3rd Annual Khalsa Montessori Junior 1-Wall Tournament

The third year of the annual junior 1-Wall tournament was the best to date. It featured current and former students of the Montessori school, as well as several players from part of the Team Tucson Handball Program in conjunction with the Fred Lewis Foundation.

The match that stole the show and had people talking later was that of current Khalsa Montessori student, Esteban Camacho, and young superstar Jose Maldonado from Saint Ambrose Catholic School. The two split the first two games with very close scores and extraordinary action. The steady Esteban was able to build a 10-7 lead with consistent play and great kill shots. His one-wall experience showed but Jose showed tremendous guts as he earned a side out followed by a hand-error, a kill shot, and a pass-shot to even the score at 10-10. Parents, players, and spectators were on the edge of their seat and jumped out of their seats as Jose served and hit the flattest rollout of his life as he stroked the shot with tremendous power down the left. “I can’t believe what I just saw!!” said head coach Abraham Montijo. Unbelievable game and it’s too bad that someone had to lose. Estaban, always the good sport, said “that was a fun match. I just wanted to have fun and I did.” Great play by both players but there was plenty of fun action throughout the day.

The other winners were:

Open Singles : Abraham Montijo def. Steve Natalie

A Singles: Angel Estrella def. Jesus Avila

B Singles: Jose Maldonado def. Jorge Pimentel

C Singles: John Franks def. Cesar Pimentel

D Singles: Jacob Kraft def. Diego Paramo

Girls B Singles: Kena Byrd def. Marisol Maldonado

Girls C Singles: Belisa Camacho def. Sophia Romero

We had plenty of helping hands that helped to make this event run smoothly and successfully but special thanks to the coaches Alfonso Romero, Angel Estrella, Fred Lewis, and Richie Estrella who have put in the time and effort to prepare the participants for performance and Alan Cheng who was unable to play because of injury but was there to help run matches and volunteer his time.