Mon 10 Dec 2007
The New York Times has an article today about high school students learning squash to increase their chances of admission at elite colleges. When it comes to football, there are tons of students to pick from; when it comes to squash, there are a lot fewer–hence the strategy.
When I was at Williams, Episcopal Academy was the squash powerhouse prep school–not sure who it is now. And, squash is pretty easy to learn. One of my proudest moments in school was when in my junior year I beat the 7th ranked player in the nation. Admittedly, Don was coming down with a bad case of the flu, and it was the best game of squash I ever played, but hey, I still won–and I had learned only two years before, in a freshman PE class.
Also, Bill Simon ‘73 (the person running for Governor in California until he stepped aside for Schwarzenegger and whose family gave the new squash courts) had never played squash before he got to college, and he was captain of the Williams squash team his senior year.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
How many “tips” does Williams squash have? I guess none. Has Trinity built its squash juggernaut by recruiting or from within?
December 10th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I remember hearing once that Renzi gave one of Lax’s two tips to Squash back in the day. If that is true, then Squash has one more than they would have (and at least one), and Lax has one less.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
My husband and I read this article yesterday. He’s a squash player. We checked out the courts at Williams when we visited.
I seem to remember something in the Record about how the courts there are under-used….Is that right?
December 10th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Frank, I’d say recruiting is a fair bet … once Assaiante (who used to coach at Williams btw) became coach, each year Trinity would enroll several of the best international players from all over the world, and that practice has continued unabated for the past decade … kids from Zimbabwe, Columbia, India, Pakistan, etc. etc. Frankly, most of those kids would probably go to HPY, all of whom are also squash powers, if those schools could get them in, so I am sure Trinity isn’t all that worried about academic standards when someone is in the top 3 junior squash players in the world (as many recent recruits have been). I say hurah for Trinity … adds tremendous diversity (via kids largely from developing countries, where squash is most popular) to a school with a reputation as a safety school for rich, white prep schools kids who don’t get into ivies or W/A, and creates a cool niche for the school. I actually like a lot of stuff Trinity has done lately to break away from its rich/white/northeast/preppy image, including the multinational squash program and the close engagement with its economically depressed neighborhood in Hartford.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
FROSH mom,
I would say the courts are pretty well used during the school year. It wouldn’t be hard to get a court at 11am, but in the hours that most people can play (4:00-8:00) they’re pretty packed. Much of that is the teams playing but I’d say squash is the most popular sport (in terms of playing) Williams among the faculty, staff, and community here. There are also clinics for kids, leagues, etc.
December 10th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
There’s also a budding youth club in Williamstown. Here’s the lede from a recent Transcript article:
Saturday, May 19 WILLIAMSTOWN The path Berkshire Squash took from small, informal group lessons to successful youth athletic club has been dotted with small moments of growth, each with a special meaning for some individual.
For Anna Hogeland, that moment will come sometime next fall, when she joins the women’s varsity squash team at Bates College, becoming the first graduate of Berkshire Squash to “make it.”
For Taylor Foehl, the moment came at Yale University on April 15, when he won the boys’ under-17 division of the U.S. Junior Silver Championships, the second national title for his team.
For Zafi Levy, the head coach of the Williams College squash teams and the founder of Berkshire Squash, the moment probably won’t come for some years, not until Sarah Crosky and Sam Sokolsky-Tifft, his first pupils, join high-profile collegiate squash programs.
Levy and his club have come a long way since he first began giving lessons to Sokolsky-Tifft and Crosky five years ago.
“If you measure the size of the town to the quality of the club, it’s now one of the best in the country,” Levy said with pride.
Berkshire Squash has grown from those original two to around 30 members now, ages 6 to 17. Most of the younger players come only once or twice a week for lessons, but 12 of the kids are part of the more elite travel team, which attends somewhere between seven and 11 major youth tournaments during the year, from Maine down to Maryland.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
They recruit good players from around the world.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
f.uible, the trincoll roster.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
1) I think that you ability to get your son an edge in elite college admissions via squash is limited at best. First, there are many, many talented international players to compete with. Second, many squash players are strong applicants anyway, so admissions breaks aren’t required. Moreover, a squash program like Williams might have one tip a year. But that is enough to make almost half the team be tips, and all the key players (i.e., the top 4). So, again, there is not that much demand.
2) The situation for females is very different, both because fewer girls play squash and almost no internationals.
3) Really want to give your daughter an advantage? Teach her ice hockey. The teams are large and the number of competitors is very small.
4) Interesting to see the evolution of the Williams squash team in terms of competitiveness. In Bill Simon’s ‘73 day, you could never have played and get good enough to be captain. In my day (’88), you could never have played (like me) and make the varsity, but it was very tough to crack, say, the top 5. (I can’t think of anyone who did during my era.) What about now? Is there a single member of the men’s varsity team who did not play squash before coming to Williams? (By the way, does the men’s team really only have 11 players? Back in the day, there were spots for 16 of us (although only the top 10 or so traveled and played in matches).
And excellent article! Thanks to Guy for posting this. Surely all EphBlog reader can agree that we hope Guy posts more often.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
I believe there was a woman on the team last year who didn’t play until getting to Williams. She was, however, a talented tennis player before that which can make a huge difference.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Glad to hear that the courts are active. Squash seems to be so much more popular in the East. I’m not sure why that’s the case. Maybe because of climate? Indoor sport for the East, tennis for the West?
As far as the woman who picked it up so quickly… I so admire an adventurous, can-do spirit. And of course, athletic prowess doesn’t hurt.
December 11th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Competition to gain entry to top schools places an additional burden on parents to creatively exploit ANY perceived gap in the admissions process which other high achieving students may be ignoring. Whether you were the province junior squash champion in Pakistan, Egypt or India or a standout private prep school league football player, students with high achieving extracurricular lives are weighted favorably by admissions departments at the most competitive level. Coupled with this is a trend of these same students to seek tutors to perform even better in classes they are already doing very well in. These students have time deficiencies obviously and are going online to seek on-demand tutoring that fits their already busy schedules. Logically these students seek tutors currently enrolled at, or that graduated from Ivy League schools. Accordingly, http://www.ziizoo.com features US-based tutors that are from top colleges like Harvard, Stanford, or Penn.