Welcome to Crystal City, VA. This is the 20th annual National Racquetball
Association for the Deaf with 42 players attended this annual event. This
location is surrounded by several special points of interests including
Washington DC. This includes the White House, Capitol Hill House and many more.
The host club is Sports and Health club in Crystal City Gateway and belongs to
one of the largest family of health club with 27 locations in Virginia, Maryland
and DC. Crystal City Gateway Club has 7 racquetball courts, basketball court, 2
tennis court, weight room and other cardio equipments all in the underground
location.
The tournament ran very smoothly with NRAD board assisting the staff. We had 42
players competing in 14 events from in 10 states as far as from California. All
events are double elimination which allows the players an opportunity to play at
least two matches per event. The largest event was Men’s C with 14 players and
had several long exciting matches. Please click this
link
to see the results.
Tournament results:
Men Division Open
Believe it or not! Two NRAD retirees finally appeared the tournament. They
captured the first and second place awards. How come did they call the
retirees??? Jamie Clark of Maryland and Eric Reed of Virginia played very well
enough to attract more spectators. The scores were as follows: 1st
game:
15-8; 2nd
game:
15-3.
Men Division A
Daryl Frelich, “Rookie or Newly Maryland” NRAD player received a nice Christmas
gift from Albert Benedict of Maryland. Albert decided to forfeit the game
because he did not have enough strength to play due to his three other events.
Men Division B
The exciting three games between Scott Henry of DC and Thomas Burnside of
Virginia, they desired very hard to find a way of getting the first place.
Unfortunately, Scott made some errors allowing Thomas to receive the 1st
place award. The scores were as follows: 1st game:
11-15; 2nd
game:
15-14; and 3rd
game:
11-6.
Men Division C
Cheol Kim of Virginia found an energy bottle to help him beat the hard work, Roy
Crumrine of Maryland in the final game. Roy did make it out to beat him in the
second game. The third game was very close, but it was really very exciting
game for Cheol to win the final game. The scores were as follows: 1st
game:
15-5; 2nd
game:
11-15 and 3rd
game:
11-8.
Men Novice
Dennis Cregan of District of Columbia was shocked by losing the first game due
to very close score; He then bounced back in the second and crushed Franklin
Torres of Virginia in the tiebreaker. Dennis deserved to pick up the 1st
place award. The scores were as follows: 1st game:
11-15; 2nd
game:
15-2; and 3rd
game:
11-1.
Men Division A35+
Jamie Clark of Maryland noticed that Jeff Lubman of California had a full of
pain in his body. Jeff was so stubborn to resume playing racquetball despite
all pains in his body. It was not easy for Jamie to beat Jeff. He sweated very
hard and picking up 1st
place award. The scores were as follows: 1st game:
15-9; 2nd
game:
15 to 12. Jamie Clark really enjoyed himself to celebrate the “Clark” day
because he captured two different first place awards in Divisions Open and A35+
as well as returning to NRAD after a long lay off.
Men Division B35+
John Scotton of Maryland gave Dan Timlen, Maryland a difficult time in the first
game and Dan won the next two consecutive games. Unfortunately, John’s energy
ran out in the second and third games due to other events. Dan won the 1st
place award. The scores were as follows: 1st game:
13-15; 2nd
game:
15-4; and 3rd
game:
11-2.
Men Division C35+
Oskar Aguilar of California announced “PAH!”
Why? Finally, he won the 1st
place with the undefeated records. He beat
Michael
Kramer of New York, Javon Whetter and Joseph Tsai of California. Oskar
participated NRAD Championships Tournament for many years, but he never won the
1st
place. Oskar realized that he got older to gather more skill and wisdom.
Men Division A45+
Albert Benedict of Maryland should send “Thank You” card to Stewart Gerlis of
New York and Greg Brown of Arizona because they battled each other to win the
games. Unfortunately, they already burnt out their energy due to 60ish. Albert
battled with Stewart in the first round. Despite Stewart’s injury, he tried
very hard to beat Albert. The three games scored very, very close. In the
second round, Stewart’s left arm and leg already burned out and has decided to
forfeit the game. Albert received the handsome first place award while Stewart
settled down with his second place award.
Women Division C
Lori Lutz of Virginia took the time to practice at Gallaudet University prior to
this NRAD tournament. She did however beat Stacy Nowak, which was not easy.
Despite Stacy’s new course, racquetball, she is very strongly involved with USA
Deaf Basketball and Volleyball for the Deaf Olympic. She quickly was able to
pick up her racquetball skill, but made many unenforceable errors in the third
game to give Lori’s winning. The scores were as follows: 1st
game:
15-2; 2nd
game:
10-15; and 3rd
game:
11-1.
Men Group 1 Doubles:
Bill Milbach of Maryland and Eric Reed of Virginia puffed their “14K Gold”
cigars to capture their first place awards. Hey! What happened to Jamie Clark
of Maryland? Did he realize that he failed to win the Triple award? Perhaps,
the doubles games were not his thing.
Men Group 2 Doubles:
What did you think if two “60ish” elders had been washed up? Scott Henry of
Washington, D.C. and Dan Timlen of Maryland were shocked and played with sweat
to beat Greg Brown of Arizona and Stewart Gerlis of New York. The scores were
as follows: 1st
game:
15-14; 2nd
game:
15-12.
Men Group 3 Doubles:
Mark Heflin and Daniel Koo of Maryland got big breath to learn that they won the
first place by counting the points of six points difference. They tied with
Patrick Rubio and Jevon Whetter of California on the records (5 wins; 1 lost).
The tournament director decided to grant Mark and Daniel the first place awards
because of points differences.
Mixed Group 2 Doubles:
It was more challenging games between the experts and rookies. The experts
realized that it was not easy to beat the rookies. The winners went to Greg
Brown of Arizona and Tara Miller of Wisconsin. Daryl Frelich and Flavia
Flesicher accepted to receive the second place awards, but they already picked
up more experiences and skills in the doubles in their future tournaments.
See you next year in Fullerton, CA. Watch the website for more information!
Regards,
Stewie Gerlis, Vice President