squeaky feet

New Yorkers: Do not play squash today. You can do that tomorrow or the next or the next. Today is too nice. Go outside. Take a walk. Take a run. Throw the frisbee. A ball. A jacket over your shoulder. Seriously. Tomorrow – or even later today – it will start to rain and you will wish you had been outside while the weather was still amazing and all the trees were still bursting with blossoms and NYC smelled great for a change. Spring comes only once a year.  Squash can wait….

*A similar article of mine appears in Squash Magazine this month. I  promised to post it to my blog as well.
Happy new-ish year.
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I hate going to the gym right after new year’s. The spinning bike that the ‘regulars’ know is mine is taken by an ‘irregular’ in spanking new spandex. All the jump ropes are gone by the time I get to boot camp. And I have to start setting my alarm clock earlier to snag a squash court for the next week. By the time you read this, many of the new year’s resoluters will have already started to fade away, but if I can’t beat them back for the month of January, I might as well join them in their pursuit of personal betterment, so here are ten resolutions Continue reading →

Nour El Sherbini (bottom center) watching a men's quarterfinal @ ToC

Sometime in the middle of the men’s ToC quarterfinal between Gregory Gaultier and Amr Shabana, I notice her, a lanky dark-haired teenager slouched down in her folding chair as she fiddles with her iPod. She’s barely watching the amazing squash a foot or so from her seat, but who can blame her? An hour or so earlier, she was on the same court beating a woman over twice her age, the thirty-nine year old Latasha Khan. Nour El Sherbini deserves to slouch a little and listen to Rihanna like any sixteen year old would. Continue reading →

Nour El Sherbini vs. Latasha Khan in the ToC Quarters

Just when I thought I was starting to burn out on squash for the week, I ran into a friend and squash mate in my work neighborhood this morning (miles from Grand Central). Loved your article, she said, shaking her head full of curly hair. And before I knew it, we were off and running our mouths about yesterday’s matches and who would prevail this evening. Continue reading →

R. Grinham & K. El Defrawy: 1st round @ ToC

Thursday morning I woke up to the news that Trinity lost to Yale. Friday I woke up with a pain in my forehead as if a squash ball had pounded it all night, thanks to overdoing it at Tournament of Champions parties the night before. And Saturday and Sunday, I had to wake up early enough to get to my Grand Open Tournament matches. So I was very happy this past Monday, to wake up, go to work for half a day and then return to the glass court at Grand Central to watch the women play in their first round. Continue reading →

Mudge and Gould

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t come to Apawamis on a Sunday to watch a men’s match. I drove up to Westchester from NYC to see the women’s doubles finals of the Briggs Cup. I’d seen plenty of guys playing doubles the weekend before. In the Big Apple Open. I watched  Damien Mudge and Ben Gould play Matt Jenson and Clive Leach. Again. And win. Again. Not that it wasn’t interesting mind you. With their crushingly hard drives and deathly accurate nicks, Mudge and Gould are awesomely entertaining to watch; they both exhibit an on court ease that masks murderously fast racquet skills. But when a team has as long a winning streak as Mudge and Gould do, you can’t help cheering for the underdogs. You can’t help wanting to see something unexpected. But on the night of the Big Apple finals, all expectations were met.

On that night, I heard a few observers mention their semi-finals match the day before against two recent Trinity alums Manek Mathur and Yvain Badan. They had won, obviously, but Mathur and Badan had made them fight for it in four tight games.  I was intrigued. So when I heard that they’d be facing each other later that afternoon in the Briggs Cup semi-finals match, after the women’s finals, I decided to hang around. I was very, very glad I did. Continue reading →

Mudge and Gould watch Jenson and Leach warm up @ NYAC

I didn’t really start the evening on the right foot. Because as soon as it touched 53rd Street, I realized I was headed to the wrong club. NYAC was hosting the ISDA Big Apple Open Doubles Tournament, not the University Club. I often get these mid-town meccas for men confused. It was already 6:30, match time, so I jogged over to 6th Avenue, and zig-zagged between mid-town tourists clumped on the sidewalks. At 58th Street, I hung a left, jay-walked somewhere in the middle of the block and tried to cool down before the back door entrance. But it was too late;  I was a sweaty mess. Good thing I was headed to the squash courts. Continue reading →

Power/Bassett vs. Wyant/Shrubb

The doorman at the 58^th Street entrance of the New York Athletic Club kindly wanted to make sure I knew where I was going. To the squash courts, the doubles court I more specifically say. I see a list of the weekend’s events in front of him and in upside down letters I see “Big Apple Open.” I point at it. I think it’s on the top floor. He nods politely and says he’ll call to make sure. When no one answers, he says I can take the elevators at the end of the hall to the right, but I can only go to the 20^th floor. I must take another elevator or the stairs after that. I walk down the marbled hall toward the main entrance, the doors opening onto Central Park West and catch a glimpse of the still auburn and gold autumn leaves across 59^th Street. A horse and carriage trots by. I love New York City and its leftover old world charm. It may not be my world, but I like that I can still visit. Continue reading →

Amr Shabana and Laura Massaro - 2011 U.S. Squash Champions

Now that the women’s final is a wrap (full report here) , on to the Men’s Final of the Delaware Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships: World #1 Nick Matthew (England) vs. World #5 Amr Shabana (Egypt). Matthew is in his signature blue and white shirt and Shabana is in red. Nuff said. Continue reading →

National Anthem begins the U.S. Open Squash Finals

In case it’s not clear from the photo, I’m at the Delaware Investments U.S. Squash Championships Finals. Now. At 6:25 p.m. on Thursday evening. I’ve never blogged live before —  but for a change I’ve got my computer in front of me and a sweet seat overlooking the full front of the court.  First up is the women’s finals: England’s Laura Massaro (World #5) vs. Australia’s Kasey Brown (World #6).   Continue reading →