Juniors Prevail in SF by Kim Clearkin L-R
Gabriel Morgan (4th), Charlie Johnson (2nd), Kim Clearkin (Director of
Squash), Jesus Camacho (champion), Adam Perkiomaki (3rd), Frank Schmidt
(President NorCal Squash)
June 23, 2014
- A busy weekend of squash concluded in San Francisco with an intense,
entertaining and extremely partisan match between Bay CLub Pro Charlie
Johnson and young Mexican phenom, Jesus Camacho.
In conjunction with a
Junior Gold tournament which attracted over 175 players from all over
the country, the Bay CLub Open sponsored by Tatleaux De Pera Solar
Group, served as icing on the cake to the Juniors and spectators at the
Bay Club San Francisco.
The weekend was
dominated by the juniors at all levels. Gabriel Morgan (USA) and Jesus
Camacho (Mexico), both 16, stole the show. Gabriel and Jesus breezed
through their first rounds. Gabriel upset his second round opponent to
face off in the semi finals against his coach Charlie Johnson. Jesus
also had no trouble advancing to the semis where he would face top seed
Adam Perkiomaki from Portland. Whilst Charlie prevailed against his
student, who put up a great fight, Jesus overturned the seedings and
came through against all odds to beat Adam 3-1. The final was nip and
tuck all the way. Jesus was clearly ready to win. Charlie needed to
remain precise and effective. At 2-1 to Charlie it seemed like it was
all over. But Jesus managed to fight his way back to take the 4th game
12-10. The fifth was extremely close. Jesus pulled away to a 10-7 lead
but Charlie clawed it back to 10-9 before putting a seemingly easy drop
shot in the tin. The partisan Mexican Crowd went wild and celebrated
Jesus's first PSA win. Whilst disappointing for Charlie, it sets up a
great event at Bay Club Redwood SHores in July where the three winners
of the Bay Club tournaments will face off in the second of the series
sponsored by Tatleaux De Pera Solar Group. Thanks also to NorCal Squash
who are also supporting their local squash community in these
tournaments.
