Squash picks up steam

The long-running quip among squash players is that, generally speaking, more people tend to think of the vegetable than the sport when they hear the word squash.

Well, slowly that is beginning to change — especially right here in Charlottesville.

With the addition of two courts at the new downtown ACAC and a planned five-court facility at St. Anne’s-Belfield, the sport that originated in England appears to be on the rise among area players of all ages.

On a recent Monday night at ACAC, a large number of participants and spectators gathered around the courts to watch the club’s summer league finals.

“When these courts first opened, there was much more play on the racquetball courts,” said ACAC member Cheri Lewis, an avid player. “The squash courts were hardly ever used.

“Now the demand to play just keeps growing … there’s something about the game that is very addictive. People get hooked on it.”

In addition to its leagues for players of various skill levels, ACAC offers workshops and clinics for players to hone their fundamentals, a ladder for players to challenge each other and a “Monday Night Shootout” for open play.

In the almost three years since the downtown ACAC has been open, squash director Andrew Taylor says participation in all the programs has nearly doubled. Taylor says there were 54 players enrolled in one of club’s most popular leagues this past spring.

“Squash is simple to learn the basics and then you can continue on in learning the game,” Taylor said. “Once you pick up your skill level, you can play in tournaments in Virginia, all the way up to the national level.”

For many years, STAB has been one of the only high schools in the Charlottesville area to field a competitive squash team. The school, which has used the Albemarle Racquet Club as its home facility, competes against the likes of Woodberry Forest, Episcopal and a number of schools in Richmond.

At the end of every winter, STAB takes part in the Mid-Atlantic championships against top programs from up and down the East Coast. STAB has held its own in the event, finishing as high as third, and has produced players, such as Francis Johnson, who, at one point, was a second-team All-American at Yale and the third-ranked American college player.

Last year, STAB had over 30 players on its three teams — boys and girls varsity and boys junior varsity.

This year, STAB, thanks to private donations, will have its own on-campus facility.

“It’s really taken off with the younger crew,” said Johnson, a 2005 STAB graduate who also played lacrosse while at Yale. “The new courts are going to make it grow that much more. I had to travel a lot in order to play and find competition. Now I think it’s a bit different, especially with the core croup of young kids who are interested in it.”

STAB athletic director Doug Tarring agreed. He calls squash a “lifetime alternative sport.”

“I think to be a good athletic program, I think you need a good balance of the traditional team sports and also sports like squash and golf and tennis — sports you can play for as long as you’re healthy,” Tarring said.

In addition to serving as the home court for its teams, the squash facility will be used for year-round introductory clinics, as well as middle school physical education classes. “It opens up lots of opportunities,” Tarring added.

Taylor, the reigning club champion at ACAC, grew up playing squash in his native England. With courts at the Albemarle Racquet Club, the Boar’s Head Sports Club and the University of Virginia, Taylor — who has lived in Charlottesville for 17 years — says there is finally an adequate number of places to play, although there aren’t, and probably never will be, very many, if any, public courts.

“It’s always been seen as kind of a high-brow sport,” Taylor said, “but now there’s more availability to the public with clubs like the ACAC and elsewhere, and urban programs in the cities.

“[Secretary of State and former New York Senator] Hillary Clinton was photographed recently with a squash racquet when they opened a big complex in New York for an urban squash program.”

Lewis hadn’t played squash since her law school days some 15 years ago. She was ecstatic to get back into it after the ACAC courts were built. Lewis says the main allure of the sport, as it is to many players, is the excellent workout.

“I read the other day that because of the rigor of the game, an hour on the court is the equivalent of running an hour at an eight-minute per-mile pace,” Lewis said. “It’s a lot of propulsive moves, and you’re just using your reflexes all the time.”

Jaffray Woodriff’s workout of choice was pickup basketball until he stumbled into squash about a year ago. Now ACAC member is hooked.

“It’s incredible exercise,” he said. “I think what it is, is you have to go in little tiny bursts so often.

“Like in basketball, you’re rarely going at full speed. Occasionally, you make a cut and go as hard as you can, but it’s constant in [squash]. It’s more efficient exercise, and it’s a lot more fun for me. When you’re playing pickup [basketball], half the time you’re waiting for a game.”

Squash is similar to racquetball, but with some major differences. In squash, there are out-of-bounds lines on all four walls of the court, whereas in racquetball, everything is considered inbounds — you can even hit it off the ceiling — as long as the ball ends up hitting the front wall.

The size of the balls and racquets also differ. A squash ball isn’t as bouncy as a racquetball one, which can make for longer points and a different type of workout.

An article in Forbes Magazine in 2006 listed squash as the “No. 1 healthiest sport.” Lewis believes a squash workout is superior to most racquet sports, including tennis.

“I think in tennis, you get a little bit of lag time [between shots] where you get to strategize and position,” she said. “This is just an accelerated pace.”

Squash proponents have tried hard to get their sport included in the Olympics. It was, however, recently beat out for the 2016 Games by golf and rugby.

At the University of Virginia, squash is a successful club sport. Last February, the men’s and women’s squads each won championships at a tournament held at Harvard.

UVa grad Antonia de Medinaceli, one of top female players at ACAC, calls squash a “fascinating game.”

“There’s so much strategy and finesse,” she said. “You work out for an hour and don’t see the time go by.”

Added Taylor: “The great thing about squash is that you can continue to challenge yourself. There’s always somebody better than you.”

Perhaps, one day, people will be more familiar with the sport than the vegetable.