The third annual Dan Armijo Tournament was held in Deming, New Mexico March 24 and 25. We had a great turn out with players from Albuquerque, El Paso, Santa Fe, and Silver City. Carl White brought 2 students from University of New Mexico. He mentioned that they wanted to play as many different people as possible, so we added a bonus round. If you lost your first match you moved to consolation. If you lost your second round (consolation or regular bracket) you played a bonus match. This was a very popular feature with the other players as well as the students. We played 2 games to 15 and a 7 point tie breaker, allowing a 45 minute schedule for each court.
Danny Armijo gave an instructional session, that benefited all. He then played every player in the tournament up to eleven points. Several people scored a point or two this year! The higher and lower level players enjoyed this rare opportunity to play a pro.
Four players from El Paso attended. Before they began one of them mentioned they play with the big blue ball at the University of Texas courts in El Paso. I was worried they would hurt their hands and be discouraged by the faster handball. As it turned out, they play with four different balls and are very adaptable players. Oscar Meza has an L shaped court at his house that is 120 feet long (nick named the "Eagle's Nest"). The El Paso players prevailed with Manuel Talamentes defeating Oscar Meza, both from El Paso for the B division. Frank Hernandez (El Paso) defeated Dave Couley (Albuquerque) in a tie breaker for the A division.
