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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Dania Jai Alai: Cumulative Daily, Weekly, and Total Records for the 2019 Calendar Year and Fall, Wnter, and Spring 2019 Seasons

This post brings together Dania Cumulative statistics for the calendar year and each season in that year. The data (except for the calendar year win sorts) is archived in the ongoing weekly Dania Current Results page on the right side of the blog. The 3 seasons are in this post for ease of access, as the Current Results page is large and cumbersome.

Cumulative Calendar Year Sorts (Wins, Winning %, In the Money %, and Games Played Sorts, along with notable performances for the year, can be found here (use the back arrow key to get back to this page).

Links to the Final Totals Dania Stat Pages are as follows:

Fall 2019 (September 15-December 15) It lasted 13 weeks, with approximately 7 performances of 12 games per week. Approximately 1092 games (it was actually less than this for reasons explained on the Daily and Weekly Leaders page) were played

Spring 2019 (May 1-June 30). It lasted 9 weeks with approximately 756 games played.

Winter 2019 (January 2-April 14)  It lasted 15 weeks with approximately 1260 games played.

+++++

Fall 2019 Summary and  Cumulative Daily and Weekly Statistics

Season Summary: 

Milestone: In the 8th game of the Friday, October 4 Evening performance, Asier Elesgarai (Beitia) won his 5,000th game at Dania Jai Alai. His partner was Ibon Aldazabal. This is Beitia's 27th season at Dania.

Milestone article (Jai Alai News Facebook) (Basque)

Two new players begin their Dania Careers. Johan Sorozabal, 17, from Biarritz and Alex Goitiaiandia, 18, from Markina-Xemein.


Source: Jai Alai News Facebook (Castilian)

At the end of the season, Anndy (early-front) retired from Dania Jai Alai (Added January 3, 2010).

By my calculations, there were 1076 games played during the season. 13 weeks + opening day*7 performances*12 games per performance=1104. Minus 8 games for each performance where there was a partido match=1096. Minus Thanksgiving Day =1084. Minus 3 performances tacked on at the end of the season to make up for the loss of 3 performances due to a flooding accident at Dania. These performances each consisted of 10 games instead of the usual 12. So that is a loss of 6 more games. That equals 1076. (Corrections gladly accepted if  I have missed something).

A lot happened during these games. And there was a lot of great Quiniela and Partido Jai Alai.


Dania brought in two new players (see above for more on them), early fronts Alex Goitiaiandia, 18 years old, from Markina-Xemien in Hegoalde (South Basque Country) and Johan Sorozabal, 17 years old, from Bairritz in Iparralde (North Basque Country). They had a very steep learning curve and worked very hard. They were the only two players on the entire roster to play over 500 games. Johan finished the season by playing 90 games in the last two weeks, Alex played 87. Granted that one of these weeks had 8 performances instead of 7, but those are heavy workloads in any event. Only 4 times all season did a player have a 45+ game weekly workload. Johan and Alex accounted for 3 of them (Goitia (l-b) had the other). Why do I start a season recap with this? Because for me, this was one of the most astonishing feats of the season. Two young players, thrown in at the deep end against the finest quiniela players in the world. Over and again. They showed up. They played. They ate massive amounts of games, which was crucial to a larger Dania "team",  especially one that missed two of its most important late forwards, Tevin (Leon Shepherd--more on him below), missing over half the season while still recovering from the career threatening injury he suffered last winter, and Kevin Ithurria, who was injured twice during the Summer Partido season in the Basque Country, and missed large parts of the Dania season. 


To be sure, the youngsters took more than their share of "knocks" and harvested little in the way of wins or money finishes (although Alex did lead the roster in 3rd place finishes with 76). But, hopefully, it was also a vast learning experience for both of them. If they can progress anything like the other young forward, Goixerri (early-front) has, it will be a great thing for Dania Jai Alai. 


On October 4, Asier Elesgarai (Beitia) (late-forward) won the 8th game of the evening performance. It was something he had done 4,999 times before in his 27 years at Dania. 5,000 is a big number. About 185 wins a year. Beitia is 12 years older than Johan and Alex combined. Beitia played 489 games! Mostly late games. That was 7th most on the roster, and 2nd of any player who was not an early forward. He is still coming to work and doing it, day in and day out, every day. 5,000 was a magnificent achievement, a mark of great consistency over a very long time in one of the most grinding Basque Pelota modalities. One of the lasting memories I will take from this season came when, in one of the final games of the season, during Game 10, the front's late singles game, he stopped yet another Erik (late-front) perfect game on game point with a perfectly placed shot that sent him to the bench. At the end of the season Beitia very deservedly received a plaque for the career achievement.


