Sports

Despite adversity, emergent squash program survives

In print | February 26, 2009

On the eve of the collegiate men’s squash nationals at Princeton University the Swarthmore squash team sat huddled in their hotel room. The group was only hours away from their first match, competing to be crowned the best emerging squash program in the nation. As their defining hour drew closer, team captain Tarit Rao-Chakravorti ’12 encouraged his teammates, “We grind out every point, we don’t give up anything here.” He reminded them, “We have a shot to do something here. Leave your mark boys. Leave your mark.” But most importantly of all, he challenged them, “How many people leave Swarthmore with only a degree? But what does the college remember of them?”
The team gathered for one last moment of reflection, taking pride in what it means to be the first team from Swarthmore to compete in squash at the national level, and taking heed of how quickly they would be forgotten if they did not perform well.

To qualify for nationals, despite the team’s infancy, Swarthmore had to prove itself a competitive program. A win against Bard and stiff competition against Haverford prompted each opposing coach to recommend them for competition, but to exist at this college, the members of the team had to show a whole new level of commitment. Rao-Chakravorti approached Swarthmore College Vice President Maurice Eldridge ’61 with his plans to take the team to nationals. Eldridge doesn’t just endorse any initiative though. “[Y]ou have to kind of take the first step with him,” said Eli Epstein-Deutsh ’09, whose literary magazine “Night Café” has used Eldridge’s assistance to get the publication into existence. “You’ve got to come to him with a proposal with specific suggestions.”
Eldridge’s demands of enthusiasm and initiative are among those thatthe squash team has repeatedly met. “He’ll help you negotiate the bureaucracy … He put me in contact with people who could be of further help on campus,” Epstein-Deutsh said. And for the squash team, Eldridge did exactly that. “Their own commitment, enthusiasm and effort they gave to get something done, against the odds, plus beating Bard, added up to me as serious intent, therefore something worthy of support,” Eldridge said.

That support came in the form of Eldridge referring the team to Associate Athletic Director Christyn Chambers for transportation to Princeton and paying for all the transportation costs of the trip. Eldridge said of the squash team, “I just thought I’d make sure that if there was red tape we’d cut it … and give the opportunity (for the idea) to fully realize itself.” At Swarthmore, Eldridge had an athletic career of his own, running track as a sprinter. But more than a fan of sports, Eldridge, much like Swarthmore as a whole, is a fan of ideas. “I think [Swarthmore] is good for ideas and responding to student energy. It’s a part of who we are and ought to be. I can listen to everything.” Eldridge’s attitude of embracing what is possible is only overshadowed by Rao-Chakravorti, who serves as the team’s de facto coach.

“We play for Swat. We play for ourselves, but mostly for Tarit,” team member Rakan Al-Nimr ’12 said. “He makes us hungry.” As captain of a team without a full time coach, Rao-Chakravorti has taken on the role of player-coach. Coaches have a double-sided job that most athletes and many fans aren’t aware of. “90 percent of coaching is off-the-field work, and 10 percent is on-the-field coaching work,” varsity baseball coach Stan Exeter said. “This player-coach has a lot on his plate.” According to Exeter, a “Reader’s Digest version” of what coaches do for trips like the squash team’s trek to Princeton before their athletes even begin to play includes transit money, hotels, rooming lists, dining, directions, even filling up down time. Rao-Chakravorti is assisted by Ayman Abunimer ’12. What Rao-Chakravorti can’t do Abunimer takes care of, like leading the team through pre- and post- game stretching and donning a handheld camera to capture the weekend’s action at nationals.
Despite putting forth great efforts, though, the newborn squad has faced mishaps. “We had some serious time problems,” Abunimer said. The team showed up to their first game only 10 minutes before the start of the match. The extra responsibilities of filing match reports for every match and haggling with the hotel clerks over the bill fell on Rao-Chakravorti, who has organized practices and is the general front-man for all of team’s operations throughout the year.

The general attitude within the team is not the giddy excitement that one may expect from a second place finish nationally (the team beat Bucknell 3-2 and Siena 5-0 before falling to Illinois 3-2 in the championship), but of frustration with how close they came and of dedication to creating and demanding a future for their program.

Despite this team’s recent success, nothing is guaranteed. On the bus ride home, the team was talkative, committed to improving their abilities and brainstorming what could take them to the next level. All were excited at how good this team could be if it only had more resources. Comparing working out for squash in the field house to playing basketball on turf, Rao-Chakravorti cited guaranteed court time as essential to next season’s success. Further, the team faces the challenge of gaining a club charter, a process that takes two years but would yield a substantial increase in funding. “The future of squash is in club teams, kids starting up programs, but it needs school [support],” Rao-Chakravorti said, a statement echoed on the Collegiate Squash Association website which expresses their mission to expand the college game of squash and the number of squash teams by “offering support and assistance to colleges and universities who have an ability to create a program.”

“As long as we find a way to keep them alive. They’re being entrepreneurial, and I’m trying to be responsive,” said Eldridge, who is committed to helping the team become legitimized. “It just didn’t seem to make any sense to let this fail over a relatively small amount of money.”

Personally, however, Rao-Chakravorti is exhausted. “It does reach a breaking point for me at least, this year’s situation on top of playing a ton of matches … Even though it kills me to think like that, I can’t sacrifice my academics.”

As for next year, the team’s performance at Princeton has secured them a spot in next year’s nationals and the team has already received an invitation to play a tournament at the United States Naval Academy. This team shows no signs of slowing down. “We’re going to be good,”

Rao-Chakravorti said. “We care too much about winning to let ourselves be bad.” The team will keep battling for an abbreviated waiting period for their club sport status and will continue to hone their skills and build stamina for next season. The players can wholeheartedly agree with Collegiate Squash Association tournament director Bob Tell in congratulating Swarthmore’s newest sports team: “You should be proud of how far you’ve come.”