What’s On My Mind: Good Problems by A.J. Kohlhepp November 26, 2018
As we ease into a new squash season
at this and many other schools, I am reflecting on where we, as a
program, and I, as a contributing member, stand; I am also mindful of
how we got here. I think it’s safe to say that this season shapes
up to be quite different from any other.
One interesting feature relates to our coaching staff, which numbers
six in total: one coach each for boys and girls varsity, junior varsity
and thirds teams. The girls junior varsity coach and I can tally
nearly thirty seasons under our collective belts as this will be her
twelfth and my eighteenth at the helm. The other four coaches combined
come into this campaign with a single season of squash, setting up a
pretty remarkable experience gap.
This is not to say that my fellow coaches aren’t well suited to the
task at hand or that our athletes won’t have a rewarding season under
their tutelage. The new boys varsity coach, for example, is a
formidable athlete and inspiring educator who has coached other sports
at the varsity level; he also happens to be a strong squash player who
competed in the collegiate milieu. But Chris Perkins is a rookie in
this realm and, to a certain extent, doesn’t even know what he doesn’t
know. As a “wily veteran,” then, I am trying to walk the fine line
between supporting his efforts and overwhelming him with my own
priorities, protocols and practices.
My colleague’s rookie status brings to mind my own early experience at
Berkshire. I backed into the job -- English teacher and dorm parent and
squash coach, among other tasks -- at this boarding school at a time
(2001) when expectations were as low as could be for this particular
sport. The simple fact that I knew how to play the game and had a bit
of coaching experience, thanks to a summer job at Andover,
probably gave me an edge over other English aspirants in the
hiring process. But I was far from seasoned as we plunged into that
initial campaign, and boys’ varsity squash probably suffered as a
result of my inexperience.
On the bright side, if such is possible, the team was really bad and
nobody (including the team members themselves) seemed to care much. But
we soldiered on through that season and a few more, and along the way I
learned a ton about coaching in general and coaching squash in
particular. A variety of regional conferences and U.S. Squash clinics
were instrumental to my development, not to mention informal mentoring
from competitor coaches and my Berkshire colleagues in other sports. By
the time I switched to the girls varsity, in the mid-2000s, I was in
better shape to lead that group of athletes and to help lay the
foundations for a stronger future.
I will never forget the words of Courtney Kollmer, captain of the first
girls team I coached at Berkshire: “Thank you for taking us seriously.
We have never had that before.” This struck me as a stunning
revelation at the time. Was it possible that she and her squash
teammates had not been taken seriously over her four years? And
if that was truly true -- if her three previous coaches had been
phoning it in, so to speak -- had I myself been doing something wrong?
But nobody really seemed to care about Berkshire squash anyway. We had
four dark courts on which five teams (boys and girls varsity and junior
varsity and a mixed recreational crew) practiced, comprising some
fifty-plus athletes, few of whom had ever heard of squash prior to
their arrival at boarding school. The teams were generally weak and the
school’s interest in their results commensurate with that lack of
success.
Times change, of course, and institutions evolve (for better and for
worse) along with the times, as do the expectations placed on the
individuals and programs within those institutions. I would guess that
there are still coaches at this New England school, as well as at many
others like it, that don’t take seriously their charge (or their
opportunity) to facilitate their students’ efforts in a particular
realm. But I am confident that the world now sees Berkshire squash in a
different light than it did when I first wandered onto campus eighteen
years ago, racket bag in tow, and I know for a fact that the school
itself regards the sport in a new light.
For one thing, we have an amazing facility with ten state-of-the-art
courts, built during a massive gym renovation in the summer of 2016.
That fact, coupled with a more intentional recruitment effort, has
increased the flow of experienced squash players through our admission
pipeline and enabled both teams to creep toward the top of the second
tier of New England prep squash. The boys finished second out of
sixteen at the Class B championships last year and girls placed fifth
out of sixteen, despite serious illness on the weekend of the
tournament; barring unforeseen injury, expulsion or illness, both
squads should be in the mix this season as well.
Another momentous development took shape about a year ago when a
Berkshire representative chanced to hold a meeting with Nick Matthew,
O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire). Mr Matthew’s name will be quite
familiar to anyone who has followed squash for the past decade: having
gone by the nickname “The Wolf” during his playing career, Nick won
three world opens and three world championships during a highly
successful run on the pro tour.
The prospects for a sustained relationship between school and
spokesperson seemed promising, especially given the fact that Nick and
his North American business partner were looking for a new home for
their summer camp. Nick Matthew Academy at Berkshire School was born,
as was a provisional agreement for him to serve as the school’s squash
ambassador. One year, one full retirement from the pro tour, and
one successful summer slate of camps later, Nick has inked a three-year
term to continue representing Berkshire. That gift too comes with
strings, as it mostly falls to me (as the doyen of winter racket
sports) to facilitate Nick’s work with our teams and to communicate the
latest and greatest with the wider world.
A week into the season and a week out from Nick’s first residency with
Berkshire squash, my own coaching and mentoring roles are kicking into
high gear just as we prepare for mid-year exams at school. (Have I
mentioned that my “day job” is English teacher?) Having hosted a U.S.
Open-based meet and greet this past October and planned various other
events for the year to come, we are also welcoming prospective
applicants to campus on an ongoing basis. This is all part of the new
normal for Berkshire School Squash circa 2018.
And in my inbox this morning, three squash-related emails in response
to the practice schedule I had forwarded: one from the boys’ j.v.
coach, whose wife has just had a baby, reminding us that he’s off line
for the foreseeable future; one from the boys’ thirds coach regarding
his upcoming absence due to an all-star commitment for his main
coaching season (he heads up Berkshire’s New England champion soccer
team); and one from the girls’ thirds coach (who happens to be the
spouse of the boys’ thirds coach) that she is about to head out to the
People of Color Conference. We’ll get it all covered because, in the
end, we have no other option.
My own team rolls back onto campus this evening, along with the rest of
the Berkshire students, in time for an 8:15 training session. In a
brisk 75 minutes, we’ll try to flush the excess tryptophan and burn off
the excess pumpkin and pecan pie and start gearing up for our home
opener this Saturday. As a program, we’ll be ready for Nick when he
gets here Saturday, as well as greeting four middle school teams
competing here this Sunday. And I’ll be sure to check in with my fellow
coaches, from the least experienced to the most, to find out what they
need and how I can best support them.
To paraphrase the immortal rock gods Whitesnake, I don’t know where we
are going with Berkshire squash, but I have a pretty good sense of
where we’ve been. And this I am certain about: every new problem we
have to solve represents an opportunity to get it right, to create a
connection, to learn more about ourselves and our sport. So here we go
again.
A.J. Kohlhepp is an English teacher
and squash coach at Berkshire School (MA). He is currently working on a
long-term project regarding the history of urban squash. Additional
details can be found at https://ajkohlhepp.weebly.com/ or followed at @BerkshireSquash (twitter).
