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Comments can be added directly to existing posts by clicking on "comments".<br><br><a href="http://dailysquashreport.com/"><b>Back To Main</b></a>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-62697933165390247912022-07-13T22:41:00.000-04:002022-07-13T22:41:08.352-04:00Pete Bostwick Remembered, ForumDailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-66725132303530837862018-12-09T17:24:00.000-05:002018-12-09T17:24:09.335-05:00Sasha Cooke Weighs in on the State of College Squash<b>In my view we've got entire teams made up of foreign recruits essentially on sports scholarships, many well past the age of ordinary college students, many of whom took as much money as they could get for their extensive pro forays. </b><br />
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<b>It's so far from the ideals of Ivy or NESCAC sports that it's unrecognizable. </b><br />
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<b>When there are abuses in NCAA football the NCAA is there to police them. When people skirt the very limits of the rules, all the other teams have the same opportunities. </b><br />
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<b>But we have a situation where a team's success depends on the willingness of the school's administration to go outside their core mission and to pervert the souls of their institutions.</b><br />
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<b>Schools that aren't willing to do this can't compete. </b><br />
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<b>As I see it, the CSA allowed a few obvious abuses 25 years ago and more, and these have metastasized so that more schools are being drawn into an unhealthy arms race. Falsus in unum... </b><br />
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<b>The excuse in football was always that it brought in alumni dollars. Bowen's book exploded that little myth, so no one can possibly believe it to hold true in squash. </b><br />
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<b>I have zero faith that anyone among the CSA coaches or the non-coaching members of the board can fix this because they're still not willing to say that much of what Trinity has done has been destructive of the principles under which NESCAC sports are meant to be played. </b><br />
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<b>If you try to tiptoe around Trinity and indeed celebrate their accomplishments, you simply can't address the big issues. </b><br />
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<b>Going after nickle-and-dime stuff, like a coach possibly contacting a recruit before the rules allow it (and I'm sure the current coach in question has some defense), or disciplining a player for committing an apparel violation, is like trying to cure AIDS with aspirin. </b><br />
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<b>Again, at least in football you have thousands at the games and it's a hundred year old tradition to have homecoming games for all alumni. It's even a hundred year old tradition to have recruiting excesses. </b><br />
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<b>That doesn't make them right, but it makes them understandable. Squash was the Girls' Egg and Spoon, and now we've got Jim Brown out there with his thumb on the egg.</b><br />
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DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-20749910362240575792018-06-22T00:33:00.003-04:002018-06-22T00:33:52.820-04:00 “Where Are The Public Doubles Courts?” by Guy Cipriano<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read the listing of SDA pro doubles tournaments on DSR today.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there was a notation that said “ Where Are The Public Courts?”</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only public doubles courts of which I’m aware in the USA are at</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meadow Mill, MD</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chelsea Piers, CT</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Marblehead YMCA north of Boston</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charleston SC-</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Commodore SC – MN</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Chicago Urban Squash facility</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boars Head Sports Club in Charlottesville VA</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greate Bay RC, Somers Point NJ</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could be missing one or two, but there aren’t many other public doubles courts, and possibly there are zero.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And these clubs are not geared up to host a big pro doubles tournament.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They don’t have the facilities and they don’t have the money to underwrite the costs. </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The starkness of the rubble graphically conveys what has happened to the once-magnificent (14 courts!) Uptown Racquet Club and, by extension, to the whole phenomenon of commercial squash in New York. For decades, Uptown, with its stable of exceptional pros (Stu Goldstein and Nancy Gengler prominently among them), was the face of squash's expansion to the many, even the masses. As social experiments go, it should always be remembered as an ambitious and grand one --- even though ultimately, it failed.</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">photo Eric Christiansen </b>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-530464324076239702017-08-30T15:02:00.001-04:002017-08-30T15:03:23.708-04:00You Make The Call<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/alexwanyp/status/902744786398048258">https://twitter.com/alexwanyp/status/902744786398048258</a></span></b>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-26506494834049908582017-08-30T13:40:00.000-04:002017-08-30T13:40:54.367-04:00Any Tennis Refs Out There?<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Ted Gross</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shouldn't Maria Sharapova have been penalized for a time violation before the start of the third set in her 1st round US Open match?</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She apparently exceeded the 5-minute time allotment.<br /><br />Even in junior tennis, players typically are penalized one game for similar violations.</span></b><br />
