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October 4th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press, Video
This week, squash was featured in the mainstream US media as part of a CNN series called “Inside the Middle East”. The story profiles Egyptian World #1 Amr Shabana and the meteoric rise of the sport in Egypt. Watch for interviews with Shabana, Ramy Ashour and PSA COO Alex Gough. Also features footage of the next generation of Egyptian squash on court.
September 29th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
In a few days, Carol and Fred Weymuller will be inducted into the US Squash Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. This past weekend, the D&C ran a great piece by Leo Roth on the couple’s many contributions to our sport:
“…A list of the championship players they’ve coached and past honors they’ve won could stuff a 21-by-32 squash court to the ceiling….”
“…Fred was the head pro at Heights Casino Club and hired Carol, one of the top tennis players in New England, in 1970 after they worked together at a camp in New Hampshire.
Carol starred on the men’s team at Bethany College, once appeared in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” section, and played in the first U.S. Open at Forest Hills. She eagerly welcomed the chance to learn from Fred, a former writer for The Wall Street Journal who had authored the tennis bible Ed Faulkner’s Tennis: How to Play It, How to Teach It….”
“…What they shared was a love for each other, a love for tennis and squash, and a passion for teaching it…”
“…And in the early 1990s, they were among the first in the United States to urge adoption of a softer ball and a larger court so squash in this country would conform to the rest of the world….”
“…As a player, Carol captained two U.S. teams that competed in the squash world championships and she won 11 consecutive Rochester pro titles at one point….”
September 24th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
Read what the head honchos of the financial world have to say about their squash addiction in a recent NYT article titled “Time Out for Tension”. Given recent events, they might as well be putting in extra time on the courts to ease the mounting tensions.
“…SQUASH is: remorseless, self-policing and deeply, if quirkily, moral. A squash match is a test of character as well as skill, of will as much as prowess. It calls for a delicate balance between aggressiveness and sportsmanship, hustle and trust. There are many ways to cheat at squash, most of them subtle and often undetectable. The question, ultimately, is not just how badly one wants to win, but what sort of victory is consonant with one’s dignity….”
“…The unique and, some would say, addictive appeal of squash is based on three things: its speed, its complexity and its intimacy.
The weight of a squash racquet is almost negligible, and the ball zings off it at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour. In tennis, movements tend to be rounded and swings are ”loopy,” circular; squash calls for tight elbows, quick, angular motions, a ”wristy” swing and lightning reflexes. Further, because squash is played in an enclosed space, there’s no time lost fetching the ball between points. Play is virtually continuous, and an hour of squash constitutes a workout roughly equivalent to two hours of tennis. The game’s complexity derives from its being played off four walls - a fact that leads to a dizzying array of shot choices. Most diabolical of all the features of a squash court is the telltale, or tin - a strip of metal 17 inches high on the front wall, beneath which shots may not be hit. The effect of the telltale, essentially, is to limit the opportunity for ”kill shots.” In the absence of shots that are sure winners, combinations of shots become the crucial thing. Positioning, tempo and control of the center are all.
And this, in turn, suggests why squash is such an intimate game. It is highly territorial. No net separates the combatants. Rather, they must vie to hold the center, while at the same time honoring the requirement of ”clearing” to allow the other player his shot. The tension between aggressiveness and politesse turns a squash match into an elaborate, sweaty, revealing dance. And after the dance is over, there are the relaxing digressions of the locker room - a little steam, a little chat, a little informal networking . . . the kinds of intimacies that give the game much of its human pleasure and most of its snob appeal….”. Read the entire article here.
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July 18th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
“What the $%@& is squash?”
If, like me (or Paul Assaiante), you’ve had to field that question more times than you care for, a new set of definitions is on the way. Its no longer “not just a vegetable”. Alex Beam from Vanity Fair lays it out in simple words in his new squash blog. Some interesting facts and excerpts from his Squash 101 lesson:
“…There was a squash court on board the Titanic, and yes, the most important event in the history of mankind “the creation of the atomic bomb” took place in a squash court at the University of Chicago…”
…The New York Times recently called squash “chess in short pants. 
“…If you’re running around the squash court, you’re probably losing. The masters don’t run…”
And a scathing comparison to racquetball (squash snobbery anyone? you know you love it! ):
“…Squash is also very much not racketball. Racketball is squash for the masses, with all that that implies. The racket is short and stubby. The ball is huge, like a pink rubber stoopball or Spaldeen, except usually blue. Racketball is easy to learn and play; the Groton admissions officers are not the gatekeepers of this sport. You play the game in an enclosed box, like a squash court, but there are no red “out†lines—the balls can bounce off the ceiling, an inch above the floor, whatever. Yes, it provides a great, fast, squash-like workout, but celebrates none of the skill and finesse required of the successful squash player. Its not even checkers in short pants, its more like roller derby in your underwear. At least that’s the way we squash players see it. Squash is to racketball as sculling is to kayaking. (A retired tugboat captain at my rowing club calls kayaks “speed bumps” If anyone can do it “what’s the point?”
