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By Bob Callahan and Gail Ramsay
Princeton Squash Coaches
Playing college squash is a wonderful experience! The friendships, the camaraderie, the practices, the travel, and the matches - they all help make your college experience that much richer! Being a member of a team is a source of self-esteem, and a way to put order and discipline in your day. There is nothing more exciting than your team winning a close 5-4 team match in front of a packed gallery! These are memories that will last a lifetime.
I hope to help you better understand the world of college squash so that you too can have a wonderful four year career at the college of your choice. College Squash
College squash is a winter sport with teams beginning formal practice by mid-October to early November. Most teams, however, start "captain's practice" as soon as they return to campus in the fall. Team rosters range in size from 10-20 players each. In intercollegiate matches, schools play their top ten players against their opponent's top ten. Only the top nine results count, with the number ten match being played as an exhibition. Most college teams will play anywhere from 10-20 matches a year, mostly on weekends. Many schools also offer a full Junior Varsity schedule for their players in the second ten on their line-up. Practices are typically two hours each day after classes, six days/week. Team matches start in mid-November and culminate in the end of season National Team Championships in late February. Preparing to Apply
First and foremost, the best advice I can give any aspiring college squash player is: STUDY!! Nothing will increase your chances of a getting into a top college more than getting the best grades possible, in the most challenging courses possible, along with having reasonably good SAT scores. College is an academic challenge, and schools look for applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to challenging themselves academically in high school. Being a "recruited" squash player may help your chances of being admitted, but it will not make up for a so-so academic record. It is never too early to start working hard. I talk to lots of high school seniors who, unfortunately, realized too late that they didn't work hard enough in high school, and now don't have the option to attend certain top colleges! It is a shame. It may seem like there is plenty of time to get down to the books, but time flies and before you know it may be too late. So get in the habit of studying hard and doing your best every year in school. Since most schools require SAT tests (many of them require SAT1's and SAT 2's), you need to prepare for them as well. Lay out a schedule that will enable you to take both the SAT 1's and SAT 2’s several times by the November test date of your senior year. Which Schools Should I apply to?
Once your academic house is on order, you need to focus on deciding which schools are of interest to you. There is an excellent college squash web-site, www.collegesquash.com, which lists all of the schools playing intercollegiate squash, each team's ranking, coach's contact information, team results, etc. I encourage you to visit the site often and follow the intercollegiate season. As you sort out which schools offer squash, start to visit the college's web sites to learn more about each one and decide if they are academically and athletically in the right "ball park".
There are a few ways to learn more about schools.
1) Visit the squash team's web-site.
For Men’s contact info: http://www.squashtalk.com/collegesquash/teams/mensteams.htm
For Women’s contact info: http://www.squashtalk.com/collegesquash/teams/womensteams.htm
2) Visit the school - play in a squash tournament there, attend a summer squash camp, visit the school for a day
3) Contact the coach - coach's e-mail address is available on the school's web-site as listed above
4) If you are seriously interested in a school, send the coach a note expressing your interest along with a list of your squash and academic achievements. Let them know where and when you are planning to play in tournaments so they can come watch you play, and sort out a time to come visit them. Visiting Colleges
Plan to visit colleges in the spring of your junior year. Meet with the coach, ask about the squash program, make an appointment with the Admission Office to meet with a member of the admissions staff, and get a feel for the campus and how you see yourself fitting in. Do you like an "urban schools" or a "suburban" school, big school or small school? We happen to have a wonderful group of college squash coaches right now, so you will have a wonderful squash experience at almost any school you go to.
If you don’t get the chance to visit a school in the spring, definitely visit over the summer. By the time September rolls around, you need to have narrowed down the list of schools you are interested in to a manageable few so you can visit each one over the fall. Use weekends in late September and early October to spend a day or so at each of your top choices. You should be able to pick one for Early Decision, if interested.
A Few Words About The NCAA.
NCAA rules prohibit coaches from calling you on the phone until the July 1 before your senior year in high school. They can send you letters and e-mails starting in your junior year, (except questionnaires can be mailed to you any time in high school). You can visit a school anytime, but a coach can only provide you with an expense paid visit ”Official Visit” one time for a maximum of 48 hours after your first day of senior year. Each high school senior may accept no more than 5 official visits over the course of their senior year. Recruiting
Colleges try to have a well rounded undergraduate student body with students representing a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. Strong academic performance is the key criteria for admission. However, colleges give credit to students who have demonstrated success in extracurricular activities on a national or international level of success. If a student is ranked #5 in the country in squash, it has clearly taken a lot of time away from studying to accomplish it. If that student has a strong academic back ground as well, they may be admitted before a student with only a strong academic background.
A coach is expected to inform the Admissions Office of any applicants that have a national or international level of success in their sport, so the Admissions Office can include that information in their overall evaluation of the candidate. Almost all colleges take into account the extracurricular contributions, including athletics, that applicants are likely to make to campus life. Some colleges hope to enroll anywhere from 3-5 squash players a year, while others may hope to enroll only one. Coaches primarily use national rankings as the first source of information for evaluating high school players.
If you want to be recruited, make sure you play enough tournaments to get a good ranking. If you attend a Boarding School, it is tougher for you to play in tournaments, so you need to forward your prep school results - good wins, good losses to the coach. Make a video-tape of you playing a match and send it to the coach. Be persistent, because the more information the coach receives, the better able he/she is to make a good decision about whom they will support with admissions. Early Decision/Regular Decision.
