Pro Draw Confirmed for New Poly Prep Tournament, Amateur Registration Open
by Corey Modeste



December 20, 2015 - The Poly Prep school in Brooklyn just opened a new squash facility and will inaugurate it with a pro/am squash tournament in early February. The  (Feb. 5-7) is named after the school's famed mascot and will have skill-level amateur draws as well as a men's professional tournament.  An early registration discount is now in effect for the amateur draws.

Poly Prep's new squash facility has nine courts, making it not only the sole high school or university in the city to have courts, but also the largest squash facility of any kind in the five boroughs. In fact, the venue is the 2nd largest in New York state and only Hamilton College has more singles courts.  Two of the courts will be all-glass show courts used in top professional tournaments. Amateurs will finally have the chance to play on the kind of court previously only available to top professionals.

The lineup for the men's pro draw is confirmed and headlined by world #16 Ryan Cuskelly.  The Australian and current Westchester local had long been one of his country's best on the PSA tour but took his game to a new level in 2015. He has four PSA tour wins this year, capped off with a quarterfinal appearance in Qatar - an event in which beat two top 10 players.  He will be joined by the 2015 Las Vegas Open champion, #38 Campbell Grayson and #44 Alister Walker. The pro lineup will also include Ramit Tandon, #71 Chris Hanson, #101 Arthur Gaskin, #168 Clinton Leeuw and Hamza Bukhari.

The Blue Devil Challenge tournament will be run by Corey Modeste, Jamal Callender and Poly Prep coaches Ben Oliner and Meredith Quick.  "We are really pleased to introduce the facility to the squash community with a tournament" said men's coach Ben Oliner.  "There is more squash activity at Poly Prep that the public might be aware of and we would love to get the word out."  In addition to the Poly Prep squash teams, Peter Nicol has been running Nicol Champion's Academy for top juniors at the school for the past year. CitySquash also opened a Brooklyn chapter based at the school. 

Tournament: Blue Devil Challenge

Date: Feb. 5-7, 2016

Structure: All amateur skill levels, men's pro draw, food, gifts

Location: Poly Prep School Country Day School, Brooklyn, NY

Event is accessible by subway and also has free parking onsite.