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<br />DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-9486916746024243402017-03-09T12:02:00.000-05:002017-03-09T12:28:13.408-05:00Competitive Club Squash in the US is Confirmed Dead<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> by Ted Gross</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another US 'Nationals' is underway. If you go out on a limb and call it that.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Men's 35's with FIVE players participating.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Women's 35's with ZERO players.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Women's 40's with ZERO players.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Presenting a national championship with barely any players is only detrimental to the sport, and US Squash should retire the event.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Clearly, few, if any college players are interested in competing after they graduate.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The game is not enjoyable enough.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The ball is too slow.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The scoring system is too dull.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Traveling and committing a weekend to it is a positively dreary prospect.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can't blame the non-players. They got it right.</span></span></b><br />
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DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-50313901862971314962016-03-04T20:40:00.000-05:002016-03-04T20:40:30.672-05:00Letter to the Editor re 'Women's Matches Too Short to Justify Equal Money'<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">March 3, 2016</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ted</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It must also be true that they practice less too. Seriously though it is one thing to be provocative, at times foolishly so, as you can be. But it is something else entirely to stand on the wrong side of history, uncomprehending of the fact that equality will just look and be different from the unequal and unjust present. I vote for equality and justice Ted. You can too.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Jim Coddington</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-61136730115414380102016-01-28T18:41:00.000-05:002016-01-28T18:41:35.172-05:00Critique of American Men's College Squash Off the Mark <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Sasha Cooke</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ted Gross's piece bemoaning the paucity of Americans on top intercollegiate Squash teams misses the point by a wide mark, although this is understandable, given the odd nature of the situation. He writes,"My guess is this isn’t how the Heights Casino parents, among others, envisioned things playing out when the juniors and colleges switched from hardball to softball, but that’s another story." In fact, the switch to softball has little to do with the trend toward recruitment of foreign players. Anil Nayar, Darius Pandole, Cyrus Mehta, Tal Ben-Shakar and others long ago proved that international players could be key contributors to championship teams with the hard ball. Most tellingly, in the mid-80's the F&M team, with three Indian players in their top four, came within one point of beating Harvard. Why didn't the F& M coach think of recruiting two or three more and winning the thing hands down, as Trinity did just a few years later? The answer lies, as it so often does, in Deep Throat's admonition, "Follow the money."</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>For many years the biggest story in collegiate squash has been, of course, the dominance of Trinity. Squash publications and newspapers like the New York Times have described the decision made by the president of Trinity and Paul Assaiante to build a championship squash team. The purpose of this venture was to associate Trinity with the traditional champions of collegiate squash, Harvard, Princeton and Yale, as part of a broader bid to improve the standard of applicants to the college. According to articles I've seen in the past few years, this has been successful. It is well deserved; Trinity is a superb institution which had become temporarily less popular, partly owing to the difficulties Hartford was facing. If Squash has contributed to improving their admissions pool, well done.</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The key to the strategy was foreign recruiting. In 2011 the NY Times reported, "It has been 15 years since that short conversation, at which Dobelle gave Assaiante the go-ahead to canvass the globe for players. " The question readers should have asked is,"Why did he need a go-ahead?" Coaches had been recruiting foreign players for a long time, Trinity had numerous foreign students already. </b><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Schools in NESCAC, (Trinity's athletic conference) and the Ivy League together make up the traditional bulk of collegiate squash, though the game has expanded considerably recently. These schools do not allow sports scholarships, and by and large they do not offer academic scholarships, though there are exceptions. Instead they offer financial aid to ALL needy students, regardless of the reasons for which they were given admission- exceptional achievement in academics, sports, community service and so forth. These schools do their best to be need- blind. That is to say they do not look at how much aid an applicant will require until AFTER they have accepted them. (In recent years, as costs have sky-rocketed, some schools have been forced to abandon this laudable goal.) Sadly, most of these schools, Trinity included (this is clearly stated on the Trinity web site), are NOT need-blind for foreign students. They simply cannot afford this luxury. They have to factor a foreign student's ability to pay into the equation.