What Does It Take?

by Tracy Gates

There are over 4,000 members of the MSRA. And 698 played on league teams this year. But only four of them won the prestigious Lehman and Fernandez awards for most improved player. As I happen to know three of them (full disclosure: as a league captain I can nominate, but I had nothing to do with choosing the winners), I have a pretty good idea what it takes—what it should take—to get this award. So listen up. Want to be in contention next year? This is what you have to do. . . .

MSRA Spotlight on James Green

By Corey Modeste

Midway through our conversation, and without any hint of hyperbole, James Green said, “In 2000 I earned and lost $12 million dollars.”

Prior to talking to him I anticipated learning about how he got into squash, and what he did for a living.  But, I thought, I’d much prefer to hear about a Phil Michelson-esque gambling problem, or a multi-year binge of expensive cars, hardcore drugs, and fast women. Or even a story about how a sudden gust of wind blew a winning lottery ticket out of his hands and into the East River.  I was already mentally drafting how I would write of him celebrating his lottery winnings on an impromptu sailing trip when the ticket slips out of his hands, him running the length of the boat in slow motion and then leaping in vain into the water, just as the ticket get shredded in the propeller.  Whatever, just as long as he doesn’t do that jerk thing where he puts out a teaser and then says, “Well, you know, I really can’t talk about it.”

“No”, he said, “I don’t care if anyone knows.”

MSRA Spotlight on Martha Kelly

By Corey Modeste

Martha grew up just outside of Philadelphia and picked up a racquet for the first time as a 14 year-old at Episcopal Academy. What started out as a desire simply to confirm her choice for a winter sport turned into a competitive outlet when she became more active in junior squash competition a few years later. The resources and squash base at Episcopal Academy and in Philadelphia in general were great (Episcopal was generally the strongest team in the Philadelphia-area scholastic leagues), and Martha also had the benefit of having her equally-talented big sister Ruth on her high school team. Unfortunately, Martha never had the opportunity to play at Episcopal's state of the art facility (pictured), which was completed in 2008.


Martha was recruited to play at Princeton and saw her perspective on the game change slightly. She was no less competitive (more so, in fact), but the focus was to train and grow as a team rather than garner individual results. Even if her position in Princeton 's top 10 line-up was more tenuous as a senior than when she started as a freshman, improving as a team and the team's national championship win in 2007 were more important. College squash was not without its individual victories, however. While older sister Ruth had the edge when they were juniors, Martha reports being satisfied with a head to head victory when she faced Ruth once in college.

MSRA Spotlight on Alfonso du Toit

By Corey Modeste

While running the leagues for the last two years, I often saw the name Alfonso du Toit in the winners' column of the 5.0 division results. I thought it was great when I saw an email reporting his scores from a hard-won five-gamer in which he wrote, “The old dog strikes again!”  And then when he graciously agreed to speak with me for this interview (despite the fact that I reached him while he was juggling groceries from the supermarket) I knew this was a guy I'd like to have a beer with.


Alfonso grew up a tennis player in South Africa and started squash at age 20 at the Camps Bay Squash Club in Cape Town . I thought Alfonso's description of the club as “the best in the world” was a little self-serving until I saw the pictures of the club. Overlooking the ocean of South Africa 's Western Cape , sitting out on the deck at sunset with your buddies after a tough match seems was as rewarding as the sport itself.  Despite evident athleticism, Alfonso says that his transition to squash from tennis was tough and he tells of quite a few losses to “old ladies” who were up on him when it came to court strategy and how to work a boast. However, “no one likes losing” as he reminded me, and Alfonso had the benefit of playing in a club that was not only beautiful, but was also Federation league champions and had former South African champion and former world number 8 Gunner Way in-house for training and inspiration.

MSRA Spotlight on Rob White

By Corey Modeste

After a few minutes of speaking to Rob White, elements of his story began to sound familiar.  Rob played varsity tennis at Michigan State but it took him several years after school to pick up a squash racquet. Last year, his first playing competitive squash, he cleaned up in the 3.5 league with a 10-0 record.  The last time I saw a profile like that, the 'Rob' involved was Rob Chen, who after playing varsity tennis in college started in the MSRA's 3.5 leagues and in just a few years become New York City's top 6.0 player.

To be fair, Rob (White) was no stranger to racquet sports. Growing up in Landover, Maryland, he started playing competitive tennis at twelve years old and by the time he reached high school, life was "tennis, school... and

MSRA Spotlight on Ruth Kelly

By Corey Modeste

After profiling Martha Kelley in this space last month, the MSRA received so many requests to get the other half of the Kelley Sister story that I had to give Ruth a call. Interestingly enough, we probably spoke more about soccer and other sports than we did about squash. In fact, I was so amazed by how active Ruth is in all aspects of her life that I had to drop my pen and count on my fingers to see if there were, indeed, enough hours in the day to accomplish all that she did.
Ruth grew up an active soccer player and played from adolescence through the end of high school. She simultaneously played on three different soccer teams and most days involved double practices. After soccer in the fall, squash in the winter and track in the spring rounded out the sports trilogy.