Tevin's return was also a joy. He is Betia's age and suffered a very serious injury 9 months ago. The fact that he came back at all is amazing. The fact that he began to get in rhythm and collected 5 victories in the final week of the season was not surprising. 


Goixerri continued his upward ascent among the early forwards. Here is his progress


Winter 2019

339 (games) 20 (wins) 30 (2nd place) 29 (3rd place) .059 (win %) .233 (ITM %)

Spring 2019

342 37 41 37 .108 .336

Fall 2019

491  82 70 63 .167 .438

He led the early-fronts in wins for a good part of the season. In the end he lost out to Jairo. They each had 82 wins, but Jairo played 3 less games and so won the early-front race by .001 percentage points. Goixerri, unfortunately, was scratched out of the final performance of the season. He also played an excellent semi-final in the Dania Fall Partido challenge, losing a very hotly contested semi-final with Ibon (late-back) to eventual finalists Erik (late-front)-Bailo (early-back) 15-13, when his winner that would have tied the game was just a little too low. Before that his team thrashed Xabat (early-front)-Arta (early-back) 15-3 in the quarter-finals. If he keeps on his present trajectory, how far away can a promotion to late-gamer be? It will be interesting to follow his progress.


So, what else was there? Well... there was Erik Mendizabal (late-forward). Erik is, quite simply, one of the best cesta punta players in the world. This year he "came of age" in the Summer Partidos, being named the Player of the Summer (forward) in the Jai Alai World Tour. A forward named Inaki Goikoetxea also played in the JAWT. Erik won 3 JAWT tournaments, most of any player in the company. 


What he did during the Dania season was routinely amazing. He won the most games (131, 28 more than 2nd place Zulaika (late-back)), won or tied the most weekly "pennant races"  (8, including 6 in a row), won the most games in a week (13--twice), won the most wins (or ties for wins) in a performance a roster leading 25 times, won 4 games in a performance four times, and 3 eight times. Perhaps most amazing of all, he had a 26 performance winning streak (at least 1 win in a performance) from the October 23 Matinee to the November 17 Matinee. This is the longest performance winning streak I have found in the time I have been doing this blog. That kind of consistency in a sport that so harshly punishes errors is almost unfathomable.  He won the most games in both the Game 10 (AKA Florida Singles Championship--which was not officially contested this season due to the Partido Championship) and Game 12 fronts (Florida Doubles Championship--also not officially contested). He won the most Campeonato points (5*wins +3* 2nd place +1*3rd place) with 961, 202 points more than 2nd Place Zulaika. He came within 1 point of repeating as Dania Fall Partido Champion, and he had a pretty good game, +9 -4 with 22 saves, by my scoring. At the moment he strides over the Dania roster like the Colossus of Rhodes.


Zulaika had a pretty good season as well. He was 2nd in wins, 2nd in weekly wins (5), 2nd in most wins in a week (12), Campeonato points, performance wins (22), and Game 10 and 12 front (tied) wins. And in two important categories, he was 1st.


1. He won the Dania Fall Partido Championship with Ladutxe, 15-14 over Erik-Bailo (early-back). His statistics in that match were stratospheric, +8 -1 with 24 saves.


2. On December 8, in the Matinee performance he won 5 games, the first and only time that happened in the 2019 calendar year.


Finally, the Partido Championship (more on that in a forthcoming post) was a terrific way to end the season. It was a match that neither team led by more than 2 points, a 44 minute struggle that consumed 264 balls in play, with total scoring of +18 (.621) -11 (.379) and 78 saves (almost 30% of all the balls in play). Of the 11 errors, 5 came after 10-10, when the players seemed to tire just a bit. But it was an epic struggle, as good a partido as you will see anywhere.


At the same time, three of the 4 position races came down to the last week, with two of them (early-fronts and early-backs) going down to the last day. The most amazing of these was the early-back race, where the two Partido finalists battled to the last day. In the end, Ladutxe made up a 17 game deficit (69-52), in the last 4 weeks of the season with a phenomenal run of 10, 8, 8, and 8 wins to end the race in a tie (86-86). Ladutxe played 7 less games and so won it by .003 percentage points.


