Razik wins Hyder

Shahier Razik beat Scott Arnold 3-0, to win the 42nd annual MSRA Hyder Trophy Tournament. Read Rob Dinerman's match write up on Squashtalk.com:
http://www.squashtalk.com/html2/news10/may/news10-05-212.htm













Photos: Rob White Photography (www.robwhitephotography.com)

How to Have a Happy Hyder

By Brett Erasmus

What is the ideal recipe for a successful squash tournament? Perhaps the ingredients are as follows. Take 180 avid amateur squash players and a team of dedicated MSRA organizers. Add one great facility with 5 singles courts where the division finals can all be played consecutively (thank you Eddie Kapur and Sports Club LA). Then go and invite some of the best professional squash players in North America. Finally, throw a party on the Saturday night with free drinks and walaa, what do you have, if not a weekend of pure Hyder happiness.

Canadian number one, Shahier Razik, won the pro event. In the amateurs, I am very happy to report that many juniors got to final rounds of the tournament. As far as the women’s draws went, there were teens in each of the 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 and 5.5 consolation finals, as well as in the 5.5 final. And we had a junior player, Mawa Balla, from the StreetSquash program in Harlem (http://www.streetsquash.org/) win the Women’s 3.0 consolation draw. I wonder if that has ever happened before? The first of many victories, in more ways than one.

Hyder Pro Draw Matches - Recap

Check out Rob Dinerman's squashtalk.com write-ups from the Hyder:

http://www.squashtalk.com/html2/news10/may/news10-05-201.htm

http://www.squashtalk.com/html2/news10/may/news10-05-206.htm

The 6 Things EVERY Tournament Player Needs to Do

Here are the five things that every tournament player can do this weekend to make the tournament run smoothly (and make your tournament directors happy):

1. Be on time to matches, as a match may be defaulted if a player is more than 10 minutes late. Call venue coordinators as early as possible if you suspect you will not be able to make your match.

2. Losing player must referee the next match. This has been the official US Squash rule for two years. Please budget the necessary time to referee the following match.

The Hyder at T-minus One Week

By Corey Modeste


The last week of planning a tournament is all about damage control. There is not a lot that can be done to make the tournament better or bigger, but many things can be mismanaged to make for a confusing weekend.

The biggest issue is dropouts and the last two days are when we seem to get most dropouts. Between people who were sick or injured all week (and could have dropped out) to those who had a schedule conflict (and could have notified us) to those with legitimate last minute excuses, we have had as much as 20 dropouts in the last two days.
Thankfully, there are also last minute signups that will (hopefully) balance the equation

An Awesome Effort

By Brett Erasmus 

Last Saturday ten teams of fund raisers gathered in Harlem to play in the 2nd annual StreetSquash Cup (www.streetsquash.org/cup). 

Each team fielded one pro and one StreetSquasher in their line up of 6 players. The games went on for many hours with each team playing 6 ties. The Williams Alumni and the Racquet and Tennis Club finished on top. They had some good players. Afterward there was an exhibition game featuring Chris Walker. It was a lot of fun and was a great day for squash in New York.

A Cure for the Crash, Go Camping (Cos it's a Dog's Life)

By Brett Erasmus

If the 1,000 point intra day stock market crash of yesterday has got you throwing up in the toilet, do I have good news for you? Besides for the fact that it is Friday (you have less than one business day to endure), in the long run you may wish to consider less drastic measures for feeling better. Like attending a summer squash camp -- or, sending your kids to one. I have been asked many times about camps for both juniors and adults, so I did a little homework. Here is the rundown on a selection of camps to the best of my knowledge, in order of distance from New York, closest to farthest (all of the links are temporarily at the top right of this site) -

If you live here and do not wish to travel far, then check out Chris Walker's camps at the NYSC in White Plains. He has a great team of coaches who give lessons and camps for both juniors and adults. Chris is a phenomenal squash player as well as coach. On occasion in his career, Chris has beaten many of the best players the game has ever produced. He is the real deal and anyone would be privileged to get his advice and attention on the court for a few days. In fact, if your kid is left handed this would be a good option (as, so is Chris).

What Does It Take?

by Tracy Gates

There are over 4,000 members of the MSRA. And 698 played on league teams this year. But only four of them won the prestigious Lehman and Fernandez awards for most improved player. As I happen to know three of them (full disclosure: as a league captain I can nominate, but I had nothing to do with choosing the winners), I have a pretty good idea what it takes—what it should take—to get this award. So listen up. Want to be in contention next year? This is what you have to do. . . .

How the Hyder Gets Done

By Corey Modeste

I am Corey Modeste, an MSRA volunteer and one of the people involved in the planning of the MSRA’s Grand Open and Hyder Squash tournaments.  Some of you may see me onsite during the weekend, but my biggest contribution are made in the months and weeks prior to the tournaments when the key logistical elements are put in place.

 

Not that you were thinking about it (and not that I would accept right away) but if you were to bribe someone to have your matches played on your ideal schedule and against the right seeds, I’d be that person.  While I was a decent league and tournament player a few years ago, somewhere along the line, I realized that I was a really good tournament director.

Even though I know you’d rather play squash than read about how it’s planned, I enjoy planning tournaments so much that this fact didn’t stop me from taking a moment to write about what goes into an event like the Hyder or the Grand. Here is what it’s like, starting with 12 months to go.