Guy Cipriano Responds to Eduardo Alvarez's Vision for Squash
August 18, 2020
Very interesting article by Mr. Alvarez. He is passionate about squash and wants to promote and grow the game in North America. Bravo!
However I don’t see cause for optimism. In 1978 when I came to NYC there ten commercial clubs:
Manhattan ( which also had a doubles court,) Fifth Avenue, Uptown,
Broad Street, Lincoln, First Avenue, Doral, Park Avenue, Park Place,
Vertical- all were active and vibrant.
The Seventh Regiment Armory also had two courts and anybody could join and play, plus the West Side YMCA had two courts.
Today those clubs are all gone. To my knowledge there is one
commercial club in Manhattan on 38th Street. It has four courts.
The space became far more valuable to landlords for office
and other uses so the courts were demolished. Those economics are
not going to change .
In 1982 Boodles British Gin sponsored a tournament with multiple flights in every division for both men and women.
There were 600 participants. Matches were played at every commercial club and some private clubs, too.
Today it would be a challenge to get a draw of 16 for a weekend tournament in Manhattan .
In the 1980s there was a top flight A class invitational
tournament virtually every weekend in the Northeast.
Today the only events surviving are the William White at Merion CC and
the Gold Racquets at Rockaway HC and their most popular events are
doubles.
The leagues were a hotbed of competition in Classes A to E. The
NY Times published the standings every Sunday. League teams were five
players.
Today the leagues are on life support, and they are only three players per team.
From 1923 until 1993 the Tri-City Lockett-Ketcham Cup was
contested by NY, Boston and Philadelphia in A, B and C flights
for singles, plus a three team doubles competition .
When an initiative was put forth in 2015 to re-start the event Boston and Philadelphia expressed zero interest.
The National Championships used to be held on President’s Day weekend.
There were men’s and women’s flights plus age group flights every five
years.
There was also a five man team competition between cities and
universities which always had a draw of 16 and usually closer to 32.
That “ Gathering of The Clan” would number over 500.
Today those events are a shadow of what they once were.
American squash has become an inverted pyramid where most of the participation and growth is in the junior ranks.
Some of the best junior players carry on playing in college, but most simply disappear.
The customers ( aka players) are the kids, yet all the costs are born by their parents.
That’s unhealthy and ultimately unsustainable.
US Squash derives approximately 60% of its income from junior tournament sanctioning fees.
Now colleges have been dropping varsity programs: Brown , Stanford and George Washington will now field club teams.
What will happen when parents realize that , contrary to the 2007 NY
Times article, playing junior squash is not a special
pathway for little Johnny and Joanie into an elite college:
that academic excellence is the path, and ultimately the only
logical reason to go to college? That answer is self-evident- a decline
in junior squash in every way.
I applaud Mr. Alvarez for keeping the commercial flame burning in Toronto.
But for the past 28 years, since the universal adoption
of the softball game, adult squash in the USA has been
circling the drain with increasing angular acceleration. I wouldn’t
invest capital in a declining industry any more than I’d invest in a
buggy whip factory.