All in all a great season of Quiniela and Partido action. Many thanks to the players, the manager and assistant manager, announcers, judges, and all the people behind the scenes, especially for successfully dealing with a two day unexpected shutdown. We can hardly wait for the Winter season (beginning January 2, 2020) to get underway. Eskerrik Asko, Muchos Gracias, Merci Beaucoup, Thank You.


A. Cumulative daily leading winners by performance and most wins in a performance. 

1. Cumulative winners by performance (through December 15(M)-91 Performances--FINAL).

Note: this is the number of times a player has either led or tied for the lead in most wins in a performance. Players will be listed by number of performances won. In all cases 2 or more wins have led a performance. Note: on the following dates, the performances contained only 11 matches: 11/1, 11/8, 11/15; 11/22; 11/29, 12/6, 12/12, and 12/13 (Game 11 is the 2019 Fall Partido Challenge Competition. Game 10 is a doubles game, and there is no Game 12.) NOTE: EVERY ACTIVE PLAYER ON THE ROSTER HAD AT LEAST ONE PERFORMANCE WIN, BASED ON THE ABOVE CRITERIA.

e-f=early front; e-b=early back; l-f=late front; l-b=late back

25. (.275) Erik (l-f)

22. (.242) Zulaika (l-f)
18. (.198) Goixerri (e-f)
17. (.187) Bailo (e-b)
15. (.165) Barandika (l-f)
14. (.154) Jairo (e-f); Ladutxe (e-b)
9.   (.099) Ibon (l-b)   
8.   (.088) Salegi (l-b); Israel (l-b)
7.   (.076) Foronda (e-f); Elizalde (e-b)
6.   (.066) Arrieta (l-f); Larrea (e-b)
5.    (055) Leke (l-b); Xabat (e-f)
4.   (.044) Arta (e-b); Urbieta (l-b); Ubilla (e-b); Elgezabal (l-b); Alex (e-f)
3.   (.033) Goenaga (e-f); Goitia (l-f); Chasio (l-b); Yeche (e-b); Spinner (e-b)
2.   (.022) Urtaran (l-b); Anndy (e-f); Johan (e-f); Beitia (l-f)
1.   (.011) Ithurria (l-f); Amigorena (l-b); Tevin (l-b); Minte (e-b)

2. Players with the most wins in a performance  (through December 15(E)--91 Performances--FINAL). Number of winning games leading a performance was, until December 8,  2-4. Then Zulaika had the best performance of the 2019 Calendar year. There have yet to be any performances where no player won more than one game. Corrections are always welcome. 

24 players had at least 3 wins in a performance. 18 players had 3 wins. 5 players had 4 wins. 1 player had 5 wins. 

Player with the most 3 win performances: Erik: 8; Most 4 win performances: Erik: 4. Zulaika had the only 5 win performance of the 2019 calendar year


5. Zulaika (l-f) (12/8(M))

4. Erik (l-f) (4 Times) (9/27(E); 10/16(M); 10/19(E); 11/24(M))

4. Barandika (l-f) (9/25(M)); Bailo (e-f) (10/9(E)--won 4 late games)); Ladutxe (e-b) (10/12(M)--won 4 late games)); Goixerri (e-f) (11/20(E))  

3. Erik (l-f) (8 times)--(9/19(E); 9/20(E); 10/3(E); 10/9(M); 11/3(M); 11/6(M); 11/13(E); 12/13(E)
Ibon (l-b) (5 times) (10/6(M); 10/16(E); 10/19(M); 11/24(E); 12/11(M)
Zulaika (l-f) (4 times) (9/25(E); 10/20(M); 10/23(M); 10/30(M))
Ladutxe (e-b) (4 times) (10/16(E); 10/23(E); 11/23(E); 11/27(E))
Jairo (e-f) (4 times) (9/18(E); 10/10(E); 11/3(M); 12/1(E))
Goixerri (e-f) (4 times(11/2(M); 11/14(E)); 11/22(E); 12/14(M))
Bailo (e-b) (2 times) (9/25(E); 10/12(E)--won 3 late games))
Arrieta (l-f) (2 times) (11/16(M); 12/4(E))
Leke (l-b) (2 times) (11/17(M); 12/7(E))
Barandika (l-f) (2 times) (10/19(M); 12/11 (E))
Israel (l-b) (2 times) (9/21(E); 12/14(M))

