Squash Ontario is thrilled to partner with Black Knight for the 2016-17 season to celebrate the results of our athletes and recognize the players of month for each of girls, boys, females and males. The BK player of the month will receive a personalized Squash Ontario plaque and a package of high performance string courtesy of Black Knight. Our inaugural award winners for Sept/Oct 2016 are Charlotte Orcutt, Alexander Yuzpe, Guy Gordon and Julie Hisey.
Charlotte Orcutt is our top female junior athlete, after an incredible start to the season. This category had several outstanding performances and represents a very deep and talented group of Ontario players. Orcutt was victorious in Gold #1 in the U17 category and then proceeded to follow that up with an upset win in the U19 category in Gold #2. Charlotte entered the event as the #7 seed and defeated the #1 and #2 players in the tournament en route to putting her name firmly in junior women's national team contention. Honorable mentions go to Brianna Jefferson who also won two golds this month in both the U15 and U17 categories, Ottawa's Iman Shaheen and Aleeza Khan who have rocketed up the GU13 rankings with 11-2 and 13-4 records respectively. In addition, Maya Askari has burst onto the U11 scene with a 20-3 record and jumped 17 places to #4.
Our top male junior athlete this month is Alexander Yuzpe, who won both Gold #1 and Gold #2 in the U13 category and has continued his meteoric rise over the past twelve months. Alex's game is based on speed and shot making and has now combined his talents with more consistency and determination to make him a national championships contender in 2017. Honorable mentions go to Carl-Edmund Roux who has improved his U11 to ranking from #18 to start the season to current #5, Sam Burley in the U19 category for his upset win in Gold #1, Andrew Herring who defeated 5 players ranked ahead of him to win the Grand Prix #2 U13 category and Faazil Khan who amassed an impressive 16-2 record with a U11 gold victory and U13 silver victory.
Our BK female player of the month is Julie Hisey who won a very tough Women's 45 plus provincial masters championships and had a 3-1 record in the women's masters team champs at the #1 position. Julie has come back from injury early last season to regain her national championship form and has had a great start to 2016-17. Honourable mentions go to Joanna Phang, our women's 30+ Ontario champion and Christine Kogon from Georgetown who captured her first provincial title in the inaugural women's over 58 category.
Guy Gordon of Mayfair Parkway is our BK male athlete of the month after surprising the field and taking home the 2016 Men's 60 plus provincial championships. The 60 plus draw was littered with top players, including national champions as the #1 and #2 seeds which did not deter the 3/4 seeded Gordon from taking home his first Ontario title. In addition, Gordon helped Mayfair Parkway capture the 2016 Rob Brooks Cup, awarded to the top masters club team in the province. Honorable mentions go to Wayne Pye, the Men's 55 plus champion who also was a 3/4 seed and returning from injury, Windsor's Dave Morrish for his M50 plus championship performance as a 3/4 seed and to Robert De Valk, our new Men's 70 plus provincial champion.
Thanks to all of those who participated in the many Squash Ontario events in September and October and join Black Knight and Squash Ontario in celebrating the many outstanding performances of the past 6 weeks.