By Will Carlin
In mid-November of last year, something occurred that only happens once every hundred years—the date, as commonly written, had six repeats of the same digit: 11.11.11.
Before the day actually fell, there were many predictions for great fortune or great calamity. In the United States, many pointed to what happened one hundred years earlier: the Great Blue Norther.
On November 11th, 1911, the day started normally across the US, with some cities recording record high temperatures. Then it all changed. Temperatures began to drop. In some places, within the space of ten minutes, there were temperature drops of 40 to 50 degrees. In many midwest cities, it remains the only date in history where the record highs and lows were broken for the same day. There were dust storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and blizzards. Some cities experienced tornadoes on Saturday and a blizzard on Sunday. Over 300 deaths were reported.
Last year, leading up to November 11th, there was a global online survey, with 17,700 participants, that asked respondents what they thought would happen on the date. 11% believed something bad would happen on a global scale; 43% believed nothing significant would happen; and 46% believed something good was going to happen.
Well, nothing major happened on a global scale on the actual 11.11.11 date, but perhaps that was the wrong question, because in the world of squash, last year mimicked the date with lots of very good things happening in an odd series of repeats.
Ashour Repeats 2008 TOC Win to take Second Title
As 2011 began, Ramy Ashour was in the final of New York’s Tournament of Champions for his third time in four years, and he took his second title. His opponent in the finals was three-time runner up and World No. 1, Nick Matthew. There were single digit temperatures and lots of snow (shades of Blue Norther) in New York that week, but the blizzards were all on the court with Ramy’s exceptional retrieving and magical shotmaking.
Trinity Repeats as Intercollegiate Champions for 13th Time
This is starting to get ridiculous. Coach Paul Assaiante’s crew did it again last year, and they did it with another 5-4 victory going down to the last match when Senior Chris Binnie beat Yale’s Rickie Dodd in an agonizingly tight four games. They ended the year with a stunning 244 straight wins over 13 years. And counting…
Zug Repeats Writing a Squash Bestseller
Okay, he got a little help from the Trinity Coach, but James Zug co-authored the amazing Run to the Roar with Coach Assaiante about life and coaching using the backdrop of another 5-4 Trinity victory, their 2009 win over Princeton. Zug also wrote Squash: A History of the Game, which sits on just about every squash bookshelf in the nation. Run to the Roar actually was released at the end of 2010, but most of us read it last year, and besides, two squash bestsellers? That’s a repeat worth mentioning.
Illingworth and Grainger Repeat Their Repeats of Their Repeats of Their…
Julian Illingworth won US National title number seven and Natalie Grainger won title number five. Illingworth’s consecutive title count tied him with Alicia McConnell and is within sight of Demer Holleran’s nine titles. Grainger retired from WISPA last year, but with her fifth in a row, she may continue to defend her national title streak.
The El Shorbagy Family Repeats as World Junior Champion
Only two years after older brother Mohamed (now No. 6 on the PSA tour) won his second WSF Men’s World Junior Individual Squash Championship, 17-year-old Marwan brought the title back to the family. “When I saw my brother getting his first title in Switzerland, I wanted so much to win too,” said Marwan. They are the first brothers in the sport’s history to win world individual titles.
US Girls Repeat 1980 Visit to the World Junior Team Finals
Squash is a different game than it was in 1980 when coach Carol Weymuller led Alicia and Patrice McConnell, Karen Kelso, Kathy Castle and Diane Staley to a surprise World Junior Women’s Team Title (still hard to comprehend since all of the players were exclusively hardballers). Only five teams competed in 1980, while 2011 featured 16. The US, led by 2010 World Junior Individual Champion, Amanda Sobhy, and longtime US star, Olivia Blatchford, played extremely well throughout the championship and lost a heartbreaking 2-1 match to repeat champions, Egypt. Haley Mendez was the hero of the semifinal win over India, and Sobhy’s younger sister, Sabrina, showed that there is a strong future for the US girls.
Egypt Repeats as World Men’s Team Champion
It seems so obvious, doesn’t it? How could a team with Karim Darwish (former World No. 1), Ramy Ashour (former World No. 1), Mohamed El Shorbagy (No. 6) and Hisham Ashour possibly not repeat? Well, going in, they were slight underdogs against England with James Willstrop (who just be- came World No. 1 at the end of the year), Nick Matthew (No. 1 just before Willstrop), and Peter Barker. But despite the absence of Amr Shabana, Egypt came through when it counted and repeated as world champions.
Matthew and David Repeat as World Champions
Nick Matthew had been told many times that his talent could take him into the top ten, but just barely. Certainly not top five, and a world championship was nice dreaming for motivation, but get real. Well, it is hard to measure heart, and Matthew won his second consecutive world title at the end of 2011. Nicol David has had no such detractors throughout her career, and with good reason. Staking a claim to best-ever, she won her sixth world championship and looks like she could keep going for a number more.
US Men Top Ten at Worlds
There isn’t really a repeat here, but a hope that this might be the first of a few. Led by Julian Illingworth at No. 1, teammates Gilly Lane, Chris Gordon and Todd Harrity had a phenomenal tournament and took the US not just barely into the top ten, but to an incredibly impressive seventh. With a team made up of players who have never played hardball, this may be the start of a Great Blue Norther that comes from America instead of to it. Let us hope.
