Mano--2019-20 Binakako Txapelketa /Parejas--Expanding the Playoffs and the Curious Decision by ASPE to Drop Last Year's Champion Delantero from the Competition.

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This year's BT/CP sees 3 interesting and perhaps controversial changes, 1 involving format,  and 2 involving players.

1. The format has added two teams to the post season. Since the present format was instituted in 2012, the top 4 finishers in the League season have played off in a 3 match round robin Semi-final League, The top two finishers in that League played in a final. This year the top 6 teams will enter the post season. The top 2 teams will be guaranteed a place in the Semi-final League. #3 v #6 and #4 v #5 will have a play in match to fill the other two slots. Some think this simply dilutes the meaning of the regular League competition. Others think of it as an exciting addition to keep more fans interested longer. These have been points of view in American team sports for many years, as the tendency is for more teams and more playoffs. 

Last year, the 5th and 6th place finishers (BLOG POST; scroll to the bottom of the page), Artola-Mariezkurrena and Ezkurdia-L. Galarza, finished with 7 wins and 7 losses. If this year's new rules were in effect, they would have made the post season, with elimination matches against Victor (substituting for the injured Oliazola II)-Albisu and Altuna III-Martija respectively. 

In 2017-18 the 5th and 6th place finishers (Wikipedia), Urrutikoetxea-L. Galarza and Victor (Laso)-Albisu finished 6-8 and 5-9 respectively.

In 2016-17 the 5th and 6th place finishers, (Wikipedia), Ezkurdia-Merino II and Artola-Albisu finished 6-8. 

In 2015-16 the 5th and 6th place finishers (Wikipedia), Martinez de Irujo-Barriola and Retegi BI-Rezusta were 7-7 and 6-8 respectively. 

Of the last eight 5th and 6th place finishers, five finished with less wins than losses. There is an argument to be made about what the minimum amount of wins necessary should be. In the last 4 competitions, no team has made the Semi-final League with less wins than losses. The idea of a 5-9 team winning the championship is abhorrent to some fans. A team that is 3 and 8 and then wins 3 in a row is a "hot" team, but not necessarily a good team. In my opinion, no team that wins less than it loses in a double round robin of this magnitude has any business getting anywhere near post season play. But it may increase interest, and it does make for more TV revenue.

2. Mikel Urrutikoetxea, after 3 years in the front (20-36 and no post League play) has been, I think, wisely moved back to the back court, where he was dominant in 2015-16.  He will partner with Aimar Oliazola (Olaizola II), the 40 year old 3 time champion in this competition, who is making a strong comeback from a possible career threatening leg injury. U-O partnered together in 2015-16 to win this title. The speed, quickness, and power of Urrutikoetxea, and the offensive potential he brings to the back court, is a unique combination for that position. It will be interesting to see how this reunion works out.

3. By far the most controversial aspect of this competition was the decision by ASPE to drop Danel Elezkano (Elezkano II) and replace him with Erik Jaka. Elezkano II is the defending delantero (front) champion in this competition, and he was runner up for the 2017-18 championship. Direct comparisons between the two are unavailable, as detailed statistics for Jaka are missing from the ASPE database (interestingly and frustratingly, detailed statistics for Iker Irribarria, who also has won a championship and was runner up in the last 4 years, are also unavailable). What we do know is that Elezkano has a career record (according to that database) of 120-97 (.553) to Jaka's 152-120 (.559). However, Elezkano's competition has been, for the most part, at a higher level than Jaka's.

Jaka's experience in this competition consists of 4 matches as a substitute in 2017 (2-2). Elezkano has played in 55 CP matches in his career and has been a regular the last 3 years. In the last two CPs his record was 27-9. In the last three, 34-16. 

Elezkano's complete record for the 2018-19 season was 24-22. (11/15/18--11/10/19).

Jaka had a very successful 2019 4 1/2 competition, but he did not make the Final.

It is difficult to see, from the above data, the reasoning behind the ASPE decision. 

And it is also interesting to look at the history of this competition, which is easily accessible back to 2001 via the Baikopilota historical database. In the 19 seasons between 2001 and 2018-19, a player who won a championship has missed the next competition 3 times. Eulate (zaguero-back) in 2009, Goni II (z-b) in 2010, and Zubieta (z-b) in 2011, Goni II retired. No champion delantero-front, has ever been absent from the next competition in those 19 seasons.

