By Brett Erasmus
On September 4 last year I wrote a note about our Summer of Fun at the SL Green StreetSquash Center. You know, the place in Harlem that Hilary Clinton opened about a year ago. A bunch of you stepped out of your comfort zone, made the trip uptown, and competed against unknown opponents under quite different conditions; i.e. younger opponents who could run forever on very hot brand new ASB squash courts. Everyone had loads of fun doing this. If you missed the opportunity to see the place (it is quite impressive) you will get more chances in the future, don’t worry.
There will no doubt be many more tournaments and leagues held in Harlem in future. In early May, in fact, the Center hosts the StreetSquash Cup. This will be a unique one day invitational event where many top players will compete against each other, as well as various amateurs players and the best of the kids.
The US number one women’s player, Natalie Grainger, is on one of the invitational sides. So am I. Having played many of her current and former US teammates in hard games over the last few years, I realize I have absolutely no chance of beating her. So I have recruited a surprise number one player for the Common Good team. He is a seasoned professional and definitely won’t lose to Natalie (I think..).
The program itself has been around for ten years, and is the first urban squash program of its kind in the US. The organization successfully combines squash with academic and personal counseling for underprivileged high school kids in the area. And they do this very well. Their high school and college graduation rates are stratospherically above the national average. You can read all about it at http://www.streetsquash.org/.
There are few better ways than squash to push your body and your mind to the limit. The team at the StreetSquash Center also rely on heart and soul.
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