We in Albany are looking forward to hosting you once again this year! We're
anticipating a large crowd again this year and will be working hard to accomodate
you all in our usual fashion. As always our plentiful hospitality (brought to you
by Fred "Cowboy" Seestadt and company) will be ready; the welcoming committee of
George Cavooris and Al Spencer are aboard once again and the desk staff is lined
up to ensure that we all get our matches played on time.
Some Notes For This Year
We've lost another court so with only 10 this year we will be starting
an hour earlier on Friday. If you know that you can't make it early Friday, please
indicate so on your entry - it'll save a lot of confusion later on. First matches
will begin most likely at 4:00 Friday.
Regarding Friday starts - All but the smallest divisions will be playing
on Friday and the largest divisions such as B and C singles will surely have an
entire round scheduled for Friday.
For those who procrastinate and miss the deadline:
As usual - the draw will be completed on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 15th) by the
usual competent Albany crew. If your entry is received in Friday's mail, you
will be included. If you don't see your name listed Sat. morning - call me immediately.
As always you are free to call me right up until Tuesday Nov. 18 at 6:00 pm and
hope that someone has dropped out and created an opening for you. That will be the only
exception to the No Late Entries rule. If you wish to do that, you are welcome to
call after the Fri. deadline, but there are no promises.
I will also be using this site to post the starting times for the tournament, so
that you don't have to endure a long busy signal as everyone tries to get their
times. To promote this feature - I will be posting the Starting Times HERE on Tuesday
of tournament week at 8:00pm, well ahead of the time that phone-ins will be available.
So check back here that Tuesday to get your time and avoid letting your fingers do the walking and waiting.
Telephone Numbers
The Court Club - (518) 459-4444
Tournament Director - Jim Giner (518) 248-1162
I can also be reached quickly during the daytime via email throughout
the week.
If you have a long message for me, email is the best way to get it to me.
Please include all the details you wish me to know about.
(I check my mail at work and at home.)
Lodging:
If you are planning on staying at the site of the banquet - the Best Western/
Albany Airport Inn. The phone number is (518) 458-1000.
10/26/08 We have a special rate of $68 a night at the Best Western this year.
Other Trivia
Please be sure to fill out your application cleanly and be sure to sign it. This will
save time for me as I try to decipher your entry, and if you remember to complete it
all and sign it, you will save time at the check-in desk on Friday night. Telephone
numbers are most important, because you never know when I will have to reach you regarding
your entry, or your starting time.
As those of you who have been here know, this is a rather large tournament and that's
why the deadline is so far ahead of the start date. There's a lot of work
to do to organize 22 (hopefully) events with approximately 160 entrants.
As usual we will be having our plentiful hospitality on Friday night and all
day on Saturday, with lunch on Sunday. AND, once again, we will be having the
Saturday night banquet at the same Best Western/Albany Airport Inn. Guests will
be welcome at this for a fee of approximately $18 each (at press time, that's the
predicted pricing). Guests for the weekend hospitality are also welcome - price
for that is $14 (also approximate) for the weekend.
What more could you ask for in this package? For $65 you get to play ball with
a group of the best and friendliest handball players in the Northeast; you get our
bountiful hospitality all weekend - hot and cold foods, fruit, juice/Gatorade,
bagels/muffins, coffee, soda and beer; you get a tournament shirt; you get
a sit-down meal on Sat. night with only minimal speechifying by your tournament
director and USHA members get a free can of balls upon arrival.
More to follow as questions arise. Stay tuned.
Jim Giner
My phone #: (518) 248-1162 - Please leave a detailed message (or send an email)- I don't return
calls that just say "call me" or I'd be on the phone for hours!