In short, in my opinion, this was a decision that had no justification whatsoever behind it. I wish Jaka well, and, judging by his early magnificent performance in the dismantling of  Irribarria-Rezusta by Jaka-Zabaleta, he is certainly out to show everyone that he belongs. And perhaps he does. But not at the expense of a defending champion.

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Mano--Torneo Bizkaia de Parejas Dentro del Cinqo Y Medio--Tournament Roundup: links to match scores, articles and videos

Tournament Page

Source for all full match videos is IETB.

July 30, 2016:

Final: Bizkaia Fronton (Bilbo (Bilbao))

Altuna III-Barriola defeated Oliazola II-Aretxabeleta 22-16.

Match Article: (noticias de Gipuzkoa)

Full match video: (Match begins at 1 hour, 8 minutes, 14 seconds on the recording).

Quarter Finals:

July 17, 2016: Barakaldo Fronton (Barakaldo)

Altuna III-Barriola defeated Ezkurdia-Zabaleta 22-12

Match article (noticias de Navarra)

Full match video (Match begins at 43 minutes 8 seconds on the recording).

July 22, 2016: Arrigorriaga Fronton (Arrigorriaga)

Elezkano II-Urrutikoetxea defeated Berasaluze II-Untoria 22-10

Match article (Asegarce)

Full match video (Match begins at 1 hour, 48 seconds on the recording).

Semi-Finals

July 24, 2016. Extebarri Fronton (Extebarri)

Altuna III-Barriola defeated Irribarria-Rezusta 22-10

Match article (noticias de Alava)

Full match video (Match begins at 1 hour, 1 minute, 31 seconds on the recording.)

July 25, 2016. Extebarri Fronton (Extebarri)

Oliazola II-Aretxabeleta defeated Elezkano II-Urrutikoetxea 22-9

Match article (Asegarce)

No match video

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Mano--Tourneo Parejas San Fermin--Tournament Roundup and links to match videos

Asegarce Player Pages
ASPE Player Pages
Tournament Page (Asegarce)

The Tourneo Parjas San Fermin Tournament was contested at Labrit Fronton, Iruna (Pamplona) from July 7-14, 2016. Here are complete listings of scores, match stories, and full match videos (when available) for that tournament.

Final: July 14, 2016

Oliazola II-Albisu defeated Irribarria-Barriola 22-14

Match Article (noticias de Gipuzkoa)

Full Match Video (Fronton.tv) Scroll to T. San Fermin Parejas, Irribarria-Barriola v Oliazola II-Albisu 14/07/2016. This is on the first page of videos now, but eventually will drop to lower pages. Simply search, page by page, for the date to find the match.

July 7, 2016:
Group A

Irribarria-Barriola  defeated Bengoetxea VI-Berioz 22-12

Match Article (El Diario Vasco)

No match video found.

July 9, 2016:
Group A

Bengoetxea VI-Berioz defeated Altuna III-Zabaleta 22-17

Match Article (21iguales.com)

No match video found

July 11, 2016:
Group A

Altuna III-Zabaleta defeated Irribarria-Barriola 22-19

Match Article (Deia)

Full Match Video (IETB) (match begins at 43 minutes 32 seconds on the recording)

All three teams finish 1-1. Irribarria-Barriola advance to the finals based on point differential.

July 8, 2016:
Group B

Oliazola II-Albisu defeated Ezkurdia-Zubieta 22-9

Match Article: (El Diario Vasco)
Match Statistics (Asgarce) Note: this article has an incorrect score (22-7) but the statistics are correct and sum to 22-9.

Full Match Video  (EITB) (match begins at 47 minutes 30 seconds on the recording)

July 10, 2016: 
Group B

Urrutikoetxea-Untoria defeated Ezkurdia-Rezusta (substituting for the injured Zubieta) 22-9

Match Article (Asegarce)

Full Match Video (EITB)

July 12, 2016

Oliazola II-Albisu defeated Urrutikoetxea-Untoria 22-8

Match Article (Asegarce)

Full Match Video (EITB) (match begins at 52 minutes, 15 seconds on the recording)

Oliazola-Albisu 2-0
Urrutikoetxea-Untoria 1-1
Ezkurdia-Zubieta 0-2

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Mano--Strategy and Tactics for beating Irribarria at this game--Was Bengoetxea VI on to something?

