Weekend Reportage!

What a weekend it was for SQUASH TIGERS!

Awesome performances from the Squash Tigers team up and down the country - at the Gold in Virginia, Silver in PA and Bronze in NJ - members of the team competed hard, won, lost, learned and made us proud! Off the court we had the huge announcement of Colin White as our new Squash Tigers Head Professional! Wow… and it’s still only June! Read on for the breakdown…

The Virginia Summer Gold, conducted at the rather salubrious Boars Head Resort, was its usual auspicious self. A Summer Gold staple since coffee with a friend was still a dime, (or pre-COVID as we called it), the event ran to time and boasted high quality fields throughout the ten divisions. We had a dozen Squash Tigers and another half dozen “friends of the program”, and they all showed us the benefit of hard work - with the big statistic being 8 QUARTER FINALISTS!

Chronologically we’ll kick off in the BU17. The headline is that Parth and Alex made the quarter finals, which is a fine headline. A more in depth analysis of their performances reveals that Alex was 1 point away from beating a player rated 0.5 above him, and impressed everyone beyond belief. As if that wasn’t enough Parth was in the same boat, nearly putting together a 0.3 upset before going down in 5 games in his quarter. Awesome, and even more impressive when you consider Parth has just aged up and Alex is still eligible for BU15! Well done gentlemen!

We go to the ladies and the GU17 with Claire and Anya. Claire’s 10th place doesn’t tell the tale of six matches, each of high quality and another “almost” with a five game down to the wire loss depriving her of a deserved 0.35 rating upset. Anya was also in good form, played some exceptional squash, won a pressure match and acquitted herself well.

BU15 saw Eric almost, but not quite able to convert his second round with match balls on a 0.48 ratings upset, before he was forced to withdraw after another strong win. The God of draws conspired against us to have him and Arjun play in the first round. No-one likes playing a team mate, but well done to both on their sportsmanship and efforts…

BU13 saw Tyler march to a quarter final! Fit, strong, fast, determined and perhaps showing the most relaxed demeanor possible from a highly motivated young man, Tyler had it all! Tyler was fighting it out for the mythical “most improved player” distinction from the coaches this weekend and did nothing to dissuade anyone’s opinion. Similarly Lily, our GU15 stalwart, ran through to the quarter finals of the draw and gave 100%!

GU13 saw Madeleine make a quarter final in impressive fashion. Always athletic, Madeleine showed some composure and additional accuracy for the big win. In the GU11 Mimi pulled into 8th place, with never a dull moment and some big five game matches. I frequently say “bigger things ahead”, but in this case for both of them it's definite!

In Philadelphia, the Merion Cricket Club hosted a Silver event with their normal warm welcoming demeanor. Henry and George both searched their wardrobe, found their best whites and went to work, performing well above seeding in a most impressive fashion. Statistically Henry did the near impossible to make a quarter final - he defeated a player rated 0.34 above him. Well done mate, brought big smiles to the whole club! And for those fond of “in jokes” - George still owes me 100 push-ups. :)

Finally, the LT Summer Bronze, in Florham Park, New Jersey saw Adam finish in a solid 3rd position. Also a conversation as to most improved Squash Tiger player, Adam drove his opponents off the court and picked up his second trophy in the past few weeks! Silvers on the horizon!

What a weekend it was, well done everyone. A reminder that camps kick off every week day of summer and if you haven’t already signed up, you can do so via the website. Tomorrow sees the first day of our new Head Professional, let’s all make Coach Colin welcome to our world, never a better time to be a Squash Tiger. See you all tomorrow!

Welcome Coach White!

SQUASH TIGERS is pleased to announce the appointment of our new Head Squash Professional - Colin White!

Colin is originally from Northern Ireland and comes to SQUASHTIGERS with more than 30 years of elite coaching experience. He is a former Hungarian and Austrian National Coach and a tutor for the European and World Squash Federations Coach Education Programs where he is a member of the four-person World Coaching Panel. Colin holds the prestigious European Squash Federation Level 3 Coach Award. Most recently, he was the Head Coach to the Hackley's Boy's team and formerly worked with Paul as a Lead Coach at the Scozzie Squash Academy in Philadelphia.

A few words from our Program Director, Paul Frank:

I have known Colin for twenty five years - we met while both playing in a PSA Event in Budapest, Hungary and have been good friends since. Colin has enjoyed a much storied career, touching upon all aspects of the game as player, coach and a coach educator. Colin represented his home country of Northern Ireland in European Championships and then as his coaching career moved him, went on to play for the Hungarian Men's Team, coached elite top 50 PSA players and eventually became Austrian National Coach.

By way of giving back to the sport of late, Colin has continued to do great work for the World Squash Federation in Coach Education and worked wonders at the Hackley School.

Colin became a Lead Coach at my previous program, the Scozzie Squash Academy in Philadelphia in 2017. Scozzie was the most successful junior program in the USA at that time and Colin was a major contributor. I feel lucky to have recruited Colin to SQUASH TIGERS and with him on board we will further push on to our mission of creating Champions.

You can reach out to Colin directly to welcome him to the Squash Tigers family via colin@squashtigers.com - big things ahead!

SQUASHTIGERS Weekend Wrap Up!

What a fantastic beginning to Summer the program has had!

At home we enjoyed a hard working last weekend of our squad program and across the US we had players contesting the Pingry Silver and the Squash Zone Gold in CA…. all just one week after Chloe and Vaibhav did so well bringing home 1st and 2nd from the EA Bronze.

At the Pingry Silver we had over a dozen players contest six age groups and had awesome success. Standout performances came from Anya, Eric and Jasmine, who won the GU17, BU15 and GU15 respectively!

As well as providing Eric with another trophy, the BU15 saw Edward storm through the draw! Edward defeated a player rated 0.19 ahead of him in the second round to prove that rating is just a number, then went on to win 3rd place delivering some awesome and resilient squash on the way. Well done Edward!

The GU17 saw Shreya and Anya competing against each other in a great five game tussle, with Anya winning out and going on to dominate the final. Shreya also went undefeated subsequently, comfortably taking home 3rd. Well done ladies!

The BU11 and GU11 saw Leo, Orlando, Evan, Sriya and Chloe all gain some valuable experience. All five are getting better every day and weekends like this will only hurry that along! Similarly, Chloe is coming along quickly, after winning the EA Bronze last weekend, she then motored into third for this event. Bigger things ahead!

The BU17 saw Ayan rebound from a disappointing early loss to avenge the defeat in the consols and finish in a strong 5th. We pride ourselves on our toughness in the program and nothing says tough more than facing some disappointment and recovering. Well done Ayan! George was also in the draw and was his usual effortful self, showed the benefit of his recent tough training load and gained some valuable tournament experience.

Finally, well done to Kayla, our lone West Coast competitor in the Squash Zone Gold. Kayla rebounded from a tough five game loss to win her final match and finish 13th in her first ever GU15 Gold event!

Look out for next weekend and our biggest stars fighting it out at the UVA Gold, meanwhile camps continue each and every week day of Summer!

...and don't forget, we have the biggest announcement in program history later this week... can't wait!