Read the entire piece at Alex’s Vanity Fair Squash Blog.
And if you’re a real history buff, read up on James Zug’s “Squash: History of the Game” which we have featured before. Here is an excerpt of James’ storytelling from US Squash.
July 10th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
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A couple of months ago the UR team was featured in the college magazine Rochester Review in an article by Ryan Whirty. (The online edition only just went live.) The excellent review walks through the teams evolution since its humble beginnings in the 1940’s with Peter Lyman (pictured on the left with some of the YellowJackets) at the helm, its historic accomplishments and various squash alumni, the impact of former world #4 and current head coach Martin Heath and its return to national prominence in recent years. With at least three top class junior recruits including two US National junior team members joining the squad this fall, the sky is the limit for the Yellowjackets. Watch out for some big home matches this season as the Yellowjackets take on the best in college squash! Read the entire article in the Rochester Review here - Making a “Racket” for Rochester |
April 8th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press, Tournaments
Thanks to Kirsten Carlson from Squashtalk for the excellent coverage:
“Squash symbiosis is all the rage in Rochester, NY. The most prevalent examples stem from last weekend’s Rochester Pro-Am, a PSA satellite tournament that was held at the University of Rochester alongside a four-draw amateur event. Egypt’s Ahmed Hamza won his first PSA title, defeating top seed Patrick Chifunda in four. The tournament, now in its seventh year helps the Rochester SRA grow and the PSA gain notoriety in the area. Members of the increasingly talented University of Rochester men’s squash team get the opportunity to play a pro tournament while their growing fan base is able to see their school’s best players compete against some of the world’s best players……”
Read the entire article @ SquashTalk.Com
February 20th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
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With the Trinity squash team getting some mainstream press recently, the 10 year Streak has attracted some more attention from the local Hartford press. This latest colorful article (and video) has coach Paul Assaiante describing squash as “surgery at 90mph”. Another BBC article describes it as “chess at 100mph”. Got any more interesting analogies? Leave a comment on the bottom right. |
January 16th, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
Having just returned from the Tournament of Champions in New York City last weekend, a handful of us had a chance to watch some members of the Egyptian contingent at Grand Central. A humorous article in the New Yorker rings closer to home describing the close attachment their New York host and her son have developed with these players over the course of their stay in Bronxville, Westchester.
… from the fact that both players, along with two others from Egypt, were bunking at her home in Bronxville, in Westchester. The pro at the Bronxville club, an Egyptian, had arranged for them to stay there. She and her son had grown close to them. The son had declared that he wanted them to stay forever, and the mother, a little like Susan Sarandon in “Bull Durham,†had started attending all their matches….
…He stalked off the court, and the boy and his mother went to console him.
The Rochester ProAm 2008 is coming up in April and every year our hosts graciously open their homes to these charming and personable athletes and even after the event, continue to keep in touch with the professionals.
Read the entire article here.
January 1st, 2008 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
If you read the latest edition of Squash Magazine cover to cover like I did you would have noticed a sign of squash reaching the mainstream (well almost). This article in the Dec/Jan 2008 edition of Men’s Vogue profiles the top two squash players in the world while giving its readership a good introduction to the sport.
July 11th, 2007 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
Rob Dinerman of SquashTalk profiles Carol Weymuller in this recent article and reiterates the Weymullers’ contribution to Rochester squash. Here is the entire article:
…By this latter juncture, she and Fred were well along in the 13 years they spent (from 1980-93) at the Genesee Valley Club in Rochester, where they reprised their Brooklyn mission and similarly established a solid junior program that likewise produced a number of prep-school and college team standouts (among them current USSRA CEO Kevin Klipstein; Princeton star Blair Irwin, who went undefeated in dual-meet play in her college career as a prominent member of two late-1990’s Tiger Howe Cup titles-winning teams; the Gabel brothers, Chris, Jon and Harrison; Junior national champion and Yale standout Whitney Stewart; and 2006 Princeton captain Dent Wilkens) as well as a host of enthusiastic recreational players….
April 20th, 2007 Mithun Mukherjee posted in General, Press
An interesting article from the BBC on the image of squash: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/squash/6492131.stm
visitors since December 2007. © Rochester Squash Racquets Association 2006-2009.