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Foreign students almost invariably need financial aid. U.S. colleges and universities cost up to four times what similar institutions in other countries do. Some countries have even had currency export restrictions. (I believe India, where so many of the early foreign squash players came from, used to.) I have known coaches at extremely wealthy schools to be told by Admissions, "You already have one foreign player, we can't afford another." The only "go-ahead" Dobell could have given Assaiante, who was already free to contact any student he wished, is something along the lines of, "You find the players, and I'll figure out how to pay for them."</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the early years of Trinity's ascension I was the coach at Wesleyan. I refused to play Trinity on the grounds that they were offering de facto sports scholarships. I argued to my A.D., who at first insisted I honor our contract to play, and to Paul Assaiante, that it's unfair for a school to decide that while they are not need-blind to the ordinary foreign applicant pool, they will be need-blind to foreign Squash players. My decision meant little to Trinity- they'd been thumping us for decades! </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I was never an aggressive recruiter, but I recall one day getting a letter from an overseas applicant who was a superb student and would be an instant number 1 player. He had friends at Wesleyan and thought it would be the perfect school. I made one of my rare calls to admissions, and virtually the first words out of my contact's mouth were, "Can he pay?" It's not that I didn't have a fine school to attract this student- I didn't have the money. Trinity had the money. At the time I thought that was unfair, and I argued that a sensible reading of the NESCAC rules which embraced the spirit of the prohibition on athletic scholarships supported this position. I thought that it was only because Squash was not an NCAA sport that Trinity could get way with it. Surely if a Division III team showed up to a cross country meet with five Kenyans the NCAA would question how they payed their tuition fees.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In the two decades since, I've been proved wrong countless times in the court of public opinion, and, apparently, in the discussions of NESCAC Athletic Directors. I will mention, though, that 10 or 12 years ago I was at a squash related event in New York City where I heard a former Trinity player expressing his gratitude for what he called a "Squash scholarship," though he was, of course, mistaken.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Whether you call it financial aid or a Squash scholarship, the fact remains that a school that is willing to assume the financial burden can field a powerful team, and more schools are making the decision to do this. I can't comment on their motivations, but perhaps, as Trinity did, they want to be mentioned in the same breath as the Ivies. (Of course the Ivies are no longer necessarily the teams that they will need to conquer, and it is certainly no disrespect to Trinity to say that it doesn't carry quite the same cachet to be coupled with them as with Harvard!) I never for a second bought Assaiante's suggestion that foreign students picked Trinity over other schools because parents trust him more than other coaches to look after their kids. It was always Financial Aid. The increasing numbers who feel safe at other schools these days seem to bear me out. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Unlike Ted though, I think the influx of foreign players can only be good for U.S. Squash, and good for the schools they attend. As Assaiante has said on many occasions, the players are typically excellent students who feel a deep responsibility to their parents and gratitude to the school, and thus treat the team and their academics as serious enterprises, something not every young American does, (myself a particularly shameful case in point all those years ago!) Trinity's players are notable for their sportsmanship and their presentation. In addition overseas recruiting has made it possible for a variety of schools to compete at the top level, which may in time contribute to diminishing the elitist image of the sport.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Nonetheless, when I read one of those heartwarming stories of poor children from the toughest circumstances making it to an elite educational institution in the U.S. I always wonder how many more could be given that opportunity if the scant financial aid money for foreign students weren't diverted to other purposes. Don't forget that Squash is an expensive sport in most countries, we're not exactly opening doors to the needy. Of course I always used to wonder how people could oppose Affirmative Action, which aims to right an ancient and ongoing horror, but find nothing wrong with giving an admissions boost to a kid who plays a sport of which only the wealthy have even heard.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-63434314673182289302015-12-10T00:18:00.000-05:002015-12-10T00:18:14.101-05:00Sasha Cooke Weighs in On Clock Proposal for Women's Pro Squash<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Squash players have always been justifiably proud of the sport's grueling nature- they love to tell other athletes how much more suffering goes on in high level squash than in tennis or badminton. It's hard to make that argument if one top ten woman can beat another in 22 minutes.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took Ted Gross's running clock piece as satire intended to re-open the tin debate. (After all a clock will not reintroduce drama or hard rallies- if someone is well ahead with a few minutes to play the opponent will have to go for still more short cheap points to have any chance. ) </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm astonished at the angry reactions. People don't seem to be thinking about this from a professional perspective. If four quarter final matches barely total 2 hours how do you justify ticket prices? Gross didn't say the women don't work hard or play well- simply that the matches are too damn short. If they were bad or lazy players, shouldn't we prefer short matches? (Old Punch cartoon --- First lady: This food is terrible. Second: Yes, and the portions are too small.)