Pace Changing on Court at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Oregon
by Nancy Keates




June 4, 2015 - The pace is changing on the squash courts at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Ore.     

            Since last August, the MAC has doubled the number of junior participants, overhauled its adult clinics and introduced intra-club tournaments. It’s all the work of the MAC’s new Head Squash Pro Ashley Read. Guided by his motto of “evolution not revolution”, Ashley has been carefully and methodically growing and improving the program and the culture.       

            Ashley’s latest kill shot  is hiring nine-time U.S. national squash champion Julian Illingworth as a teaching pro.  Julian, who runs his own Portland Squash Academy across town, will also help coach a camp Ashley is running at the MAC in June.     

            “The number of positive comments we have received since Ashley started has been tremendous,” says Ed Stoner,  Athletic Director at the MAC.

            Ashley is one of only four Certified Level IV coaches working in the United States. He came to the MAC from the Winter Club in Calgary, where as head coach he grew squash revenue by 400%, secured the club a new doubles court  and clinched the department a North American Association of Club Athletic Directors award for the racquet sports program of the year in 2013 and 2009. Before the Winter Club he was an assistant squash pro at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia and the head pro at the Winchester Tennis and Squash Club in Winchester, England. 

            At the MAC, adults now have multi-level drill sessions and clinics. Juniors can choose between competitive, pre-competitive and non-competitive groupings. There are monthly raucous (but organized) Sunday tournaments called the Grand Prix.

            This past winter Ashley took a group of MAC juniors to Victoria, British Columbia to compete in the Jesters Pacific Northwest Junior Championships. He also played a key role in the successful Oregon Open 2015 – the $15,000 pro tournament in February, during which he organized free clinics for juniors with world squash legend Geoff Hunt. 

            “He has brought a renewed energy to the program,” says David Spiro, vice chairman of the MAC’s squash committee.  “I  feel grateful to have him here.”

            It was clear from the start that Ashley had big plans: At one of his earliest presentations to members, he put forth the goal of having glass walls on all six singles courts at the club. Those skeptical that would ever happen in their lifetime are now having second thoughts. “He is dreaming big,” says Ed Stoner.