaplatynsky. This was a very successful event, in an effort to bring our guests down a second quart before the official squash match on Thursday! After lunch there some casual squash at the Lawn and Arbutus Clubs, followed by casual dinners at various homes of hosts.

Wednesday morning was up early where our guests were met at Granville Island for a brief tour and a coffee and bun before heading off to Whistler for the day. Again we had excellent weather and our first stop was the Whistler Olympic Park for a tour and a mini biathlon meet. What fun! There were some very good sharpshooters in the crowd, some of them wives and it was suggested that their husbands make a real effort to behave themselves. To be honest I cannot remember who won, but it was a very fun experience. From there to the village for a tour and lunch, and then back to the City. On the return home we stopped in at Shannon Falls and had a very enjoyable dinner at the Cactus Club in West Vancouver. Unfortunately the Peak to Peak was closed for the second year in a row, hence the stop at Shannon Falls. Thank you to Ben Thomas for all the arrangements and to John Hungerford, Simon Dorey, and Ingus Silgailis for taking the day off to drive up and back. Another excellent day!

Thursday morning was up early again for another very active day. It began with every member of the South African team getting to the top of Grouse either by doing the Grind or taking the gondola. The highlight was the viewing of a bear which they all wanted to see, so this was great. Another sunny and clear day and our visitors had a gorgeous view of the City. Thank you to Dave Adams for leading this event.  From there it was off to the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  There was a tour of the grounds, the crossing of the bridge, a walk through the rain forest, and the sky walk, followed by a delicious lunch at the Bridge Restaurant. This is also a highlight on the tour and was graciously hosted by Sue Kaffka and her associate Sami.

From the Bridge it was off to The Hollyburn Country Club for the official Squash match and the final dinner. Simon Dorey did a great job in captaining and assembling our team. In the end, the SA’s won the match 5 – 4, with the final match in points deciding the victory. The closing dinner was excellent and we were able to eat on the outside upper deck overlooking the City. Unfortunately not all the heaters were working as it did get cold when the sun disappeared behind the mountain!

In closing, I would like to thank our hosts, Sandra and Hugh Woolley, Debbie and John Hungerford, Jan and Doug MacDougall, Nina and Tim Bale, Jackie and Paul Stevenson, Simon Dorey, and John Osburn for hosting our guests. I very much appreciate your hard work and enthusiastic support, without which the whole event could not happen. I would also like to thank Sue Kaffka, John Zaplatynsky, Ben Thomas, Robert Pacey, Simon Dorey, David Adams, and Hugh Woolley for their efforts in putting the week together. Your support is also very much appreciated. To Harry Bell-Irving my heartfelt thanks for taking our lady guests on your usual informative tours of the City, four your donation of yours daughters beautiful ceramic Jester plates for our guests. I would also like say how exceptional it was to have Theo and Harry and Jeanette and Trig at the arrival and closing dinners. Thank you.

Lastly, I would like to thank all members of the nest who made the effort to participate in the tour. I know the South African team greatly appreciated meeting you all and the time put in by everyone. These tours are a very special and large part of Jester tradition. For those who could not make an event I hope you try and participate in the future, it is truly fun, interesting, and worthwhile.

– Bill Bowen

2012 Calcutta > Results

Calcutta, ,

Eight teams participated in this year’s Calcutta with matches being played at both The Vancouver Racquets Club and The Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club. Thanks to both clubs for the use of their facilities.

The first round had it all including an upset with Nicola Martin and Ryan Haider overcoming Adam Radziminski and Brian Covernton in what many considered a clerical error*. (*New rules regarding handicaps were put into place just minutes before match time.) Greg Desaulniers (The Bionic Man) and Ben Thomas put away Rod Nicolls and Mark Ridgeway in 5 and Michael Leckie and Cathy Covernton played an amazing match over a greatly improved Chris Harley and his partner David Goldsmith winning 3-2.

All semi-finals were played at the Lawn with Castellino/Pacey winning in 4 over Thomas/Desaulniers and Covernton/Leckie squeaking out a 3-2 win over Martin/Haider. The latter match had the intensity of a final going right to the last point!

The final saw a differential of 9 points (Castellino/Pacey at +6 vs Covernton/Leckie at -3) and it’s fair share of controversy. With Castellino/Pacey up 2-1 in games, and 13-10 in the fourth, Leckie and Castellino collided and collapsed in the right back corner with Leckie managing to keep the ball in play. While Leckie and Castellino attempted to untangle themselves Pacey and Covernton fought it out at the front of the court with Pacey managing a cheeky (and lucky) drop shot for a winner. Leckie appealed to the crowd for a Let that he was sure he asked for but the ref and the crowd denied it and the point stood. (Henceforth this rally will be known as “The Let NOT heard ’round the world.”) A quick cross court nick off the serve by Pacey ended the match and found Castellino/Pacey in the winners circle hoping their owners would at least buy them a beer from the winnings.