3. Beitia (l-f) (9/18-(E)); Urtaran (l-b) (10/2(E)); Goenaga (e-f) (10/4(E)); Larrea (e-b) (10/16(E)); Foronda (e-f) (10/19(M)); Goitia (l-b) (10/24(E)); Ubilla (e-b) (10/27(M)); Urbieta (l-b) (11/2(M)); Xabat (e-f) (11/6(E)); Salegi (l-b) (11/14(E)); Tevin (l-f) (12/11(M)); Elizalde (e-f) (12/15(M)

2. Many

B. Cumulative weekly leaders in wins. 

Leading Weekly winner leaders (outright or tied) 

8. Erik (l-f) (9/15-9/22; 10/16-10/20; 10/23-10/27; 10/30-11/3; 11/6-11/8; 11/13-11/17; 11/20-11/24; 12/11-12-15)

5. Zulaika (l-f) (9/25-9/29; 10/2-10/6; 10/30-11/3; 12/4-12/8; 12/11-12/15)
1. Bailo (e-b) (10/9--10/13)
1. Jairo (e-f) (11/27-12/1)
1. Ladutxe (e-b) (12/11-12/15)
1. Ibon (l-b) (12/11-12/15)

Most wins for a weekly leader in a week (outright or tied).

13. Erik (2 times)  (9/15-9/22; 10/2-10/6)

12. Erik (2 times) (10/23-10/27; 11/20-11-24)
12. Zulaika (2 times) (9/25-9/29; 12/4-12/8)
12. Bailo (10/9-10/13)
11. Erik (10/30-11/3)
11. Zulaika (10/30-11/3)
10. Zulaika (10/2-10/6); Erik (11/13-11/17)
10. Jairo (11/27-12/1)
8.   Erik (2 times) (11/6-11/8; 12/11-12/15)
8.   Zulaika (12/11-12/15)
8.   Ibon (12/11-12/15)
8.   Ladutxe (12/11-12/15)

Top 5 Campeonato points for the season (5*win +3*2nd place +1*3rd place)

Erik (131; 81; 63)  961

Zulaika (103; 60; 64) 759
Bailo (86; 73; 60) 709
Jairo (82; 73; 59) 688
Goixerri** (e-f) (82; 70; 63) 683

**=First Year Player

Top 5 most games played:

Johan* (e-f) 516

Alex*  (e-f) 513
Xabat (e-f) 497
Foronda (e-f) 495
Goixerri** 491
Arrieta (l-f) 491

*=First Season Player
**=First Year Player

45+ Games in a week.

Johan 50 (December 4-8) (8 performances)
Alex 47 (December 4-8) (8 performances)
Goitia 46 (December 4-8) (8 performances)
Johan 45 (October 9-13)

C. Game 10 Standings (9/15-12/15(E))--FINAL. Note. Each number represents the wins for the week. b=Back; e=Early. Through 83 performances.  Note: there were no G10 Singles game or Game 12 Doubles game on 11/1, 11/8, 11/15, 11/22, 11/29, 12/6, and 12/13 due to the Fall 2018 Challenge Partido Competition. Note that for the weeks ending November 24 (wk 11), December 1 (wk 12), and December 8 (wk 13), Dania added a 10 game performance on Sunday Evenings to make up for the 3 performances missed November 9-10 due to a flooding accident. For these performances I used G8 as a proxy for G10 and G10 as a proxy for G12. There was no performance on November 28, Thanksgiving Day in the US.

Erik 1,1,3,3,3,3,2,2,2,1,1,1,1=24

Zulaika 1,3,3,3,2,0,1,0,1,0,1,3,2,1=21
Barandika 0,2,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,2,2,2,1=11
Arrieta 0,1.0,1,0,0,0,0,2,1,0,1,2=8
Beitia 1,0,0,0,0,2,1,0,0,1,0,1,0=6
Goitia 2,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0=5
Ithurria 3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0=3
Utaran (b) 0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,1,0,0,0,0=2
Leke (b) 0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0=2
Chasio (b) 0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0=1

Game 12 Standings (9/15-11-12/14(E)--FINAL--83 performances)

