America's Deprived Junior Squash Players
By Bob Hanscom
U.S. Squash #1 ranked junior squash-player, Maria Elena Ubina
November 13, 2012 - U.S. Squash boasts an impressive 1,800 junior boys and girls on their official national "ranking" list! And that's just those who are current members of the association and have at least three tournament exposures! Just think of all the other juniors in America who have not become U.S. Squash members and/or do not yet have three tournament exposures!
And let's not forget all those great (nearly 1,000) kids participating in the ten different National Urban Squash + Education Association programs across the country...wow! Could it be that America has the best junior squash development program(s) in the world? That could very well be!
Looking at the national junior squash rankings, it's no mystery or surprising that the majority of junior players ranked reside in the eastern half of the county. A quick analysis shows that over 85% of the boys and over 84% of the girls ranked are from the east coast.
Let's look at what's happening on the west coast regarding junior squash players being ranked? Well...there are approximately 120 total, 80 boys and 40 girls. That's an interesting statistic in itself!
Comparing Northern California and Southern California, the north has 62 boys and and 18 girls ranked. Southern California (Santa Barbara down to San Diego) has 32 boys and 8 girls ranked, 30 less boys and 10 less girls than up north.
What do these statistics show? We first must look at each of the east coast, Northern and Southern California communities as to what they offer their junior players regarding hosting tournaments and giving them an opportunity to establish a rating and earning ranking points. Here's that astounding breakdown.
From November 9, 2012 to May 3, 2013, (approximately six months) U.S. Squash has 86 junior squash tournaments scheduled. Only ten of them are on the west coast, eight in Northern California - and worse, only two scheduled (two additional ones tentative) in Southern California.
In a recent survey of those working with junior squash players in Southern California, it is estimated that there are approximately 240 boys and girls now involved in formal squash training programs...only 40 of them ranked! What about the other 200?
That's really an easy question to answer when you think of how many miles (325 from Santa Barbara, 380 from Los Angeles and 500 from San Diego up to San Francisco) these kids, coaches and parents have to travel in order to compete, not to mention the time and expense involved? And heaven forbid, having to fly up to Portland, Seattle or even back to the east coast for tournaments...wow!
Can the average (squash) family afford that kind of time and expense on a regular basis (even occasionally) to travel so far in an effort to have their child gain a U.S. Squash national rating - and more importantly, accumulate points with hopes of rising in the national rankings, allowing them to compete with the rest of the country? I think not! What's the answer?
And so, as the title of this article indicates, our Southern California junior squash players can now be and quite appropriately labeled as: "America's Deprived Junior Squash Players!"
Back To Main
