Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/lakecowichangazette/sports/25738369.html
Lake Cowichan Gazette
Published: July 21, 2008
Jerry Melissa aiming for nationals in horseshoes
Clink, clink.
Clink, clink.
On most summer afternoons you can hear that sound at the horseshoe pitch in Youbou.
Jerry Melissa, a two-time men’s provincial champion who is now playing on the elders’ circuit, says he tries to get an hour of practice every day.
His goal is to get into a groove with the flip shoe he uses. He wants to repeat the one full flip of the horseshoe so it hits the steel stake with a clink. The result is a ringer.
“When I’m playing in these tournaments, I know most of the competition is going to be throwing ringers, so I have to be able to match them,” he said Saturday afternoon, during one of his practice sessions.
Sixty-six-year-old Melissa, who is tanned, slim and very fit, has been hitting the ringers regularly this year, winning five tournaments in a row through the spring and summer as he looks to the nationals in Calgary in mid-August.
The streak ended with a second place finish at the B.C. International Games in Abottsford on July 12-13. In the end, he lost to four-time defending elder’s provincial champion Neil Yaskow.
“I was still playing well, but was off just enough,” said Melissa. “Against anyone else I might have been able to win, but not against the provincial champion.”
In Canadian horseshoes, the first player to get 40 points wins the game. Three points are awarded for each ringer and one point for each shoe that’s closest to the stake. If each player shoots a ringer, they negate each other.
“In the final in Abottsford, we were cancelling each other out quite bit,” said Melissa. “I think there were 10 innings when we each had two ringers. It makes for longer games, that’s for sure.”
Melissa said his game cooled off in Abottsford to about 61 per cent, from his overall seasonal average of 67 per cent. At the same time, Yaskow played at about 68 per cent, above his 2008 overall average.
“I was pleased with my game,” said Melissa, who went 7-5 in the Abottsford tournament, compared to Yaskow’s 10-2 record. “I’ve been playing really well. I was really hot in Port Alberni, when I threw at 77 per cent. I guess I cooled off a bit since then.”
Melissa, who won men’s provincials championships in 1978 and again in 2003, heads off to a tournament in Ladysmith on the B.C. Day long weekend, then follows that with the Canadian championships in Calgary August 12-14.
A foot problem had been affecting Melissa’s play, but it’s feeling much better and he’s got his old confidence back.
“I’ve been compensating for a bunion and it had affected my heel,” said Melissa. “It’s much better now and I’m feeling no effects. At one point it got so bad I was limping and it started hurting my delivery.”
The biggest change for Melissa’s horseshoe playing over the years is that as a senior in Canada he tosses from 30 feet, instead of 40 feet in the regular men’s competition. When he’s in the U.S. during the winter, he returns to tossing from 40 feet. He admits that when his foot was hurting he wouldn’t have been able to toss the shoes from 40 feet.
He feels confident going into Ladysmith that he can get back to his winning ways, but he knows the competition will be stiff, especially at the nationals. He said he’s currently ranked about fifth in Canada.
“The biggest challenge for me is to just play my own game,” he said. “That’s not always easy to do, but when I do I play much better.”
Jerry Melissa gets in his hour of practice at the horseshoe pits in Youbou, located near Sa-Seen-Os Point.