All participants and “owners” retired to the Van Lawn lounge where Mr. Leckie only mentioned “that” rally once or twice and grumbles were heard about handicaps changing next year.

From tournament organizer Michael Leckie: A big thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Jesters Doubles Calcutta – players, bidders, and hecklers. We had a great turnout and managed to raise over $2400 for the 20/20 Fund. We would like to recognize the generosity of the owners of the winning team – Hugh Woolley and Rod Nicolls – for donating the $750 prize as part of the overall donation. John Hungerford was the sole winner of the 50/50 Draw, predicting the result of Castellino/Pacey (+6) over Covernton/Leckie (-3) in the finals. Nice playing Ruth and Pacey!

 

2012 Calcutta

Calcutta

The BC Jesters are holding their annual Calcutta on Friday, June 22, 2012, at Vancouver Lawn & Tennis Club. 2/3 of the monies raised will go directly to the 2020 Fund which is an initiative of Squash BC that promotes the growth of the game of squash through the development of junior squash.

The event format has been slightly altered this year as follows:
• Bids are accepted for individual players and each player has a handicap.
• Once the bidding closes players will be randomly assigned to teams and randomly placed in the draw.
• Each team’s handicap will be the sum of the two team member handicaps added together (i.e. it is possible for a team to have a negative handicap.)
• All matches are best of five games.
• ‘Pro-am scoring’ will be in effect – i.e. a team team that loses a game gets 3 additional handicap points for the next game – unless this would bring them automatically to 15 points, in which case the three points are subtracted from the other team’s handicap. If a team loses the first game and then wins the second game, the three points that were awarded after the first game are deducted (rather than added to the other team).

LINK: Read about the 2011 Calcutta.

Poster designed by Mike Leckie of Campos Leckie Studio.

UK Jesters visit to Vancouver

Jesters Fixtures, ,

The BC Jesters were pleased to participate in part of a 3 week tour of Canada undertaken by six squash players from the UK: Tony Tremain, Henry Prideaux, Mike Martin, Paul Robbins, James Grosvenor, and Gary Chapman. Vancouver was the last leg of the tour and hopefully the most eventful.

Our guests were met in Kelowna, on Friday, September 23rd, and driven to Vancouver for a meet and greet reception at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club.

On Saturday the group got their day going with a leisurely bike ride around Stanley Park and lunch on Robson Street. Later that day the UK Jesters played off against the team representing British Columbia at the Hollyburn Country Club. Six matches were played with Team BC ending up 4-2 winners. Some of the Jesters later took in some of Vancouver’s nightlife.

Sunday had everyone heading up to Whistler where Ben Thomas, Team BC member and owner of VIP Holidays, organized a day on the mountain. The UK Jesters went to the Vancouver Canucks – San Jose game later that day.

On Monday, the group visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge and then everyone met at Granville Island for a boat tour and dinner.

 

2011 Calcutta

Uncategorized

Eight teams participated in the 2011 Jesters Doubles Calcutta on June 24th, 2011. Match play started at 4pm at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club and simultaneously at VRC. The finals were held at 8pm at the Lawn with the team of McDougall and Goldsmith losing to Leckie and G Khan in a close 3-1 match.

The finals were followed immediately by the much-anticipated 2-on-1 cut throat match featuring Viktor Berg vs defending BC Open Champions Goldsmith and Leckie. Ryan Haider was offering to take bets in favour of Viktor to win in 5, but the duo proved too much for Canada’s #1 doubles player who lost in 4 games.

The teams that participated with point handicaps shown in brackets after each team:
McDougall / Goldsmith  (0)
Leckie / G Khan  (0)
Martin / Broman  (+2)
Covey / Ben Thomas  (+2)
Gifford / Ozzie  (+3)
T Khan / Heaney  (+3)
Pacey / Ridgeway  (+4)
Harley / Nicolls  (+4)

The event raised $1900 for The 2020 Fund which is an initiative of Squash BC’s whose goal is to raise funds for junior squash. Shown L-R below is Eric Barclay (who along with Rob Forrest, owned the winning team with a bid of $400), Hugh Woolley (BC Jesters Chair), and Robert Pacey (representing The 2020 Fund). There was a great turn out to watch the match play and support the event – a big thank you to all those who participating in the bidding and contributed to the collective donation – Eric Barclay, Rob Forrest, Hugh Woolley, Tarek Khan, Rod Nicolls, Allan Brown, Tony Goodson, Greg Desaulniers, Mark Heaney, and Barry Gifford.