Squash Revival In CNJ - Two Schools, a University and an Urban Program by Ferez S. Nallaseth June 6, 2014
- On Sunday the 1st of June, in the center of New Jersey, the Squash
home of the nationally renowned – Princeton University Tigers and the
Lawrenceville School/Good Nick Squash Teams there was a Squash Revival!
Squash players and teams, which have been dormant for a while, came
alive! In the first variation on a 3 way match between a high school,
an urban squash program and a university, joined by a second high
school team in a token presence, many barriers were overcome, for a day
of fun, mentoring and match play! The day started off and ended with
group pictures of all 4 teams.
Adult players of the
Rutgers Squash Club (RSC, which is the revived form of the Rutgers
University Squash Racquets Club which has been dormant until recently),
then squared off for the second time, against the flourishing
Lawrenceville High School/Good Nick Squash Club Adult team, with
LSC/GNSC winning 7-1 (see results below). In the junior match an
Emerging Urban Squash team (StreetSquash-Newark, SS-N) was mentored on
the court by members of a LSC/GNSC Junior Team who are among the best
juniors in the region and the nation. The LSC/GNSC players were in
order of ranking, Gautam Nagarajan, Henri Howe, Will Luke, Christian
Bae, Hamza Mian, John Gunton, Dylan Sakaria and Nik Patel. SS-N player
lists were not available. The Princeton High School Squash Team had a
token representation in 2 of the best junior players from the region!
They are the brothers Mazarakis - Mennen on his way to playing
Collegiate Squash for the University of Pennsylvania and Platon on his
way to joining Princeton High School (PHS).
Adult members of the
LSC/GNSC and RSC then mentored juniors from the SS-N team on court.
James Butler, who works with SS-N once a week in Newark and Sebastian
Jayaraj represented the RSC while P.J. Patel, Arslan Mian and Sajjad
Ladiwalla represented the LSC/GNSC in taking the court with the SS-N
kids.
Current Princeton
Junior Squash Coach, Former Lawrenceville Junior Varsity and RUSRC
Urban Squash Coach, Pete Hart, took a folder full of great pictures. We finished off the day with Pizzas and sodas generously supplied by LSC/GNSC! Rob Krizek
Founder/Coach-LSC/GNSC and the Host Pro organized a great day with Leah
Brown Founding Director and Corey Cabot Squash Director of SS-N, and
Charles Heckscher (Professor/Coach/Revivalist-RSC) and Mennen Mazarakis
(Captain/Revivalist-PHS) assisting in getting all this together. LSC/GNSC vs RSC: 1. Arslan Mian v. Ferez Nallaseth - L 3-1 2. Sajjad Ladiwalla v Ferez Nallaseth - L 3-0 3. P.J. Patel v Charles Heckscher - L 3-2 4. Brad St Laurent v James Butler - L 3-0 5. Rich Levine v David Finegold - L 3-0 6. Stephen King v Abanoob Tandrosse - L 3-1 7. MacDale Elwin v Atul Gupta - R 3-1 8. Stephen Coughley v Sebastian Jayaraj - L 3-0