Full Match Video for Buruz Buruko Final--Irribarria v Urrutikotxea (Source: EITB)

I thought it would be interesting to look at this match strategically and tactically. Was there anything that anyone could have done to defeat Irribarria. For a small part of the semi-final between Irribarria and Bengoetxea VI at Astelena Fronton (1) (2) Eibar, Bengoetxea VI showed one way to contend with Irribarria. That match was discussed in the May 12-18, 19-25 Report but it might be revealing to take another look at part of it, specifically the part in which Bengoetxea VI rallied from a 9-3 deficit to take a 10-9 lead.

That match is linked to here (Source: EITB).

The part that is relevant to this discussion takes place between 1 hour, 2 minutes, 15 seconds and 1:10:10 of the recording. If we put forth the proposition that the way to beat Irribarria is to keep him from using his left hand, we can test this proposition by watching this 8 minute segment. The numbers below indicate the number of times Irribarria used his left and right hand in this sequence.

Irribaria serving, ahead 9-3.  Irribaria left hand: 2;  right hand: 1  B wins point. 9-4

B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE to serve but serves back to the left side. Irribaria uses left hand 1. Confused, Irribarria is beaten on his left hand side and the service ace goes to B. 9-5

B serving. B serves normally, from the right side. In the ensuing volley, Irribarria uses his left hand for every shot (4), the last shot being a titanic underhand steam shovel shot that crashes into the ceiling, hits the floor, and rolls almost to the back of the court. EITB makes a point of following the ball at the end of its roll. The sound of the ball hitting the ceiling is clearly audible. Point to B. 9-6.

B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE to serve and serves to Irribarria's right. Irribarria fails to return the serve with his right hand (1). Service ace to B. 9-7.

At this point Irribarria or his botillero (mentor, coach) call a time out to think things over.

B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and serves to Irribarria's right. Irribarria returns with right (1) but hits the ball off the court. Service ace to B. 9-8.

B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and serves back to Irribarria's left. A rally ensues in which Irribarria uses his left (2) and right (2). His second right handed shot goes off the court. 9-9.

Another time out ensues, though it is unclear who has called this one.

B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and again serves back to Irribaria's left side. In the volley that ensues, B now looks as if he wants Irribaria to use his left hand and Irribaria looks like he is no longer interested in long, high shots. Five times in the course of the point, from serve to finish,  B draws Irribaria into a left handed shot on the left side of the court. (5). Irribaria uses his right hand once (1). After the fifth left handed shot, as Irribaria is set up exactly where B wants him to be on the left side, B launches a perfect two wall (side to back) winner that Irribaria has no chance to get.  The winner puts B ahead for the first time in the match, 10-9. Irribarria shoots a confused look at his botillero as he retreats to the back of the court for the next point.

B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE  and serves to Irribaria's right. In the ensuing rally Irribaria has to use his right hand twice (2), once to return the serve, and once to make an incredible save on the apron returning the second consecutive two wall shot that B delivers. He uses his left hand once (1) to get off a high but not deep shot. When B tries to emulate this with one of his own, he slightly miscalculates and hits the ball too high. 10-10. Instead of 11-9. And more importantly, he loses the serve. He never regains it. Irribarria survives the scare and wins the match convincingly.

Let us take a closer look at these 8 points.

Irribaria uses his left hand 15 times, his right hand 8 times. Twice he is aced on his left hand side due to the angle from which Bengoetxea VI served the ball to the left from the left.  Twice he is aced on his right side from Bengoetxea VI's serves from the left side. Two other times he loses the  point directly after using his right hand. During the sequence Bengoetxea VI serves from the left side six times. By the end of the sequence Bengoetxea VI is actually working Irribarria to his left side, setting him up for two wall winners. He missed by inches of having a two point lead, 8 consecutive points, and retaining the serve. It is a testament to just how good Irribarria was in this tournament that once he regained the serve, he knew he couldn't give it back. Knowing that and executing it are two different things, especially for a 19 year old in one of Mano's brightest spotlights. His response was magnificent. But note that during the sequence, Bengoetxea VI forced him to use his right hand more than 1/3 of the time. And Bengoetxea VI was able to neutralize Irribarria's left hand either on service aces or setting the youngster up for two wall shots.