</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A month ago in the same week it took the number 1 man 42 minutes to beat a wild card, but only 32 for the number 20 woman to beat the number 1. That shows a problem not in depth or quality of play, but simply in length. If pro squash is truly a professional "product", not merely a system of patronage (matronage?), it needs to make that product attractive. That's why the men changed the scoring and lowered the tin.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The WNBA is having some success selling their product and the women use a ball that's an inch smaller. Even with the old tin you didn't as often see the women having exchanges of 4 or 5 drops, which fans find very entertaining (as in that viral rally Ramy and Elshorbagy had in Qatar). This is simply because if a re-drop is really good, the women are seldom quick enough to cover it (Nicole excepted) and if it's bad, the opponent can put it away in the back. This is a matter of practical reality, not of debate about inadvertent (or vertent) sexism. Women's squash needs to be as compelling as possible if it's to sell tickets. Most squash fans are players. They like long rallies and appreciate the physical battle created by many consecutive long rallies, although most will agree that the faster pace of the modern game is better than the purely attritional matches of the past. Right now women's matches are arguably too short. Why is it not fair to make this point? </span></b><br />
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DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-37935100518819450372015-07-11T23:32:00.000-04:002015-07-12T00:46:53.621-04:00In Response to Willstrop & Ferez: Tennis Is Vastly More Technically Difficult Than Squash<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Sasha Cooke</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>To steal a line from Mark Twain's remarks on Fenimore Cooper, it seems to me that it was far from right for Ferez Nallaseth to deliver opinions about tennis without having played some of it. It would have been more decorous to keep silent and let persons talk who have played both games.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tennis is vastly more technically difficult than squash. Period. This is a simple matter of empirical fact, not subject to Ferez's speculations about cumulative angles or whatnot. There are MANY tennis players who have taken up squash at University or later and become quite proficient. I have never encountered nor heard of a single example of the reverse. Niederhoffer won the junior championship in squash after a couple of month's playing. Even all those years ago nobody could have done that in tennis.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I have had a number of squash students who could do rudimentary versions of complex squash drills such as boast-drop-drive their first day on the court. Seldom have I seen a player sustain a decent baseline rally his or her first day on the tennis court. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In the matter of Sharif, I had a friend who visited the rackets championships and said it was quite obvious that Sharif was the only competitor among the non tennis players who HAD played serious tennis, and, tennis being as difficult as it is, that put Sharif streets ahead of the rest. The racquetball was, of course, a shoe-in for him. That gave him two sports in the bag. I don't want to take anything away from Sharif, but it's simply true that a non-tennis player, even one who is at a high level in another racket sport, cannot hit two balls into the court.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>At the top level there have always been a few world class athletes in squash, and I think the numbers are growing much deeper. Nonetheless, anyone who even watches sports can tell that the levels of natural and acquired ability run far deeper on the tennis tour than they do on the squash circuit. How could that not be the case when there are exponentially more tennis players AND exponentially more prize money in the sport? I admire James Willstrop, but gosh, Ferez, do you really imagine him in the final four at Wimbledon? When Willstrop would get a win against Ramy he did it by using the side walls to take the athleticism OUT of the game. You can't do that in modern tennis.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I love squash, and it has the advantage over tennis that it can be great fun for the only moderately proficient. It also provides far more vigorous exercise until you get to a very high level of tennis. The enclosed space provides an intensity not felt in all but the very best tennis matches. Let's celebrate squash for what it is without feeling the need to give it an entirely fictitious nod in the area of technical difficulty.</b></span><br />
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DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-81672043170891302242015-03-12T15:57:00.001-04:002015-03-12T23:37:00.901-04:00Nationals Numbers Should Alarm US Squash Executives <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Ted Gross</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A simple comparison of the number of entries in last month's British Nationals and this weekend's US Nationals should alarm everyone associated with promoting the sport in the United States.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Women's Open: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>British: 16 draw with 16 qualifier</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>US: 8</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A total of 8 women enter the national championships!</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Men's Open:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>British: 32 draw with a 44-man qualifier</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>US: 16</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>16 players in your national championship and you are trying to go to the Olympics? </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Men's 35's:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>British: 20</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>US: 4</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You can't even set up a draw in the national championship - you are reduced to a round robin!</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Women's 35's</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>British: 8 </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>US: 0</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>8 in the British Nationals 35's is dismal as well, but ZERO?</b></span><br />
