BC Jesters win Ken Cummane Award

Awards,

Squash BC recently announced their annual award winners for 2013/2014 and for the second time in 3 years, the BC Jesters have been awarded the Ken Cummane award. The BC Jesters raised and donated over $2800 to the 2020 Fund last year. The 2020 Fund is an initiative of Squash BC with the goal of protecting the future of squash in British Columbia. As funding from government and other sources becomes less and less predictable, it is important that we find alternative ways to ensure a sound financial future for Squash.

The BC Jesters continue to be a great partner of Squash BC and an advocate for the game across the province. – Jordan Abney, Executive Director, Squash BC

The Ken Cummane Award was donated by the Ken Cummane Foundation and is presented to the club or organization that contributes the most to the Squash BC 2020 Fund throughout the year.

Ken Cummane Award

 

 

Vancouver and Victoria Jesters Fixture

Jesters Fixtures, Social Events

On March 8th, 2014, seven Jesters (Allan Brown, John Hungerford, Chris Harley, Ryan Haider, Mark Ridgeway, Morgan Latremouille and Hugh Woolley) traveled to Victoria for a day of squash and a wonderful dinner.

Victoria had a great turn out.  Mike Greenwood stopped by to watch the matches but unfortunately couldn’t make dinner (or was too paranoid to show-up when he heard that Hungie was planning a roast of Mike’s antics on the infamous BC Chinooks squash tours of Kenya and Thailand).  Thanks to Phil Green, Stu Dixon, George Morfitt, John Roche, Scott MacInnis, Brian MaGaw and Ben Uliana for their hospitality.  Unfortunately, Gerry Poulton was unable to attend as he was in Virginia defending his US National squash crown.

John and Allan provided an update on Jesters activities especially their efforts concerning assisting university squash.

It was great to get the insight of the Victoria Jesters and hopefully we can continue to work together to further squash in our province.  In this regard, we are going to investigate the possibility of a Jesters tour to play matches against the three Vancouver Island private schools that have their own squash courts (SMUS, Brentwood and Shawinigan Lake).

The Victoria Jesters were asked to select a representative to liaise with the Vancouver Jesters on a more regular basis.

Thanks to John Hungerford and Phil Green for making this event possible.

Pacific Northwest Junior Squash Championships

Jesters Juniors,

This year marked the 45th operation of the Jester’s Pacific Northwest Junior Squash Championships.  With 217 entries, it ranked amongst the largest turnouts for any Junior tournament in Canada this year.  As one of four Squash Canada core events for elite Under 19 and Under 17 players, we were treated to a very high standard of play in the senior events.

Check out the final results here.

Given the large number of matches to be played, we have recently started play at the local level on Thursday and on Friday, at 1:00 pm.  This has helped maintain reasonable evening match times for all players and yet still wind up the tournament by 3:00 pm on Sunday.

In addition to the four courts at Cedar Hill, we used nine additional courts at St Michael’s University School and the Victoria Squash Club.  A total of 439 matches were played!

George Morfitt graciously attended our award ceremonies and presented the sportsmanship award in his name to Michele Garceau of the Evergreen Squash Club.

Once again this year, we are very grateful for the support of the British Columbia Jesters. With George’s assistance, a poster was on display at each venue which we hope has informed players, coaches and parents of the role of the Jesters in our Squash community.

Many thanks to Phillip Green, of the Cedar Hill Squash Club, for the following photos from the successful event.

Boys Under 19 Final
Boys Under 19 final – (L) Carter Robitaille (Toronto) and (R) Jarryd Osborne (Kingston)  Robitaille won 3-1

Girls Under 19 FinalGirls Under 19 final –  Michele Garceau in blue (Vancouver) and Madlen O’Connor (Toronto)  O’Connor won 3-1

PNW Crowd

Sunday finals crowd!

Pacific Northwest Junior Squash Championships

 

 

 

2013 Calcutta

Calcutta, , ,

UPDATE – June 16, 2013
An amazing night of doubles squash was had by all that participated in the 2013 Calcutta. The first two matches at Vancouver Racquets Club saw Robert Pacey and Mark Heaney defeat Doug MacDougall and Nicola Martin 3-0 while Brian Covernton and his sister Cathy defeated Tim Martin and Lynn Broman 3-0. Meanwhile at the Vancouver Lawn & Tennis Club, Chris Harley and Ruth Castellino defeated Michael Leckie and Sue Wastie 3-1 and Greg Desaulniers and Katherine Johnson defeated Ryan Haider and Natasha Doucas by a score of 3-1.

2013 Calcutta
Robert Pacey and Mark Heaney – 2013 BC Jesters Calcutta Champions

The second round took place at Van Lawn and in the first semi-final match Robert Pacey and Mark Heaney defeated Chris Harley and Ruth Castellino 3-1. The second semi-final saw the Coverntons defeat Michael Leckie (subbing in for an injured Greg Desaulniers) and Katherine Johnson 3-0. This set up a final between the “0” handicapped team of Robert Pacey and Mark Heaney and the the “+1” Coverntons. It was a well played match that went to five with Pacey and Heaney coming out on top. This was Pacey’s second title in a row and word is that his handicap will be much different next year.

Congrats to all of those who placed bets and helped the BC Jesters raise $2500 for Squash BC’s 2020 Fund.

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The BC Jesters are holding their annual Doubles Calcutta on Friday, June 14, 2013, 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. This event is open to the public and admission is FREE.

• 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).

TO PLACE YOUR BID:
Email Michael Leckie: mleckie@camposleckie.ca
Bids will be published here at 9am / 1pm / 6pm daily
Bidding closes Thursday June 13th at 5pm

BIDS:
BIDDING IS NOW CLOSED

PLAYERS / HANDICAPS / BIDS:
Sue Wastie (R) +5  ($150 Doucas)
Lynn Broman (R) +4  ($100 Doucas)
Ruth Castellino (R) +3  ($200 Osburn)
Robert Pacey (L) +3  ($150 Silgailis)
Natasha Doucas (R) +2  ($150 Bowen)
Brian Covernton (L) +2  ($200 B/L Armstrong)
Doug MacDougall (L) +2  ($200 Clarke)
Greg Desaulniers (L) +1  ($200 Brown)
Nicola Martin (R) 0  ($100 G Desaulniers)
Katherine Johnson (R)  0  ($200 Hungerford)
Cathy Covernton (R) -1  ($100 Barclay)
Ryan Haider (L) -2  ($100 B/L Armstrong)
Chris Harley (L) -2  ($150 Harley)
Tim Martin (L) -3  ($100 Hungerford)
Mark Heaney (R) -3  ($200 Woolley)
Michael Leckie (L)  -4  ($200 Goldsmith)
 

THE DRAW:


LINKS:
Read about the 2011 Calcutta
Read about the 2012 Calcutta

 

Poster designed by Mike Leckie of Campos Leckie Studio.

 

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