Strong Start to the Season at Connecticut JCT

Connecticut hosted the first JCT of the season this Labor Day weekend. Our four coaches mentored 20 players over two venues and three days. When the dust settled, we had Jack standing tall, having won the BU19 in convincing fashion after defeating teammate Colten in the semis. Additionally, Yiden defied the seedings in the BU13 to make the final. For the girls, Reghan was the standout, finishing 3rd in the GU19!

Check out the Tiger photo dump on our Philly Facebook page or our Princeton page.

For those unfamiliar with JCTs, US Squash explains them as the “highest level of junior tournament, which attracts the best players from around the entire country. US Squash accredits 5 JCT tournaments each year and each event is played over the course of three full days.” Long story short, the best 32 players from each age group get together and test each other roughly once a month in season… it doesn’t get more fun than that!

Starting from the top, Jack dominated the BU19, winning in fine style. When we say dominated, numbers do not do justice to his level of play—but let’s try. Yes, Jack won every match 3/0—impressive, but not unique. However, Jack dropped only 40 points over THE WHOLE EVENT! Now, perhaps US Squash has a better repository of data than I do, but I’m pretty sure that’s the record… and it doesn’t look like being broken any time soon. Congratulations to Colten on his semifinal appearance and solid quarterfinal 3/0 win, which included a 0.16 rating upset.

Reghan also shone in her 3rd place finish, defeating several high-level performers and being the only player to take a game from the eventual winner. There will be better weekends for the brother and sister, but this was a standout. Finally, on the podium was Yiden in the BU13, making a final for the first time after pulling off rating upsets in both the quarters and semis. Leftie went on to take a game off the #1 seed, who was a 0.2 rating leader—a great weekend in total.

Although the big four were, well, the big four, there were some great matches and moments up and down the age groups for the other 16 players. Shout-outs to Zushmalene on her 10th-place finish in the GU13—awesome work! Parth and Alex played some epic squash in the BU19 (notably against each other), and although the finishing place isn’t what they came for, they’ll be back.

LOOKING FORWARD

The next JCT takes us to San Francisco in October, where we’ll have a full team of coaches at the two venues. Our first Rehearsal Tournament of the year is only two weeks away in NJ—get your entries in early!

FINALLY

This evening, September 2, we welcome the Harvard coach to our Exton location. Come and learn from one of the best in the game about squash, psychology, and recruiting—sign-ups here.

A great start to the season—can’t wait to make more memories. See you all at training!