There seems to be a tremendous amount of interest in applying early to colleges. I advise students to apply Early only if their academic profile is strong, and only if they know which college they prefer to attend. Early applicants find out whether they are admitted by mid-December, which is a great benefit to high school seniors.
Does applying early give you an advantage over applying regular?
Yes and No. If a college does not believe you would be a good match academically or athletically for them, they will not admit you simply because you apply Early. On the other hand, if a college believes that you are the kind of student-athlete they seek to enroll, the advantage to the student is knowing about admission in mid-December and then being able simply to concentrate on school the rest of the year. When You apply
1) Keep in regular contact with the coach. Visit the school, watch a match, and send the coach your tournament results.
2) Keep studying hard, keep taking the SAT's. No matter how you do, it can't hurt.
3) Do a quality job on the application itself. There is no bigger turn-off to admission officers than reading an application the applicant appears to have done hastily or simply “blown off.” It doesn’t matter how good a squash player you are, if you don’t make as much of an effort on a college’s application as they expect to make evaluating your application, you’re going to lose out.
4) Keep improving your squash.If you are accepted early
Congratulations!
Great news! You have a wonderful four years ahead of you. Now continue to study hard, because that is the best preparation for college. Take a writing course, because you will do a lot of writing in college. Play a lot of squash so you are best prepared for the season ahead. If you are not accepted Early
Make sure that you are collecting and starting to fill out additional college applications over the fall just in case you are not admitted early. If deferred early decision, talk with the coach and see if they can give you any feedback on why you didn't get in (they will probably not have much feedback) . Start to visit other colleges and talk to other coaches so you can create a list of your other top choices. Continue to talk to the coaches, study even harder in school, retake the SAT's, and play lots of squash tournaments. It will be a nervous winter and spring of waiting but it will be worth it in April when you finally get that Admissions offer!
The good news is that students seem to be very happy wherever they wind up going to school, even if it wasn't their first choice. No matter what happens I'm sure you will have a very rewarding college experience and squash career. The College Years
Once in college, the years ahead of you will be split into different experiences and learning opportunities and you’ll assume varying roles as a squash player. Freshman year, it is best to get comfortable with the school and the squash team’s culture, and learn how to be contributor right from the start. You’ll learn a lot from upperclassmen too. Sophomore year, you should take on more responsibility and develop your leadership skills. Be enthusiastic, work hard in practice every day, and maybe organize some social events. You will son be an upperclassman! By your junior and senior years, you should be a leader on your team, no matter what position you play. Set a great example at practice and work hard all the time. Help steer the freshmen and sophomores – they’ll be coming to you for advice! Before you know it your college time will be over. Enjoy every moment.
All the best and good luck!
About the Authors
 Gail Ramsay, Head Coach - Women's Squash
Princeton Women's Squash Website
Gail Ramsay enters her sixth year as the head coach of women's squash at Princeton University with an outstanding 41-6 career record. She has also guided the Tigers to back-to-back national championships at the Howe Cup and has coached two of the last three individual national champions in Katherine Johnson and Julia Beaver.
When Ramsay, whose teams have never finished lower than second at the Howe Cup, took her team to the 1998 national title, it ended Harvard's five-year run at the event. She also led Princeton to the 1998 Ivy League title, its first since 1991.
Ramsay is a 1980 graduate of Penn State, where she was a four-time national intercollegiate squash champion. Prior to her appointment at Princeton, she had been the head squash and tennis coach at Williams College for six years. Ramsay was a top-ranked player throughout her playing career, ranking as high as number 2 in the United States on several occasions. A four-time intercollegiate singles champion, she has also captured two doubles and seven mixed doubles titles.
A two-time member of the U.S. national team, Ramsay captained the 1985 team on its trip through Ireland and also was included on the 1983 team's trip to Australia for the World Championships.
Ramsay has coached at the Heights Casino Club, Uptown Squash Club and NYU, while also playing on the professional circut.
Ramsay is a past president of the U.S. Intercollegiate Women's Squash Racquets Association, and she and Bob Callahan are co-directors of the Princeton Squash Training Center. She was inducted into the USWISRA Hall of Fame as a player in 1995.
 Bob Callahan, Head Coach - Men's Squash
Princeton Men's Squash Website
Bob Callahan, a 1977 graduate of Princeton University, enters his 19th year as the Tigers' head men's squash coach.
A four-year squash letterwinner while at Princeton, Callahan captained the Tigers' 1977 national championship squad and earned All-Ivy League and All-America honors following his junior and senior years. Princeton claimed three nine-man national titles in Callahan's four years, during which time he also played three years of varsity tennis.
After four years of working for IBM, Callahan retuned to his alma mater in 1981 and assumed the head coaching duties in squash. In his initial campaign he led the Tigers to an undefeated season, the Ivy League title and the national championship. Callahan's teams have compiled an Ivy League record of 70-20 and an overall mark of 162-30. Princeton, consistently ranked among the nation's top three teams, also won the 1993 national title.
Callahan is a former national squash champion and is director of the U.S. junior squash development. In the summer he directs the prestigious Princeton Junior Squash Training Center, which annually attracts the top 300 junior squash players in America. He also served as the tournament director for the World Junior Championships at Princeton in 1998, the first time the event had been held in the United States.
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