squeaky feet

The ball comes off the front wall hard and deep toward the back left corner. I lunge for it, but my brain tells me there’s no way I’ll get it, so I don’t. The ball dies in the back.

“You could’ve gotten that!” the guy scolds. He shakes his racquet at me. Continue reading →

How I feel right now….

For a bit more info. than this photo can offer, see squashsite365

A USA vs. CAN Championship Match

Is 19 too young to win a World Doubles Championship? Is 36 too old? I spent the weekend finding out the answers to these questions at the NetJets World Doubles Squash Championships in NYC, and watching some truly great matches including men’s, women’s, mixed, and pro-am draws. What was really mixed, though, were the partners, as all the pros had to partner with another player from their country. Only I was never totally clear on that rule…as some players seem to come from more than one country. At any rate, it made for some interesting matches. Although I think the next World Championships tournament rule should be no playing with your regular season partner — even if you’re both on the far side of thirty-five. Just sayin’….. Continue reading →

A picture’s worth a thousand words.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

I’m putting both these cliches to work for me with the photos below, since I’m still jetlagged from an amazing vacation in Asia, and I’m saving my writing energy for the world doubles championships this weekend. But I’ve got to gloat a bit that my league team at CityView hammered–well, solidly whacked–our friends and rivals at Eastern Athletic Club to win the NYSquash Women’s 4.0 final.

MVP should probably go, however, to EAC’s #1 Emily Sherwood, who remains undefeated (9-0). A close runner-up is CityView’s #1 Ona Prokes (8-2), who quickly leaped up the CityView ladder and undoubtedly helped to pull her team into the playoffs and finals. Both young women were uncommonly gracious and mature on court, and when they  leave the rest of us sweeping up squash court dust bunnies, we wish them many more victories.

As for the rest of you league players, congratulations on winning, condolences on losing, and thanks for being part of this great game called squash. And remember, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, it’s whether you burn enough calories to have your cake and maybe a second piece, too.

EAC vs. CityView: Women’s 4.0 finals

The number ones: Ona vs. Emily

Ona in great form

Emily winding up

Ona taking it off the back wall

The number twos: Olivia vs. Susan

once teammates, now rival fans

The refs

The gallery

Between games

Sisters

The number threes: Emily vs. Mckenzie

backhand

drop shot

long shot

between points

still friends

EAC team

CityView team & captains

the cake says it all

you can play your match and eat cake too

The R&T doubles court. Men can play.
Women can (sometimes) watch.

Sitting somewhere up in heaven, on a mahogany cloud, hovering over the ultimate playground of grown boys—the doubles court at the Racquet and Tennis Club in NYC, I can only wish I was allowed to swing my own racquet in that glorious pearlescent space. But I am a mere mortal . . . and unless I channel my inner-Athena to appear as a man (anyone remember their Homer?), I am destined to be a Harpy or a Siren, attempting to persuade the gods that life on earth can be entertaining, too.

Ramy playing racquet guitar between points

Early in the third game of the Men’s Finals at the Tournament of Champions, I ask my table mate at the ToC bar why she likes Ramy.

“He just has a certain aura about him that’s very . . .” She pauses and tilts her head. “Yummy.” Continue reading →

“The World’s Largest Squash Spectator Event” at Grand Central – Vanderbilt Hall

My legs ache. My butt is burning. I’m sucking air with every lunge forward. Squeak, squeak, squeak go my . . . skis. It’s squash week in NYC and I, in unforgivable ignorance of the squash calendar, scheduled a cross-country ski trip for the same weekend as the Grand Open and the early rounds of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in Grand Central—my favorite pro tournament of the year. Oops.

Fortunately, I was back in time for the ToC quarterfinals. As is often the case, I (an enthusiastic amateur) find some good take-aways, especially from the women. Continue reading →

My latte was $4.05. The strawberry peach bar was $2.25. I have blown my daily food budget allotment in one visit to THINK coffee. The steamed milk decoratively poured into three shots of espresso tastes amazing on this winter afternoon, but now when I shell out my four plus bucks, I can’t help but think of how I spent the same amount for a day’s worth of food a few weeks ago. And how thousands of people continue to do so as part of the USDA’s SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

Many friends asked me after my ‘seven day trial’  on the SNAP/Food Stamp challenge what it was like, Continue reading →

Breakfast Day One

I usually love my walk to work. I pass two bakeries on the way to my subway stop. Both of which have arguably the best croissants in Brooklyn. One definitely has the best baguettes.  I am barely out of the West 4th Street Station in Manhattan, when I am passing the Chinese Bakery with plump and golden roast pork buns, then Joe’s Pizza where both tourists and locals eat their crispy, tangy, cheesy triangles right on the street, then Bagels on the Square where they know to toast my cinnamon raisin bagel twice before covering it with ‘not too much please’ cream cheese. But, for me, it’s next to impossible to walk by Prodigy Coffee without stopping in for a perfectly made latte that actually tastes as good as it smells. And herein lies the problem, this city smells amazing….which is great for someone with money or a credit card in their wallet. It stinks for people who don’t. And this week that includes me. Continue reading →