Dedicated to the Perfect Game

In This Issue:

1.       2007 DAC Open results

2.       2008 Great Gorilla Entry

3.       2008 State Double/Hall of Fame Enrty

4.       HOF nomination form

5.       Expiration notice

Yet another year is about to close on the CHA. Hard to believe we are 30 years old as an organized association. What a great ride it has been. We, the CHA board, wish every in handball a happy and safe Christmas/Holiday Season.

2008 is fast approaching and many new projects are planned.  The most noticeable project is the continuation of  a successful Juniors program. With the monetary help of the Jim Costigan family 2008 is shaping up to have a record number of instructors around the state and a like record number of junior players.

The following is a list of our 2007 Youth Activities. Bob Hickman, CH of our Youth Committee, along with many others, has been instrumental in completing the following. We thank all of you who donated in 07’.

• Travel expenses of USHA HB instructors to Denver, who then
• Trained 70 Colorado handball players to become HB Youth trainers/instructors
• Reconstruction of the four 3 Wall Courts at Englewood Middle School preventing their destruction
• Steve Bauer contacted and got approval for a full PE Program at EMS for Handball
• Bob Hickman prepared a training program for EMS, where 130 students received HB training
• CHA provided eye guards & training handballs (12 instructors invested their time to teach)
• Englewood School Board has invited the CHA back to for “May PE Program” for 130 students
• Subsidized the first full “Colorado Collegiate Team” for the Nationals in LA in February
• Gene Schneider & Oliver Boyd spent hours preparing/teaching a team at the School of Mines
• Three students won in their classes to their credit, and to the credit of their instructors
• CHA supports our youth/novices by subsidizing their entry fees& USHA/CHA memberships
• Dennis Madden, Stan Dunlavy, Stan Wolpoff, Jack Feingold, Bob Hickman, Gene Schneider, Oliver Boyd & many others assisted inviting new players to CO Tournaments

Bob Hickman has prepared a detailed six page plan for our 2008 Youth activities with a $9,351 budget. He is applying to the USHA for partial subsidy. Pls thank Bob and others who invest their personal time and donations to our CO Handball Youth.

Thank you all for another great year of Colorado Handball!

Kevin Price fought back from a first game loss to beat Bear Meiring in the Open Singles final at the 32^nd Annual DAC Open.  Bear Meiring, the perennial Open Champion, had an easy time when he took the first game 21-2.  The second game was a hard fought battle that went back and forth with both players making incredible saves and even more amazing offensive shots to score points.  Kevin Price prevailed in the game 21-19 to set up the inevitable tie breaker.  The deciding game was played extremely close with neither player able to pull out too far in front.  Kevin finally edged out Bear 11 - 10 to claim his first DAC Open Singles title.

The junior competitors were showcased on Saturday with singles and doubles competition.  Bob Hickman organized the matches around the wide range of skill levels for the seven players.  All players had a chance to play multiple games and the results are as follows:

Open Singles (Jrs.) – Luis Perez d. Mircea Mosely

Contender Singles (Jrs.) – Brandon Reeves d. Jeff Macklberg

Doubles (Jrs.) – Mosely/Macklberg d. Perez/Reeves

Novice Singles (Jrs.) – 1^st – Jessica Reeves; 2^nd – Sam Fontenot; 3^rd – Nick King

The Juniors’ turnout would not have been possible without the support of Bob Hickman and Costigan Youth Handball.  There have been numerous volunteers working to develop these future champions.  There was also a great turnout of participants from the Colorado School of Mines program that is run by Gene Schneider.  Gene has done a tremendous job of working with the students and keeping them active in the local tournaments.

Overall, the tournament had over 70 participants competing in 13 divisions.  The tournament would not have been possible without the support of the sponsors and contributors.  The tournament directors, Ryan Herzog and Stan Dunlavy, want to thank the following companies and individuals for their generous support:  Basil Docs’ Pizza, Breckenridge Brewery, Half Fast Subs, Einstein Bagels, Costigan Youth Handball, InCheck, WFS Enterprises, Gene Schneider, Greg Oyler, Mike Roth, Donna and Dave Mosely, Tommy Alderman, Stan Wolpoff, and Stan Dunlavy.

Last, but not least, is the Denver Athletic Club.  The DAC is the premier athletic facility in Colorado for handball.  Thank you to the management for their continued support of handball and to the DAC staff for making the tournament a great experience.

The tournament results are as follows.

Bear Meiring d Armando Ibarra Jr. (0, 1)

Oliver Boyd d. Dan Lyon (9, 20)

Mark Hammond d. Cody Parker (13, 12)

Kevin Price d. Travis Owen (2, 7)

Meiring d. Boyd (16, 2)

Price d. Hammond (19, 12)

Price d. Meiring ((2), 19, 10)

Jed Seigle d. Jesus Ibarra Jr. (18, 1)

Tim Brown d. Jesus Ibarra Sr. (13, 20)

Bill Ernstrom d. Seigle (10, (18), 1)

Ernstrom d. Brown (8, 11)

1^st – Terry McAleer

2^nd – Alex Ibarra

3^rd – Chad Reeves

4^th – Corey Ahrens

Ben Lujan d. Mircea Mosely (18, (15), 6)

Alejandro Ibarra d. Paul Schumacher (0, 6)

Mike Hoban d. Rafael Ibarra (??)

Michael Deal d. Lujan (7, (?), 3)

Hoban d. Ibarra (7, 13)

Hoban d. Deal (16, 12)

Clint Strachan d. Dennis Parker (5, 8)

Dan Price d. Strachan (18, 9)

Gene Schneider d. Rusty Ludwig ((18), 5, 3)

Gary Russell d. Stan Dunlavy (10, (7), 4)

Lloyd Garcia d. Fred Sycuro (20, 12)

Price d. Schneider (10, 17)

Garcia d. Russell (14, (9), 1)

Garcia d. Price (8, (19), 4)

1^st – Dave Coulie

2^nd – Jim Starr

3^rd – Luis Marquez

4^th – Roger Van Skoik