The Wake

Arturo Manzur was frantically pacing around, answering hoards of questions from players wondering where they will play next and who their opponents will be. The veteran director of the Black Knight/TIMEX 2004 Minnesota State Squash Championship calmly directed the anxious players to their courts as the tournament was approaching its final, championship rounds.

Manzur has been the director of the tournament for so many years he can’t remember exactly how many. And this year, the squash pro at the Minneapolis Lifetime Athletic Club brought the biggest squash tournament of the year in Minnesota to the Rec Center in Minneapolis April 15 to April 17.

A crowd of about 40 people filled bleachers and chairs in the Rec Center awaiting the championship match between Jay DelCarmen and Raja Ghanem in the open bracket, or the highest skill level bracket in the tournament. And two courts down, Ashu Jaiswal and Damon Schramm were swatting away at their chance at the level-three championship.

The open-bracket championship got off to a quicker start than many expected. Usually when two polished players meet in the final round, rallies are long and fans are awed. But DelCarmen made quick work of Ghanem in the first set winning 9-1. He kept the pressure on by winning the second set by the same score. DelCarmen seemed to be everywhere on the court, never out of position and always ready to fire back a high-velocity return shot.

“By the third match, I was just seeing the ball very well and I felt pretty good,” DelCarmen said. “It got better as I played more because I got used to the courts.”

Ghanem, however, didn’t appear to be as comfortable as his opponent and he soon fell 9-3 in the third set, losing the match and his shot at the championship. For DelCarmen, it’s his second championship in as many years. The 37-year old has been competing in the state tournament since 1996 and shows no signs of slowing down. He won a new racquet and bragging rights until next April when the tournament rolls around.

In court 15, the 26-year old Jaiswal, a researcher at the “U,” was untested in his championship match as well. This was first time competing in the championship but he didn’t show it. He mowed down the frustrated Schramm with a mix of finesse drop shots and power drives off the court walls. He won the match 9-4, 9-3, 9-3 for the level-three championship.

Out of roughly 60 competitors in the tournament coming from Rochester, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth, only a handful could call themselves squash champions. But they all have a year to sharpen their skills before next-year’s tournament.

The state tournament comes to a different club each year in Minnesota, but Manzur wants to get at least one tournament in the Rec Center each year. There were a number of students and Rec-sports employees who participated this year and he hopes the turnout continues to grow.