One would have expected Urrutikotxea to take notice of this in his preparation for the match. Making Irribarria play with his right hand will yield dividends. But Urrutikotxea, for the most part, didn't do this. The second time I watched the match I watched it only to take account of the number of shots Irribarria used each hand for.

Below are my findings:

Irribarria wins toss and serves

Key: server, number of Irribaria's left and right hand shots (serves included), result of the point, leader in the match.


I  4  2  1-0 I
I  4  1  1-1
U 4  5   2-1 I
I   3  0  3-1 I
I   4  2  3-2 I
U  5  0  4-2 I
I   5  2  5-2 I
I   6  2  6-2 I
I   1  0  7-2 I
I   1  0  8-2 I
I   6  2  9-2 I
I   4  2  9-3 I
U  1 0   9-4 I
U  1 0   9-5 I
U  2 0   10-5 I
I    2 0   10-6 I
U   2 3  11-6 I
I    3  0   11-7 I
U   4  1  11-8 I
U   6  2  12-8 I
I     1  0  12-9 I
U   1  0   13-9 I
I    1  0   13-10
U   1  0  14-10 I
I    5  3  15-10 I
I    1  1  15-11 I
U   4  0  16-11 I
I     4  0  16-12 I
U   4  1  16-13 I
U   1  0  17-13 I
I     1  0  18-13 I
I     2  0  19-13 I
I     3  4  20-13 I
I     5  3  21-13 I
I     2  0  22-13 I

22-13

Irribarria used his left hand (including serves) 104 times. He used his right hand 36 times. Or a ratio of almost 3 to 1. He won with his left hand 10 times, along with 3 aces, for a total of 13 winners (of course these are my judgements and as such are completely subjective). He won with his right hand 2 times. It seems that this was a strategic blunder on the part of Urrutikotxea. From a close viewing of the match, it appears that Urrutikotxea felt that if he played his normal game he could win. Urrutikotxea made, according to Asegarce, 7 errors  (the same number as Irribarria), which was decidedly not his normal game. Had Urrutikotxea played a better fundamental game, the match might have been more competitive. But letting Irribarria play with the hand he preferred, I would argue, was a recipe for disaster.

For a last word on the Buruz Buruko see the Esku Pilota article here. Beautifully written by Roland Machinaud, the article describes the importance of the match and its main tactical and strategic threads. But most interesting is the conclusion, where M. Machinaud compares "mur a gauche" South Basque Mano to "trinquet" North Basque Main Nue. His conclusions are predictable, but his arguments are powerful. I love both forms, but I am inclined to agree with his assessment of the "hundreds of ways" of the trinquet, the "gladiators" v "artists".

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Mano--San Fermin 4 1/2--Where have we seen this before?

Where had we seen a match like this before? Twice, within the last year, Urrutikoetxea has mounted improbable comebacks, one against this opponent, the other in late 2015

1st. Urrutikoetxea 22, Ezkurdia 19, in the Buruz Buruko Txapelketa on May 1, 2016

Full Match Video: Scroll to 01/05/2016 Bilbao. Note that this match will be on P. 1 or P. 2 of the scroll now. It will keep moving lower as more matches are added to the Fronton.tv archive. Always use the date, players, and fronton to guide you. It is a fairly easy process, and the only way to get at these matches directly.

2nd. Urrutikoetxea 22, Mtz. de Irujo 20 in the 2015 Campeonato del 4 1/2: Final.

Full Match Video: Scroll to 29/11/2015 Bilbao. Note that this match is on P. 5 of the scroll now.

We have pointed to both these matches in earlier reports, but I think it is instructive to see them again here, along with the original (match begins at 46 minutes, 5 seconds on the recording). Watch all three and you begin to see just how good a player Urrutikoetxea is. In the first match against Ezkurdia he trailed most of the match and had to come back from 11-17. In the earlier final, he made an even bigger comeback, from down 10-20. And in this San Fermin final he trailed 5-15 and  9-18 before coming back to win by the narrowest of margins. Even the finest players are not supposed to win from these positions. He does it under the greatest pressure,the brightest lights, almost regularly. It is astonishing.

