80th Howe Cup Recap by Kim Clearkin October 21, 2013
- On behalf of the Women's Committee I want to thank all of you for
coming to Philadelphia this past weekend and making this Howe Cup the
great event that it was. I know I had a ball and I hope you all did too.
Big shout out to
Julie, Amy and Cathy who worked so hard to make this happen. It takes a
lot of time and effort to organise everything that makes Howe Cup so
special. Thanks to the three of you for making this a memorable and
extremely enjoyable weekend. Thanks also to Demer and the Fairmount
Athletic Club for allowing us to take over their courts for the weekend.
For those first timers
amongst you I hope you had an amazing experience. I hope you are
inspired to play more and improve. I hope you made new squash friends
and most of all I hope you return next year. To the juniors that
participated this year I hope this event helps you to see that squash
is a sport for life. As a junior it is easy to focus entirely on
ranking points and college selection. The Howe Cup represents life
after college. I hope you were inspired by all the women of all ages
and abilities having fun competing and socialising. To the veteran Howe
Cup participant I hope you enjoyed reconnecting with friends from
across the country.
The Howe Cup is
definitely special. It represents womens squash at its best. It is
definitely competitive, 35 teams from across the country, and from
Canada contested 4 singles and 2 doubles divisions. But also it is
played with great sportsmanship. Socially there is nothing better as
was witnessed on the dance floor on Saturday night!
For the record, the winners this year were: Div A - Philadelphia A2 Div B - Barn Louses Div C - Merry Malbecs Div D - Dartmouth Dames
Next Year Howe Cup
moves to Virginia. It will be at the new facility in
Charlottesville, the Boars Head facility at U Va. This is brand
new and the National Capital team is already making plans. The
dates are to be announced, probably not until next year as we need to
work around the football schedule. We are hoping for late October -
look out for more information.
Lastly, all the scores
for this year have now been entered onto US Squash. Please feel free to
check your results. If we have made a mistake please email me and I
will look into it and make any necessary changes.
If you have any
feedback for us, AJ, Jen and I are always happy to receive it. We are
always looking for ways to improve the event and are happy to take on
board any suggestions.
Every year the Women's committee votes for 2 awards. The winners this year are:
Sue Lawrence
- winner of Achievement Award. Sue Lawrence, a great supporter of all
womens squash events, traveled to Birmingham last year` and won the
World Masters, 50+ age division. This is an amazing accomplishment and
really shows the world that womens squash in the US is competitive at
all ages!
Julie Kessler
- winner if the Ferons Woodworth Sportsmanship Award. Julie spearheaded
this years Howe CUp in Philadelphia. She is a great advocate of squash
and works really hard not only on her won game but also is ready to
stay on court to help others. She plays every tournament she can and is
thoroughly deserving of this award.