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<br />DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-58016981583806734982014-10-15T14:21:00.000-04:002014-10-15T16:14:38.659-04:00US Squash and the 'Subsequent Transition': What a Bunch of Nonsense<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Ted Gross</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer story on the US Open bought into the company line that's been used for the last 25 years to excuse away poor results on the part of American players.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>"The subsequent transition, slow and costly, helps explain why at this week's 2014 U.S. Open, being contested at Drexel University's Daskalakis Athletic Center, no U.S. men or women reached the round of 16."</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Yes. No American men or women survived the first round of their own national tournament.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>No. There are many reasons why American pros as a group continue to perform at a sub-world-class standard, but a 'slow and costly transition' is not one of them.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>If that's how US Squash sees it, the American game is in the wrong hands.</b></span><br />
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<br />DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-59390579129110903182014-07-08T23:13:00.000-04:002014-07-08T23:13:40.545-04:00World Masters Looking Like A Joke<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Ted Gross</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>If you thought junior matches were abnormally short, you should check out the current World Masters.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Through yesterday's play, representing four days of action and approximately 1,000 matches completed:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I found only 31 matches that lasted longer than 40 minutes, and I found only 2 matches that lasted longer than 1 hour.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>This means 97% of all matches played thus far in Hong Kong couldn't break the 40 minute mark, and more than 99% of all matches played could not break the one hour barrier.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Worse, it appears that the majority of matches played did not last half an hour.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>And a sizable percentage of those did not even survive the 20 minute mark.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In many cases, the pre-match stretching and warm-up lasted longer than the match!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Masters' players as a whole are not fast enough or fit enough to play competitive squash in its current form.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The UK Racketball version of squash would be much more appropriate for this group, but at the very least a faster ball and better scoring system need to be implemented ASAP to stop the bleeding in what is currently an embarrassing event.</b></span><br />
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DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-60273483342030484142014-05-26T23:14:00.000-04:002014-05-26T23:14:19.405-04:00Arif Sarfraz Remembered, Forum<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thanks for posting the fine note about Arif. I practiced with him and played along side him for three years. He was a great teammate.... Enthusiastic... Hard worker.. supported lower ranked mates.. Competed with great joy...without rancor or anger.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Here's a little story....I had not talked with Arif in many years, when my brother Tom died... A week or so later I got a call from London. It was Arif to express his condolences... Of course he'd played with Tom at Princeton. But the great kicker was... he said he had someone with him who also wanted to say how sorry he was at the news... It was Jahangir Khan.... Who wanted to share some wonderful stories about playing Tom when he and some of the other internationals would come over in those days for our bigger events. The stories were great.....I am sure Arif knew I wouldn't have known them from that perspective and it was really a wonderful gesture for Arif to have made that happen (pretty nice of Jahangir too)...</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Anyhow, thanks again</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>David Page</b></span>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-833547176924072462014-03-07T23:32:00.000-05:002014-03-07T23:44:51.072-05:00US Nationals: Is This What Progress Looks Like?<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Guy Cipriano</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1987 the National Singles championships were held in greater Philadelphia. Yes, Virginia, that’s 27 years ago.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I looked up the participants then vs the participants this year.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s Championship : Then 48, now 16</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women’s Championship: then 48, now 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a Men’s 30 + flight then with 29 participants. No such draw now.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 35s: Then 43, now 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women’s 35: then 12, now 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 40s: then 56, now 11</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a women’s 40s draw then with ten entrants- no such draw now.