Howe Cup 2006 Baltimore, MD
Submitted by: Lulu Chou
It's the
story that you've all been waiting for. How and what did the ladies of
Seattle do at this year's Howe Cup US Women's Team Championship in Baltimore on
October 20-22. Well, there are many fascinating stories and adventures
that are not appropriate to share so the best version is to ask those that were
present. First let's recognize the participants. B team was
represented by Laura Bachman, Lulu Chou, Anne Renee Van der Vuurst de Vries,
Bettina Muench and Jackie Lange. C team was represented by Julie Santos,
Brandi Conforth, Julie Agel, Bernie McLaughlin and Mindy Cooper. The teams
were assembled in late August and trained as a team on a weekly basis with Yusuf
Khan. We would all like to thank Yusuf for his time and encouragement
during all those Saturday afternoons.
Both the B
and C teams had two matches on Friday and two matches on Saturday and one on
Sunday depending on performance. I know, your squash butt hurts just
thinking about four matches in two days plus one more on the third. Well
we were more than ready. The B team was up first at 10:30AM against
Washington DC. It might as well be called the Battle of the Clones.
The most obvious clone battle was #3 Anne Renee's match against the tallest
woman she has ever played against. Just for the record, Anne Renee is still
taller than her opponent. Both women had a high lob game that basically
kept the spectators looking up majority of the time. Number 1 player Laura
made a spectacular comeback to win in 5 after being down 2-0. Last but not
least was #4 Bettina against her back court retrieving clone. These two
women made amazing retrieves just when you thought that naughty little ball was
doing to die in the back it comes lobbing back to life. Unfortunately,
even with all close matches the clones from Washington DC won with 3-2.
The
Results:
B Team:
Seattle 2-3
Washington DC
Seattle 0-5
Boston
Seattle 5-0
Philadelphia
Seattle 4-1
California
Seattle 3-2
New York
Final results
placed Seattle B team in 5th place out of 8 teams. Boston
finished 1st and Washington DC finished 2nd.
C Team:
Seattle 5-0
Washington DC
Seattle 4-0
Baltimore
Seattle 0-5
New Jersey
Seattle 0-5
Boston
Seattle 3-2
Philadelphia
Final results
placed Seattle C team in 5th place out of 9 teams.
Other
activities outside of the squash courts that the team enjoyed included the Duck
Tour of Baltimore. Yes, it's just like the one in Seattle. It was
the perfect way to see Baltimore if you only have a few hours. It was a
great overview of the city's features and history and you get a duck whistle.
Those of us that participated feel much more inclined to wave at the Duck now
when we are stuck in traffic in Seattle. Some of us went out to dinner on
Thursday as the rest of the team trickled in from their travels. We felt
the need to carbo load so Italian food came to mind. We ended up picking a
restaurant in which the food was mediocre but the service was priceless.
Our waitress Leslie was like someone you would see as a character on Mad about
You or Will and Grace. When she heard that Laura and Mindy were interested
in ordering the Lasagna and Spaghettis with meatballs, she immediately told them
to order something else because it's not going to be what they expect. The
hotel that we stayed at was equipped with sleep number beds (a very interesting
system of customizing the firmness of the beds). At breakfast the next
morning we all discussed in laughter the noise that a sleep number bed makes and
compared each of our sleep numbers. Sorry I guess you had to be there.
The
Outfits:
Of course we
had matching outfits! This year, the official team uniform was moss green
with black. We also had a white warm up shirt with a Tim Girvin design on
the back. Each one of the matches the B and C team coordinated our outfits
to similar color scheme.
Exhibition
Match/Presentation on Friday:
An exhibition
match between WISPA Player Natalie Grainger against PSA Player Wade Johnstone
was held on Friday night. We all enjoyed the battle of the sexes match
with Natalie winning in the fifth game at 9-8 (the score was 8 all when the
biased female crowd encouraged her to chose set 1). After the match, a
prize drawing was held and a special presentation. A pleasant and
unexpected surprise to the Seattle B and C team for having the most organized,
meticulous, complete and earliest entry form submitted. The tournament
organizers appreciated our efforts so much that we got recognized and presented
with 10 Starbucks gift cards. It was a really nice gesture.
Saturday
Night Party
The evening
event was held at the Kiss Café in Downtown Baltimore. Thanks to Anne
Renee, the entire Seattle Howe Cup team was equipped with a rubber blinging ring
that lights up like a state patrol headlight. The Seattle team plus
Kristen Lange made an entrance to the party like no other. With our
blinging rings and our tradition of being first ones on the dance floor, we did
not disappoint. Everything else you need to ask the ladies that were
present. Too many stories to tell and most not appropriate to share.
Everyone has
made it home safely and we have a few people to thank for their time and effort.
Again, thanks to Yusuf Khan for training us and getting us prepared to play 5
matches in 3 days. Thanks to Tim Girvin for designing our team logo
for our t-shirts. Thanks for to the 2006 Seattle Howe Cup team for your
enthusiasm, perseverance, sense of humor and team spirit.
Howe Cup 2007
will be in Boston and the Seattle Team has already been requested to start the
dance. Mark your calendars for next October. There will be A, B, C,
D and Doubles divisions. For more information check out the official site
at www.howecup.com
