Howe Cup 2011

Photo: Teams NYC with Coach David Hughes, Captains Sarah Odell and Tracy Gates, StreetSquash director Sasha and StreetSquash parent volunteers.

How(e) did the New York Teams do at Howe Cup?

Baltimore’s Meadow Mill Athletic Club hosted the 3-day event, comprising 200 women representing 36 teams from all over the country. This was the impression left by the New York team. First: there were a lot of us, with five singles teams and 6 doubles teams. Second: we were organized. Not only did we manage to ensure that all our players showed up in time (even with just two hours of sleep the night before, I knew I had to take the 5 a.m. train down from NYC into Baltimore so as not to let my teammates down by being late. Now what happened during my match was a different matter...), but we also traveled with a coach. Last: We looked awesome. NY Squash sponsored our uniforms and we looked totally united with matching outfits. It was JUST like playing college squash all over again (except that the women ranged from ages 13 to 70).

As I look back a week later at the event, my heart still warms up with camaraderie and pride that we all felt during the event. The New York team stuck together for all our matches. We cheered fervently between points; gave evil glares for bad calls; took all of our meals together; and most importantly, we listened to our teammates. I think we were the only team that watched every match and gave advice to any team member during breaks. We didn’t win every game, but because we fought tenaciously for every point, we never really lost.

I think the best illustration of this was during a match by one of our A players. For an entire hour vs. Boston (grrr!), our player rallied point after point. She lunged, gasped for air, volleyed every shot she possibly could bring herself to. You know those moments deep in a point, when you know you have to “step up” to intercept the ball, and despite what your mind knows, you can’t will your body to do it? Well, those were the shots that she was stepping up to make. Her opponent was small, swift to the ball and had that ever so gentle touch that brings a hot squash ball into the nick. At one point, our player asked for a “let” as her opponent struck the ball about 2 inches away from her own body. “No let”, the referee declared. Silence ensued... until a shriek pierced into the air, “WHYYYYYYY NO LETTTTTTTTT?”

Now one can only imagine the frustration that a player feels when calls go against them. Especially in an 11 points PAR scoring system, each call is pivotal to the end result of a game. One can argue that, as long as you are a good and clean enough squash player (and I will argue that at the top level, women do push and shove each other, and playing “good” squash is never as clean as one imagines it to be), the calls should not affect the end result of a game. But in all honesty, there are several, if not many reasons why we are not professional, touring squash players. Let us just leave it at that.

The “Meadow-Mill-shattering” shriek made me realize something. New York squash players are strong. I do not know if it is the nature of us being seasoned New Yorkers, but each player that I have watched walk on that court had a spark of strength burning fiercely in their eyes. Everyone played the best squash that they possibly could. Sweat poured down their foreheads as they lunged as far as they could, and throughout it all, they did it with a smile at the end of the match. The tournament culminated in a night of fun and an endless flow of libation to celebrate the success of Howe Cup. We formed Conga lines, strutted around the Baltimore Museum of Art like models on Project Runway…well, some of us anyway. No names, but I won’t say who was more 'Runway' and who was more of a ‘Project’. We ate, sang, and danced. We befriended more female squash players over a weekend than we had in more than a year. It was glorious.

Now, on to Howe Cup 2012. NY Squash will undoubtedly show up with a vengeance, the kind that will scare the other teams away...obviously.