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Mano--San Fermin 4 1/2--Bengoetxea VI v Victor match article and scoring a match

Full Match Video (source: EITB)

The San Fermin Lau  eta Erdiko (Quatro y Medio--4 1/2) Tournament got underway on June 4, 2016 with an emphatic victory for Bengoetxea VI.

Match Linescore (winner listed first).

0-1; 8-1; 8-3; 15-3; 15-4; 17-4; 17-6; 18-6; 18-9; 20-9; 20-10; 22-10

The linescore shows a dominant performance by Bengoetxea VI from the very outset. The first point consumed 21 balls in play before Victor won the point with a beautiful 2 wall (side-front) winner. But that was the only time he led in the entire match. Bengoetxea VI's 8 point run was fueled by three Victor errors, his 7 point run by four more, an ongoing theme in this match. Victor made 11 errors. If you give your opponent half the points needed for victory, he will win the vast majority of the time. A microcosm of this match can be seen in the point that began at 17-6 (44:32 on the recording linked to). The point began with Victor having just scored two points, cutting his deficit to 11. It lasted 44 seconds and consumed 16 balls in play. It ended, after some excellent play by Victor, with an unforced error.

This form of the game is interesting in that you will see more of a variety of shots than in other forms. Because the length of the court is cut so drastically, players have to be creative with how they move the ball around. There were a lot of two wall shots, not only side to back, but, going left, back to side. Having the ball hit the side wall so low that it can't be returned (called a txik-txak if it bounces and a chula if it rolls out) is a shot that is often attempted in this form.

There was one other feature of this match that was notable. If you are new to scoring in Mano, you can use this match as a sort of Rosetta Stone. I had questions about what was considered a ball in play. I counted them myself as I watched the match. Two or three times during play the number was given on screen. And at the end the number was given for the match. It turns out that on EITB balls in play are counted exactly the way I count them. That is, only balls that hit the wall and are kept in play are counted.

As far as scoring (eginaks (winners) and galduaks (errors)) watch this match closely. For the first time I can recall since I've been watching pelota matches on EITB, the winners were listed graphically as they happened. EITB has always graphically listed winners in its Mano telecasts, but never had I seen this done as it happened. Seeing a small animation of the type of winner allows the non-Basque (or Spanish or French for that matter) speaker to understand exactly what type of shot it was. And seeing winners listed as they happened gave me a much better picture of how a winner is judged. If you have been reading this blog, you know that I am very liberal in my judgment of winners. EITB (and, I assume other scorers) are not quite so liberal. They have vast experience doing this. I do not. This was a tremendously valuable learning experience for me. It will be for you too if you pay close attention. If EITB doesn't list a winner, then you can assume that the point was lost through an error. Note also that EITB always gives the server an ace if the serve is not returned, even if the ace is caused by an obvious return error, as was the case on the last point of the match. Victor's return of an innocuous Bengoetxea VI serve hit far above the line at the top of the front wall. So far that the frustrated Victor waited for it to come down and then smashed it again, this time in play, before stopping to congratulate Bengoetxea VI.

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Mano--Differences between Lau eta Erdiko (Quattro y Medio--4 1/2 and traditional singles Mano

A few words about the 4 1/2 form of the singles game. It is played on the same 36 meter short court as the traditional form of the singles game, with two crucial differences.

 Serves have to land between the 3 and 5 line instead of the 4 and 7 line.

Balls in play during rallies must land inside a line that is set up half way between the 4 and 5 line (hence the name 4 1/2). This is approximately 40 to 50 feet from the front wall. What these two rules do is cut the length of the court drastically. The kind of power shots that Irribarria used so effectively in the Buruz Buruko Txapelketa (see below) are out of bounds in this form. 4 1/2 emphasizes speed and shot making. It could be argued that it is more of a finesse game than the traditional singles game. A game that should fit in nicely with the skills demonstrated by Oliazola II in the recently completed Campeonato de Parejas (Doubles) championship  covered in the March and April Weekly reports. San Fermin is a seeded tournament designed to pit an Asegarce player against an ASPE player in the final,

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