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mens 45s: Then 47, now 18</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Womens 45s- now 7, no draw in 87</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 50s- then 50, now 19</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women’s 50s- then 9, now 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 55s- then 39, now 22</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women’s 55s- now 5, then no draw</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 60s- Then 39, now 12</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 65s- then 10, now 13</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men’s 70s- then 11, now 16</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mens 75+ - then 4, now 8.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was also a 19-team 5 man draw – another 95 participants, but let’s not muddy the waters with that fact.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The total individual participants at the nationals 27 years ago was 455, and now it’s 179.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I have made the point dozens of times , ad nauseum, that adult singles softball play in this nation is in steep decline, while doubles play is high and going higher. The numbers don’t lie. Participation is 39% of what it was 26 years ago. That is a bad situation.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What can be done? I don’t think anything can be done. I think that doubles should be emphasized and nurtured and grown as a separate game and let the singies game for adults die on the vine. The truth is self- evident. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If this is what progress is supposed to look like, somebody needs to check his figures ,because this is what life- support looks like.</span></b>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-10134928680827093052014-03-07T23:25:00.000-05:002014-03-07T23:25:06.381-05:00Simple Instruction to Markers Would Clear Up Foot Faults<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Aubrey Waddy</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> With reference to Geoff McCuen's ‘<a href="http://dailysquashreport.com/3_1_14_geoff.htm">What’s On My Mind</a>’, I agree. I believe that some players gain an advantage by the court location they’re able to reach more easily by footfaulting. It wouldn’t take much for the situation to be cleared up, a simple instruction to markers. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like everyone else, I keep my mouth shut on this when I’m marking, but I do always call foot fault on the admirable jokers who perform reverse angle serves, with the ball hitting the front wall, then the side wall on the service side, then, if they’ve executed well, a horrible parallel bounce along the back wall, parallel. I’ve never seen any of these serves carried out legally, with one foot still in the service box, and it can be an effective shot and therefore genuinely unfair.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PS the photo is of Nick Matthew in his recent semi-final against Daryl Selby in the British Championships in Manchester; I wonder where that left foot is going to be when he hits the ball (and the strike is actually on the receiver’s side of the court)</span></b><br />
<br />
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DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-59563809249088264822014-03-05T20:28:00.001-05:002014-03-05T20:28:40.562-05:00A Reply to James Willstrop on Squash and Racquetball<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by John Branston</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> I have to quibble with
James Willstrop and his free nibbles.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> On his <a href="http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/other-sport/squash/squash-game-continues-to-grow-in-popularity-in-us-1-6474312">blog</a> this week,
he wrote about the Windy City Open in Chicago and gave a shout-out to
the growth of squash in the United States.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> “As well as Chicago,
San Francisco in California and Richmond in Virginia both own big
events again this year, proving that the rest of the country is
catching on to squash. This is despite the fact that when explaining
what squash is to an American who doesn't know, we often resort to
the indignity of stating that it is 'like racquetball.'</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> “Why they would know
racquetball more, I don't know.”</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Ever gracious,
Willstrop praised the hosts and the venue, the University Club of
Chicago, which he unfortunately called the Chicago Athletic Club.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> “Get this: the
changing rooms, or locker rooms, have log fires and serve nibbles.
The club is frequented by the suited and booted business type and is
perhaps a touch male dominated.”</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> I cringed. I sent the
column to a friend who played in the amateur part of the tournament. He reported that he
enjoyed the event and club very much even though he got kicked out of
breakfast for wearing jeans, and while waiting in the lobby one
morning he was escorted to the “casual” room off by itself where
no one could see him because he was wearing tennis shoes. “A touch
male dominated” is right. I notice most of the women's divisions
did not draw any competitors.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Where we play squash,
they got no stinkin' log fires and no stinkin' nibbles. And this, I
suggest, is one of the reasons that racquetball is better known than
squash over here.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Don't get me wrong. I
love James Willstrop. I commend his book and his blog. His
tongue-in-cheek column last week about squash and the Winter Olympics
was spot on. As a writer he would be an asset to any news
organization I worked for in 30 years. When I saw him in Richmond
last year, he was approachable, humble in victory, gracious in
defeat, and faked out Rami Ashour with one of the sweetest moves ever
seen. I plan to shake his hand when I return to Richmond in two
weeks.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> And he and his
countryman Lee Beachill dress like regular guys on the court.
