In its first semester of existence the Rutgers University Squash Racquets Club managed a surprising level of activity! First we were hosted by the nationally recognized Youth Rejuvenation Program StreetSquash in Columbia University and then by the newly formed Princeton University Club. All three teams enjoyed their exchanges- on and off court and agreed to make this a regular lineup- with some adjustments. This was followed by exceptionally good clinics at Rutgers by the Princeton Men's and Women's Team Head Coaches Bob Callahan and Gail Ramsay- this may not be at all surprising given Princeton's rankings and National Championships. We made our first appearance in the New Jersey State Championships and the Northern New Jersey Squash Racquets Association (NNJSRA) and Central New Jersey Squash Racquets Association  (CNJSRA) Leagues and Individual Championships. We also mixed it up with the first of the club lineups at Ricochet last Saturday. Finally Jonathan Fass from Rutgers's Fitness Program has been conditioning the team- a program that Michael Bain arranged for the club. Jonathan and I will be working together closely to design a program for squash.

Rutgers at StreetSquash:

Street Squash, Directed and Founded by George Polsky, is nationally renowned for it's work with urban programs based on squash for the rejuvenation of inner city youth. It remains a possible model for New Brunswick middle and senior school kids already working out in the Sonny Werblin Center. Immediately and positively responding to my suggestion for a match between our Rutgers's undergraduate players and StreetSquash kids George arranged for the matches to be played at Columbia University's Courts. Peter Karlen and Pat Cosquer of StreetSquash coordinated the exchange with Michael Bain of the Rutgers's team.

Street Squash's lineup was:
Ramon Potter
Samantha Matos
Nicholas Nichson
Jamel Key
Joshua Gary
Daequan Andino
Latasha Bailey
Cequidra Davis
Angel Figueroa
Pat Cosquer

Rutgers's lineup was :
James Butler
Mohsin Khalfans
Yoni Rubin
Marcy Felsenthal
Andy Wing Yuen
Michael Bain
Ferez Nallaseth

The two teams mixed it up  in several ‘round robins'.

I played Ramon who is surprisingly talented with the racquet and promises to straighten out the few lucky bounces that went my way the next time we meet. Jamel also gave me a real run around. Mohsin played Samantha and Joshua and as an experienced softballer needed to draw on all his court savvy  to win. Samantha was agile and determined. Yoni played Latasha, Nicholas, and Angel. In a thrilling exchange of rallies that went to Yoni 10-9 in the fifth over Angel !Andy Yuen also went on court with several StreetSquashers who gave him such a rough time he prefers not to remember! Marcy Felsenthal was sick and James Butler was tied up at Rutgers Newark with course work. Michael mixed up strokes and moves with Cequidra and Joshua. Pat Cosquer and Michael Bain played a couple of games that ended in a whoop for Michael! Pat,Marcy,Yoni,Ferez and Mo recapped the evening over a Kosher dinner at Douggies of 72nd and Broadway.

The Princeton / Rutgers Match:

The Princeton Club and Rutgers's RUSRC are both new clubs – having been inaugurated  within a couple of months of each other. Michael Bain of Rutgers and Virginia Woolworth of Princeton organized the match at Princeton's Dillon Gym

As coach I selected the Rutgers team based on a ‘Warm-Up Ladder' match at Princeton's Dillon Gym and Saad Rathore, Sunny Muzaffar, Kai Medville and Michael Bain's impressions of levels of play in the RUSRC.  Because most of the Rutgers's players either had never played or not played recently on a Regulation Sized Court the results were pleasantly surprising – they more than held their ground.  Virginia Woolworth introduced the two teams, the Games began and Dillon resounded! The ‘even #s' went on court before the ‘odd #s' - and the entire roster of 29 players had their fill of squash.

In the first match of the day the #2 s Ferez Nallaseth of Rutgers and Brij Khurana of Princeton squared off with the greater experience of the former winning the day. This  was followed by the #4s Nic Erhardt of Rutgers and Y.Lee of Princeton in a hard-hitting match

which again went to Rutgers. Then the #6sArun Azhagiri of Rutgers and Adrian Ross of  Princeton put on one of the two thrillers of the day with Arun pulling it off !The other thriller was at the #14s with Clelia Zacharias of Princeton prevailing over Alberto Raboso of Rutgers in her second match of the day. The previous one being against Eric Jaycock that went the other way for Clelia.

At the #8s Kai Medville of Rutgers had one too many strokes and moves for Kit Jollerson of Princeton. At the #10s James  Butler the only member of the prospective Rutgers University Emerging Varsity Team and Peter Kruger-Wyman put on a sustained exchange with the former showing his early squash training to wrap up the match. At the #12s Jerald Goldstein of Rutgers overcame Mike Siliciano. At the #14s Alberto Raboso of Rutgers defaulted to Michael Dabney of Princeton. But James Butler could not get enough and so went on court with Brij Khurana and to loose his second match of the day.

