Squashing Limits

It’s been another hectic month with recruiting, preparing for the summer camp as well as running my professional tournament in London. I am glad to report that the Super Series Finals went off without a hitch. Anthony Ricketts and Lee Beachill put on a thrilling final which also saw a bit of controversy around the rules to add a bit of spice. In the end, Ricketts played a tougher match to win his first ever Super Series title.

Since returning from London, I’ve been busy working with my assistants to devise practice cards for our men’s and women’s teams to conduct their own practices during the season. This will hopefully lead to a more complete training program and one where the students can take greater responsiblity for themselves and rely less on the need to have playing partners during the long summer break.

Recruiting for the men’s team is at the top of my agenda and is taking up a large chunk of my time in order to cultivate admissible candidates for the class of 2011. The recruiting on the men’s side – class of 2010 – has not been as fruitful as I would have liked, however the women’s was highly successful with four freshman joining us this fall. Hopefully the admissions committees will see the urgency to view the squash program for the tradition that it has at Harvard and will facilitate in ensuring that the men’s deficit is made up this coming year.

For now, the summer squash camps at Harvard takes priority as I and my staff work to provide the most comprehensive teaching and playing experience for the youngsters that attend this summer. Check out our website www.css-sport.com or pass it onto a friend who may want to try out squash as a new sport or improve if already playing.