Beachill, as dapper off court as he is scruffy on it, looks like a
racquetball player you might see at the YMCA who assembled his outfit
from the lost-and-found bin. On one of my favorite DVDs, with his
chopped haircut, plain white t-shirt, and two-day beard he could be –
shudder – a handball player.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> In its day,
racquetball at the amateur and professional level was dominated by
eccentrics and players, male and female, who reveled in their
toughness, humble backgrounds, willingness to dive for shots, and
wipe-the-snot-off-your-face attitudes. The locker rooms had benches,
towels, and hot showers. All were welcome, and the game was easy to
play. There were no nibbles, but plenty of pizza, chicken wings and
beer after the match.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> If squash (like
lacrosse) is growing in the USA, then I suspect it is because fancy
colleges are growing, along with the prep schools that feed them.
Perception is reality. Squash's beauty and its limitation is that it
keeps being squash.
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>John Branston is a
squash player in Memphis.</b></span></i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-63902674829738952632014-02-24T20:10:00.000-05:002014-02-24T23:16:21.236-05:00Lack of Drama in TV Squash Part of the Problem<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Aubrey Waddy</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I loved John Branston's "<a href="http://dailysquashreport.com/2_20_14_john.htm">What’s On My Mind</a>" piece this week, and it’s set me thinking. Of course, no revelations, no conclusions! For Memphis, gosh, John paints a sad picture of sports desertification. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>With squash, firstly we need to inspire kids. That achieved, we need the facilities for them to play and the enthusiasts to organise and coach them. Sometime soon I’m going to revisit my plea for more imaginative televising of squash. Youngsters will never be inspired by a succession of inch perfect backhand rails, filmed from behind. It looks easy and where’s the drama?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>And re sports in the UK, to go with the central funding, you have to have the best management. In a reverse way, Squash England has demonstrated that.</b></span><br />
<br />DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-85055387863454764142013-12-21T22:06:00.002-05:002013-12-21T22:06:59.823-05:00Sasha Cooke on JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's Tennis-Themed Holiday Card<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>While I agree entirely that it is grotesque of Dimon and the ultra-rich to flaunt their wealth in the economy they crashed, the picture prompted a memory of what I believe may be the earliest mention of squash in fiction. I don't have a copy here, but in one of the Sommerville and Ross "Irish R.M." stories, Phillipa's neice moves the furniture with one of the McRory boys to play squash in a back room. ( The game makes very little noise as they wind up having rather more fun than that.) The McRory boys are all individually described as,"A bit of a lad, but nothing at all to the next youngest," one of my favorite lines.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Those stories were published around 1902, and I don't think I've encountered any earlier mentions of the game.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Anyone got one?</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Cheers, Sasha</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-22702200867501934992013-11-04T21:17:00.000-05:002013-11-04T21:17:36.675-05:00Ferez Nallaseth Responds to Richard Millman on 'Are Dumb Jocks Really Nerds'<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>This is in response to Richard Millman's comment on the Daily Squash Report published on 10/29/2013. Richard and I agree on many things and we value his many contributions to Squash! But perhaps it should be noted that the authors Professors Jason Stanley and John W. Krakauer of the NYT article 'Are 'Dumb Jocks' really nerds?' are not really disagreeing with him. They are merely applying experimental work to dispel many dated assumptions and stereotypes.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Neuroscientists have always maintained, but are now substantiating in molecular and cellular detail, that various Human activities, (by definition including Squash), are not a zero sumgame of either a 'thinking' (conscious) or 'feeling' (subconscious) process. Rather they are some continuum of the two with the former of course having some influence over the latter! And some of what Richard says, not surprisingly, applies to all fields, not just Squash, as they are regulated by the Motor skills and Sensory perceptions of the Brain. So e.g. a 4 year old Mozart's compositions were considered Musically perfect and the Indian Mathematician Ramanujan's Derivations preceded that of top University Departments by about 100 years and yet he only had a High School Education! Although both activities emerged from some inner recess of the Brain/Mind that neither the Musician nor the Mathematician nor Modern day Neuroscientists could possibly know, let alone understand, the Compositions and Derivations for all their improvisation did fit into the structural framework of their respective disciplines (that were consciously thought out). The same applies to 'thinking' versus 'feeling' your way out of trouble on the Squash Court - the two cannot be separated. The top Players improvise within certain spatial constraints, e.g. mechanics of Strokework, footwork, court sense and probabilities.