On July 2, 2019, Fire Station 26 hosted the 2019 Doubles Handball Championships. The event is normally completed in late May or early June, but the schedule was interrupted by the USHA 4-Wall National Championships this year. The “E” Division final could not be played due to an injury, therefore Moon and Philips (FS-26) won by forfeit over Fischer and Garcia (FS-50).
Fire Station 26 players Nyberg and Bond took advantage of their home court advantage defeating Hills and Cardona from FS-61 in the “D” final.
Fire Station 27 is developing a reputation as an up and coming handball house, with Getchus and DuPertuis winning the “C” Division final over James (FS-3) and Balestra (FS-11) in two straight.
The “B” Division final was an exciting match between experienced and skilled players who are all ready to step up into the big time. Champs Davila and Moore (FS-29) defeated Castillo and Avila (FS-15) in a third game tie-breaker.
The “A” finals was the feature match of the day with 2017 and 2018 Champions John Libby and Frank Lima attempting to threepeat. LAFD Handball’s top player Alex Garcia (FS-9) and super stud Trevor Insley (FS-66) played a dominating power game to take the title. Garcia and Insley were very focused, and could not be thrown off of their game by the outrageous fashions of recent SCHA Handball Hall of Fame inductee John Libby.
The final match of the day was Master’s Division which featured Chris Yokoyama (QAU) and Roy Harvey (FPB) who defeated Ryan Chance (QAU) and Joe Steiner (FPB) in two straight games. This match featured experienced tournament players, all over 40 years old who proved that old age and trickery is important in handball!
By the time this article is published, we may have a new LAFD TOP HANDBALL HOUSE, FS-2 has challenged FS-66. Two out of the five games in the series have been played, with FS-66 holding strong – Cooper defeating Diaz, and Insley defeating Ramirez. Details next month.
