by Guy Cipriano
DSR posted recently comments from Mr. Robert Hanscom in response to observations on the state of softball singles squash in America, which I’d dashed off four or five years ago. One of the topics addressed was the level of adult tournament play.
Here is an interesting point for the consideration of your readers:
In 1980 the National Championships were held on 15-18 February in Princeton, NJ. That’s 33 years ago.
There were 47 men in the A division and there were 48 women in the A division.
Yesterday DSR posted the 2013 national championship draws:
16 in the Men's division and 8 in the Women's division.
In the 1980 Men’s age group draws there were 49 in the 35+, 56 (!) in the 40+, 39 in the 45+, 38 in the 50+, 32 in the 55+, and 16 in the 60+ . 60+ was the highest age group competition.
There was also a five-person men’s team championship in which there were 21 teams with a total of 105 players. In addition there were two women’s age group draws with 16 in the 35+ and 8 in the 40+.
It’s self-evident that the level of junior play at every level and in every division has exploded . Everybody associated with squash should be overjoyed with that wonderful trend. I understand that there were to be approximately 1050 players in the high school team championships which had to be canceled due to bad weather several weeks ago.
That having been said, the level of adult tournament participation can also be judged by the numbers, and to paraphrase Coach Bill Parcells, You Are What The Numbers Say You Are.
This really does beg the question...why do so few junior players in America carry on playing squash after leaving education and the junior ranks?
ReplyDeleteIt is very different in the Uk where most clubs have far more senior players than juniors. The recent Nationals here had a main draw of 32 and a qualifying event of over 70 trying to get into the main draw.
I think the fantastic number of juniors playing in USA is misleading maybe as so many of these kids are playing just to help get into a good school/university and this is the pinnacle of their squash ambition. The juniors in Uk generally join clubs and carry on playing into adulthood.
People stop playing because there are so few places to play once you are an adult. Unlike the UK, Canada, Australia, NZ.
ReplyDeletehurray for this comment! I applaud the entrepreneurs who have managed to open new clubs with new courts. I would like to see ussquash do a lot more to help other like-minded squash enthusiasts create courts in places where there aren't (m)any.
DeleteNot sure if the college players love the sport. We've organized the heck out of youth sports. No one doing anything spontaneous without parents directing things except playing basketball. When they get out of college they can take or leave squash because they probably never came to it on their own enough to develop a passion.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers are admittedly alarming but 1980 was Hardball --- More shooting and easier on the body.
ReplyDelete