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We had posted an article where this subject is treated in greater detail - 'Are scientists missing a rich resource in the 'Closed Loops of Clutch Games' and do such things exist?' on our site, some months ago. The link is listed in this link in our comment to the NYT article by Professors Jason Stanley and John W. Krakauer. It supports much of Richard's position while clarifying terms and going beyond them to suggest that Sports and Squash provide as much for understanding the Brain/Mind and Feelings as e.g. Music - High Culture notwithstanding!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/is-the-dumb-jock-really-a-nerd/?comments#permid=10384187</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best regards,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ferez</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ferez S. Nallaseth, Ph.D.</b></span>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-69741660259645467972013-09-10T20:10:00.004-04:002013-09-10T20:10:44.924-04:00Roy Orbison: 'It's Over'<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Guy Cipriano</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Did anybody really believe that squash was going to become an Olympic sport in place of wrestling?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wrestling was an original ancient Greek sport contested in ancient times. That means a great deal.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The IOC is all about money. They want women’s beach volleyball and other sports for which TV advertisers will pay big money for spots.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The sneaker, beer, automotive and soft drink/snack companies are not going to pay big dollars for spots during squash matches.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Few tv viewers knows the players, the sport has a microscopic profile in America, and the USA team would be defeated before the semi finals.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The whole thing was, and remains, a non- starter.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Time to Move On.</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-40857730132252356362013-09-08T21:32:00.000-04:002013-09-08T21:32:01.332-04:00Time to Go on Offense - Boycott the Olympics<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by Steve Hufford</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Is it time for the Olympics to suddenly have 25 million fewer viewers?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Let the IOC play their money games, and let the boycott begin.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>No viewership, no attendance, no sponsorship until squash is in the olympics.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We appear to need some offense to win this match.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>25 million players can make an impact, especially as many of us are in positions of influence.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It can't hurt for the IOC to know there will be repercussions of their decision.</b></span>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-58404477909784222292013-08-29T21:45:00.002-04:002013-08-29T21:45:32.898-04:00Reader: I Love Squash, but Wrestling Belongs in Olympics<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I would be interested to know how many readers of this site would support the inclusion of squash over wrestling. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I love squash (so much that I waste time reading about it since I live in a country where I can't play it) but I don't really believe it belongs in the Olympics more than wrestling. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wrestling is a traditional Olympic sport, and one we never see outside the Olympics. Squash has a pro tour which allows fans to watch the game at the top level, and other tournament venues. (By the same logic I don't see any need for tennis in the Olympics, and certainly not golf- I would argue for squash over either of those.)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I think much of the fervor for squash in the Olympics is driven by the belief that more people will take up the game or watch it if it has the cache of an Olympic sport- but I don't know of any other sport of which this has been true. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I pointed out elsewhere that few Americans participate in rhythmic gymnastics or team handball- inclusion in the Olympics has hardly made these sports massively popular in places where they were not already. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>There are a few amusing stories of people taking up unlikely sports to get into the Olympics, but surely the Jamaican bobsled team didn't lead to a massive development of that sport in Jamaica, nor did Eddie the Eagle inspire his countrymen to take up ski-jumping.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I'd love to see squash in the Olympics, but wrestling belongs there.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sasha Cooke</b></span>DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514415504054752246.post-27434462537924304442013-06-19T01:16:00.000-04:002013-06-19T01:16:48.425-04:00In Response To Will Gens' Critique of the US Men's Team<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>from a reader</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Will Gens jumps around quite a bit but he has the guts to make several points which need to be made. We have all these former world number ones coaching and running academies in the States. Our boys shouldn't be limping home in 12th place and our coach shouldn't be justifying anything.</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />DailySquashReport.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03380320468164157553noreply@blogger.com42