Princeton Club's#1 and varsity player Baca Perlman and RU #1 Sunny Muzzafar put on a classic touch and roll versus power duel with the latter prevailing. At the #3s hostess Virginia Woolworth dropped, drove and sliced with Saad Rathore before the latter closed out. At the #5s Hyuk Soo Han tried to contain hard-hitting Michael Bain. At the #7s Laura Smith of Princeton and Irfan Hassan of Rutgers squared off with the latter winning the match. At the #9s Faizan Ahmed of Rutgers prevailed over Alex Limpaecher of Princeton. At the #11s Vincent Matossian of Rutgers worked the court to outplay Dustin Kahler of Princeton and at the #13s Clelia Zacharias played one of her two matches of the day versus Eric Jaycock.

The final score was Rutgers 13 to  Princeton 3.

All had a good time and it was decided that a rematch and some socializing were in order- with some corrections to be made for  Rutgers player eligibilities. Rutgers players took advantage of the luxury of full sized courts- with Saad and Ferez putting on an exhibition match won by the latter, courtesy of recent familiarity with  the wide court.

Princeton Head Coach's Clinics:

In the clinics that they gave on successive Fridays at the Werblin Center, Gail Ramsay and Bob Callahan showed why they were among the top ranked coaches in the world of squash racquets. And also why Princeton is the proud owner of so many National Championships. Although they covered very different dimensions of the game Gail and Bob gave clinics that were completely complementary to each other.

Both Coaches covered the basics- also covered by the Rutgers's coaches in the RUSRC clinics:

Line drills, rotation drills, stroke production, footwork, the approach to the ball(without over-running)posture, conditioning and serves. Bob also set up games and analyses between matched pairs. Gail worked on lobs and drops.

Several racquetball and tennis draftees to the RUSRC were delighted with the tips.

Gail and Bob spent time with each of the 19 players who showed up for the 2 sessions – and remembered the weaknesses andstrengths of each and then fed them the right balls!Bob also set up backhand and forehand line drill competitions for  a Princeton Team t-shirt .The forehand was won by Michael Bain and the backhand was won by Gheorghe Muresan.

The passion both player-coaches had for squash was so obvious it left the entire RUSRC energized and ready to learn. The two 2 hour sessions were capped with Pizza, drinks and exchanges on the future of Princeton and Rutgers's Squash. Assistant Director of Sport Jim Moryan spent time familiarizing Coach Ramsay with the program in Rutgers and will be catching up with Coach Callahan. Both Bob and Gail had helpful suggestions for Jim .

New Jersey State, NNJSRA and CNJSRA leagues / championships :

Four RUSRC players Sunny Muzaffar ,Nic Erhardt, Michael Bain and Ferez Nallaseth represented the RUSRC in either the CNJSRA (Sunny,Nic,Ferez) or the NNJSRA (Michael) leagues. Sunny, Nic and I are also competing in the individual championships. In the NJ State Championships held at Chatham Squash Club Sunny and I played in the A division (5.5).Sunny was seeded #3 based on previous performances but had to withdraw due to surgery.  Please join me in wishing him a speedy recovery. I had a good first round match and lost 2-3 in close games to Clyde Wardle. In the consolation matches my lack of conditioning showed and I went down 3-0 to sparring partner and former Princeton Team member Bill Nicolls. In the CNJSRA individual championships I lost to Bill 3-2 again in the A division and am still ‘alive' in the age groups division of the tournament. Nic Erhardt lost in the B division. Under Nic Erhardt's captaincy our team has clinched the A Division league team match title for the 2004-2005 season of the CNJSRA Team Championships. Michael Bain played in the NNJSRA A/B league teams but was injured and missed most of the season, and the team did not fare as well as they did when they were the 2002-winners and 2003/2004-finalists.

Next season we hope to field 6 five man / woman teams for the NNJSRA and CNJSRA leagues as well as individual participation in the NJ State Championships to be held at Princeton. The National Intercollegiate Championships are also to be held at Princeton University's courts. As of now we have three bonafide and five up and coming members for our intercollegiate squad.

Rutgers at the Ricochet Club:

Michael and Ricochet Club's Buzz Nesti arranged a Rutgers visit to our neighbors in Plainfield. Ricochet's Squash team was represented by accomplished players who were converts from Tennis, Badminton and Racquetball -Buzz, Raj and Brij. Rutgers's contingent consisted of Michael, Faizan, Irfan and I. The racquetball conversion courts were a pleasure to workout on and Raj who had played the game for a mere two years gave a good account of himself versus the Rutgers's players. Brij and Michael and Buzz and I also mixed it up. We hope to turn this into a regular exchange! We have games ‘in the works' with Valkyrie of Sea Bright and other clubs in Princeton.

RUSRC lets keep moving forward- stay posted!