Fronts

Erik 2,2,2,2,1,2,1,0,1,1,2,1,1=18

Barandika 2,0,0,2,2,2,1,0,1,0,1,3,0=14
Zulaika 0,3,1,2,1,2,1,0,1,1,1,1,0=14
Arrieta 0,2,0,1,1,0,0,1,2,2,1,1,0=11
Goitia 0,0,2,0,1,0,0,1,0,1,1,1,2=9
Beitia 2,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0=4
Tevin 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,1,0,0,2=4
Alex(e) 0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0=2
Anndy(e) 0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0=2
Foronda(e) 0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0=2
Ithurria 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0=1
Goenaga(e) 1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0=1
Jairo(e) 1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0=1

Backs

Ibon 1,1,1,0,3,2,0,1,2,1,0,1,2=15

Salegi 1,2,0,2,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0=11
Leke 1,0,0,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,3,0=9
Elgezabal 0,1,1,3,0,1,0,0,1,0,1,0,1=9
Israel 2,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0,1,2,1,1=9
Urbieta 0,1,2,0,0,1,2,0,0,0,1,0=
Amigorena 1,0,2,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1=6
Urturan 2,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0=5
Bailo(e) 0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0=5
Chasio 0,1,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,0=5
Ladutxe(e) 0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0=2

+++++

Spring 2019 Season

Season Summary:

Diego Beaskoetxea (late front) retired from Dania at the end of the season, finishing a 15 year tenure. His intelligence, athleticism, hustle, almost infinite shot selection arsenal, great defense, and love of the game were a joy to watch. He is one of the best all round (quiniela and partido) front court players in the world. He is scheduled to be featured at St. Jean de Luz (Donebane Lohizun) in July and August of 2019. Watch and enjoy him while he is still active. He is one of a generation of great puntistas who have graced these shores and the Basque Country for the last 15-20 years. When they pass from the scene, they will be sorely missed, but long remembered. Eskerrik Asko, Diego.

Jai Alai News (via manista.com) announcement.

2019 Spring Season In a nutshell:

Most wins: Erik (late front) 66; 2nd Amigorena (late back) 60; 3rd Iturbide (early front) 59

Florida Singles Championship (G10): Erik 13; Diego 11; Barandika (late front) and Ithurria (late front) 10

Doubles Championship (G12)
Fronts: Barandika 15; Erik 14
Backs: Amigorena 15; Urbieta 10

Highest season winning percentage: Ladutxe (early back) .212; Erik .202; Amigorena .194

Highest In the Money percentage: Erik .526; Ladutxe .493; Barandika .470

Most times weekly wins leader
Amigorena 3; 7 players 1

Most weekly wins
Amigorena; Ladutxe; Jairo 11; Diego; Amigorena 10

Most times with the most wins (led or tied) in a performance: Diego 14; Erik 13; Amigorena 12

Most wins in a performance: Iturbide and Ladutxe: 4; Erik 3 (four times)

Most games played: Goenaga (early front) 346; Goixerri (early front) 342; Anndy (early front) 339

Total games played 12 (games)*7 (performances a week)* (9 weeks) 756

Congratulations to rookie Goixerri on completing a very full first 7 months at Dania. You have to like his learning curve.

Last Winter his line was;

339 (games) 20 (wins) 30 (2nd place) 29 (3rd place) .059 (win %) .233 (ITM %)

This Spring:

342 37 41 37 .108 .336

Great work, Goixerri!

A. Cumulative daily leading winners by performance and most wins in a performance. For individual performance winner statistics for this week, see below.

1. Cumulative winners by performance. Note: this is the number of times a player has either led or tied for the lead in most wins in a performance. Players will be listed by number of performances won. In all cases 2 or more wins have led a performance.

ef-early front; eb-early back; lf-late front; lb-late back

14. Diego (lf)

13. Erik (lf)
12. Amigorena (lb)
11. Ladutxe (eb)
10. Iturbide (ef)
9. Barandika (lf)
8. Ithurria (lf)
7. Medrano (ef); Bailo (ef)
6. Goenaga (ef); Jairo (ef); Yeche (eb); Zulaika (lf); Israel (lb); Leke (lb)  
5: Ibon (lb); Foronda (ef); Goixerri (ef)
4: Salegi (lb); Elgazabal (lb); Zabala (eb); Elizalde (eb)
3: Goitia (lf); Urbieta (lb); Spinner (ef); Arta (eb); Beitia  (lf)
2: Xabat (ef); Urtaran (lb); Larrea (ef); Chasio (lb)
1. Anndy (ef); Arrieta (lf)

2. Players with the most wins in a performance. Number of winning games leading a performance is, in all cases so far, 2-4. Corrections are always welcome.

