The Lynch/van Otterloo YMCA Anchormen reclaimed the summer handicapped league title in the newly named Sam Magruder Summer League in an extremely close race that went down to the wire with three teams in contention in the final week. A very strong new team from MIT, captained by Pam Larson, finished second, three points back, and an amazing team of mostly teenagers from Cross Courts, led by the most amazing teenager of all, Alexis Lazor, finished third, another three points back. BSC-Allston, Union Boat Club, and last year’s champions from Harvard Club rounded out the top half of the 12-team standings.
Ralph Kusinitz served as both League Coordinator and captain of the LVO YMCA team. Considering his role in setting handicaps, Ralph tried to ensure fairness by being systematic in setting initial handicaps, explaining handicap changes, and matching up handicaps very closely in all his team’s matches. But clearly Ralph’s position as Squash Coordinator at the Y gave him an advantage, since he could call on the Y’s six teams worth of U.S. Squash members to fill out the roster on a weekly basis, refusing to take “No” for an answer. Actually, if you know Ralph, you know he generally refuses to allow time for any answer at all.
Matches were generally close and a lot of fun, two goals of the summer league. Close handicap matchups, within a couple points, help achieve both of these objectives, and next year I will encourage captains to have players with a range of abilities on their teams and urge home captains to retain some flexibility to match the visiting team’s traveling roster each week.
147 players participated, ranging from about 4.5 rating to below 2.0. The 12 teams equaled the impressive total from last year, but resulted in a long schedule that ran to the end of August. We will definitely finish by mid-August next summer, either by starting earlier or cutting out a couple matches if we have as many teams again. That way everybody can schedule their vacations for the second half of August, and we can have fewer defaults all year.
I will also make sure to distribute travel to remote locations fairly, recognizing that it’s summertime and the drivin’ ain’t easy. I guess it’s a lot harder to be stuck in traffic in warm daylight than in the cold and dark in the winter. Later start times will also be explored as a possibility to alleviate this problem.
Thanks to all the captains who worked so hard to put together teams and match up handicaps closely. I recognize that it’s a lot of work. Obviously herding cats is much more difficult in warm weather.
Ralph Kusinitz
Sam Magruder Summer League Coordinator
rkusinitz@comcast.net