schriever air force base round robin racquetball tournament

Round robin racquetball tournament tests athletes

Article originally published by the 50th Space Wing Public Affairs on December 12, 2017.

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SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. —

Five Schriever athletes participated in a “round robin” racquetball tournament at the fitness center Dec. 4-8.

The round robin tournament format meant all participants played each other once and the player with the best overall record won.

Scott Husted, 50th Mission Support Group, won all of his matches 4-0, claiming the champion title.

Husted has competed in tournaments since the 1990’s and has been playing racquetball since he was 20.

“For a player, the annual fitness center tournament is always the highlight of the year,” he said. “Knowing who I was playing against, the level needed to be top-game. Generally, these tournaments may not bring the big numbers, but they do bring the best quality.”

“I was impressed with the level of play and knew that only the best was going to be acceptable,” Husted said. “That and a good shaking of luck.”

Seth Cannello, 50th Force Support Squadron fitness center director, said the last few years the fitness center has tried to host a racquetball league, but haven’t had enough participant interest.

“I wanted to give our more competitive racquetball players the opportunity to compete and thought a tournament would be a good way for players to showcase their skills,” Cannello said. “This is only the second tournament the fitness center has organized in the 17 years I’ve been here.”

Cannello decided a round robin would be the best way to conduct the tournament, that way, all players would be able to play each other.

“Some of the ‘more seasoned’ players didn’t like playing five days in a row because it was difficult on their joints but I think the tournament went well and I know the participants were grateful,” he added.

Chad Poulin, Missile Defense Space Center, enjoyed the matches, but said he did not do as well as he would have liked.

“I haven’t been playing much so I was a little rusty,” he said. “The two matches I lost were by two points in the tiebreaker games, so I can’t complain about that.”

Both Husted and Poulin enjoyed meeting new players and getting to know Schriever Airmen.

“It’s always exciting as you meet new players and friends,” Husted said.

Poulin concurred.

“I met a couple players that I had not met before,” he said. “It was nice because several good players have left Schriever recently.”

Participants were grateful for the fitness center’s accommodations to Airmen’s changing schedules.

“I think the new format of letting the players set up the times for their matches was a good change,” Poulin said. “It’s tough to get over to the fitness center in the middle of the day, so some flexibility in the scheduling was nice.”

Husted agreed with Poulin, and appreciated the fitness center’s willingness to work with all participants.

“These tournaments are very enjoyable,” he said. “The fitness center staff did a remarkable job hosting and accommodating everyone’s work schedule.”

For more information about upcoming sporting events, contact the fitness center at 567-6628.

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