4: ITURBIDE (EF) 5/18(M); LADUTXE (EB) 6/8(M)

3Erik (lf) 4 times: (5/31(E); 6/1(E); 6/12(E); 6/19(M); Goenaga (ef) twice: 5/10(E); 5/17(E)Amigorena (lb) twice: 5/2(E), 6/1(M); Ibon (lb) twice: 5/17(E, 6/1(E); Iturbide (ef) twice (5/24(E), 6/2(M); Urturan (lb) twice; 5/15(M), 6/9(M); Barandika (lf) twice 5/2(E), 6/23(E) 

3: Medrano (ef) 5/3(E); Yeche (eb) 5/8(M); Leke (lb); 5/10(E); Goitia (lb) 5/17(E); Jairo (ef) 5/24(E); Israel (lb) (5/25(E); Diego (lf) 5/26(M); Bailo (eb) 6/12(E); Zulaika (lf) 6/15(E); Elgezabal (lb) 6/20(E); Ladutxe (eb) 6/21(E); Spinner (eb) 6/22(M)

In 30 performances the leading performance winner won more than 2 games. In 33 performances he (they) did not.

B. Cumulative Summary and analysis of Game 10 (The Florida Singles Championship).

You can find individual Game10 reports on the Dania Jai Alai Game 10 page on the right side of the blog (below) the current results section.

Standings (6/30(M)--FINAL *=known perfect games. Note: the 6/26(M) G10 did not count in the official standings. 62 games were played

Erik 13 (8*) .210
Diego 11 (8*) .177
Barandika 10 (5*) .161
Ithurria 10 (3*) .161
Zulaika 7 (2*) .113
Arrieta 5(2*) .081
Goitia 5 (3*) .081
Salegi (back) 1 .016

Barandika and Ithurria eliminated 6/28(E)
Diego eliminated 6/29(M)

C. Cumulative weekly leaders in wins (May 1-June 30).

Amigorena 3 (late-back); Diego (late-front)

1; Foronda (early-front) 1; Iturbide 1;  Zulaika (late-front) 1; Ladutxe (early-back) 1; Erik (late-front) 1; Jairo (early-front) 1; Barandika (late-front) 1

Most wins for a weekly leader in a week (outright or tied) (May 1-June 30)

Amigorena 11; Ladutxe 11; Jairo 11;  

Diego 10; Amigorena 10

+++++

Winter 2019 Season

Season Summary:

ERIK (MENDEZABAL) (late-front) led the roster in almost all statistical categories kept by Dania, and a few that I made up myself.

1. He won the triple crown (most wins, most  Championship Singles and Doubles wins for front court players (135-108 over Ladutxe (early-back); 26-20 over Diego (late-front); and 24-14 over Zulaika (late-front) and Diego). He also won the most doubles games with a single partner (Leke) by 16-14 over Medrano-Bailo (earlies). Amigorena won the Championship Doubles back court competition 17-15 over Urbieta (late-back).

2. Some derivative "championships" he won were: most weeks with the most wins on the roster  (6-4 over Ladutxe), and won or tied for the most wins in a performance 22 times, two more than Ladutxe. He also won the most times in a week, 13. He won four weeks with 12 wins. Five other players won weeks with 12 wins (see below). None of them did it more than once.

3. Erik's winning percentage was also the highest on the roster at .255, .003 better than Ladutxe, the only other player over .200 on the roster. Erik did this against the best competition Dania has to offer, including at least 4 world class partido players (Diego (Beaskoetxea), (Jon) Zulaika, Ibon (Aldazabal), and (Unai) Leke(rika)). About the only thing Erik didn't win was ITM%. At .526, he was .004 behind Ladutxe. Erik played 529 games. Ithurria (early-front) led the roster with 553. Xabat (early-front) was second with 548. Erik finished 10th on the roster in games played.

4. And if all that weren't enough, Erik had two performance winning streaks (at least one win in a performance) of 15 and 14 respectively

February 14(Evening)--March 2 (Matinee) (see results for the dates). Use arrows to scroll the months. Note: Erik scratched 2/28(E).

January 12 (Matinee)-January 25 (Evening) (use arrow to go back to January)

Consistency within games, performances, and an entire season. Erik had a great season.

34 players either had the most or tied for the most wins in a performance. In addition to Erik and Ladutxe 6 other players did this 10 times or more (Diego and  Bailo (early-back) 14,  Barandika (late-front) 13,  Amigorena (late-back) and Zulaika (late-back) 11, and Arrieta (late-front) 10.

10 players won 4 games in a performance (for the list, see below). Two did it twice, Bailo and Amigorena.

As a team, Dania had a difficult season, with many injuries and many scratches.

The 15 week season consisted of 7 performances a week (105 total) and each performance was made up of 12 games (1,260 games). The breakdown was mostly 8 doubles games and 4 singles games, but for a stretch during the season, due to the high amount of scratches, the balance was 6-6. This lasted from March 1-31. That time period covered 23 performances and 276 games (a little less than 22 percent of the total. In that period there were an equal number of singles and doubles games, 138. For the rest of the season there were 656 doubles and 328 singles games played. The totals for the season were 794 doubles games and 466 singles games. 15 weeks under the normal schedule would entail 840 doubles games and 420 singles games.  How that effected player performance, along with the fact that many players were asked to carry heavier loads than their usual 5 per game for a long period of time, many games in parts of the performance that they up against much tougher, or easier competition,  is unknown.

The most unfortunate incident of the season was the injury suffered by Tevin (Leon Shepard) (late-front) the weekend of March 9-10.  He tore his right quadriceps muscle and will be out for 6 to 8 months. Tevin began his career in 1992 at Milford, Connecticut, later played at Miami for many years, and at Dania the last couple. 27 years in the trenches of Quiniela Jai Alai. I started watching him late in his career, and he has been a joy to watch. Great hustle all the time and a great love for the game. We all wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in action soon.


A. Cumulative leading winners by performance and most wins in a performance. For individual performance winner statistics for this week, see below.

1. Cumulative winners by performance (January 2, 2019-April 14(M). Note: this is the number of times a player has either led or tied for the lead in most wins in a performance. 

23: Erik (late-front)

20: Ladutxe (early-back)
14: Diego (late-front); Bailo (early-back)
13: Barrandika (late-front)
12: None
11: Amigorena (late-back); Zulaika (l-f)
10: Arrieta (l-f)
9:  Iturbide (early-front); Ibon (l-b)
8:  Medrano (e-f)
7: Elizalde (e-b)
6: Elgezabal (l-b); Leke (l-b); Xabat (e-f); Yeche (e-b); Salegi (l-b); Urbieta (l-b); Jairo (e-f);  Minte (e-b)
5: Zabala (e-b)
4: Spinner (e-b)
3: Ubilla (e-b); Israel (l-b); Betia (e-f); Arta (e-b); Foronda (e-f); Larrea (e-b)
2: Tevin (l-f); Ithurria (l-f)
1: Anndy (e-f); Chasio (l-b); Goitia (e-f); Goixerri (e-f)

2. Players with the most wins in a performance. 

4. 
Bailo (early-back) (2 times 1/10(E); 3/27(E)

Barandika (late-front) 2/27(E); 4/7(M)

3. Zulaika (late-front) 1/16(M)
Iturbide (early-front) 1/20(M)
Erik (late-front) 1/31(E)
Amigorena (late-back) 2/6(E)
Arrieta (late-front) 3/16(M)
Ibon (late-back) 3/22(E)
Minte (early-back) 3/30(M)
Medrano (early-front) 4/3(M)

C. Cumulative weekly leaders in wins. 

Weekly winner leaders (outright or tied)

Erik (late-front) 6

Ladutxe (early-back) 4; 
Bailo (early-back) 3; 
Arta (early-back) 1;  Barandika (late-front) 1; Ibon (late-back) 1; Iturbide (early-front) 1; Leke (late-back) 1; Medrano (early-front) 1; Minte (early-back) 1

Most wins for a weekly leader in a week (outright or tied--through March 31, 2019)

Erik (late-front) 13

Erik (late-front) 12 (4 times); 
Ladutxe (early-back) 12 (2 times); 
Iturbide (early-front) 12; Barandika (late-front) 12; Bailo (early-back) 12; Medrano: (early-front) 12