(updated 7-jun-09 9:40 ) 

CitySquash Annual Bash A Huge Success   

On the evening of June 4th CitySquash, the Fordham University-based youth-enrichment organization that has had such a positive impact on the Bronx community in which it is located, held its annual end-of-year “Bash” in mid-town Manhattan at the University Club of New York. More than 700 supporters were in attendance for a night that devolved into part-fundraiser, part-celebration of what CitySquash has accomplished both this past year and throughout its existence. Indeed, this seventh year constitutes a milestone moment for its Founder and Chair, Sanford Schwartz, and Executive Director Tim Wyant, since this is the year in which the original group of sixth-graders who were assembled in the inaugural autumn of 2002 are graduating from their respective high-schools, ending their time under the CitySquash aegis and heading (in every case) off to college in the fall, some of them having spent part or all of their high-school years at prep schools, and a number of them having received partial or full college scholarships.

Both the size of the student body and the number of services that CitySquash offers have steadily increased during the intervening time, to the point where at this stage the 100 students in the program (beginning with the third grade) receive help with their homework from their regular schools; are given class instruction several days a week; are members of book clubs that prescribe selected books for them to read; are provided with guidance on expanding their vocabulary and improving their writing skills; benefit from one-on-one and group squash-coaching several times per week; perform volunteer service in the community; have an opportunity to compete in tournaments during the season (including one tournament specifically for members of youth-enrichment groups, which have become numerous enough to merit the recent formation of NUSEA, the National Urban Squash and Education Association, which was founded by Greg Zaff, who pioneered the whole concept when he started Squashbusters in Boston in the mid-1990’s); travel on cultural outings to many different U. S. cities; and are assigned to mentors, usually young professionals who are in ongoing contact with them and provide counsel, advice and encouragement during their frequent interaction. CitySquash also is actively involved in prep school and college placement now that the student body has grown to accommodate children of that age.

Nearly half of CitySquash’s annual $800,000 budget was raised at The Bash alone, and the throng was virtually elbow-to-elbow as they overloaded the host club’s spacious seventh-floor social hall, interspersed throughout which were screens replaying a recent CitySquash segment on NBC’s Today Show and/or providing a slide show depicting photos of the students in action on court, in the classroom or at outside activities. This massive reception --- Zaff himself remarked on what a big-time feel the entire production exuded, fully worthy of charities that have been in existence far longer and possess a much higher profile than CitySquash --- followed a series of squash exhibitions featuring some of the best singles and doubles players in the sport.

The first set of matches, as one example, pitted multiple-time British and World Open champion David Palmer against five-time and current U. S. champion Julian Illingworth, while at the same time on the doubles court Damien Mudge (who has been on the ISDA top-ranked professional doubles team for nine of the past 10 years) and world No. 2 women’s singles player Natalie Grainger, who with Jess DiMauro has also won the U. S. National Doubles each of the past two years, were taking on Ben Gould, who with partner Paul Price has formed the No. 2 ISDA doubles team in both ’08 and ’09 after they were No. 1 in ’07, and Narelle Krizek, the founder of the women’s pro doubles tour and a winner with various partners of the ’06 World Women’s and Mixed Doubles titles as well as the ’07 U. S. Mixed Doubles. A number of the students themselves gave demonstrations of the squash skills they have acquired, while also receiving instruction from top-level college, amateur and pro players.

CitySquash, one of nine such organizations from across the country currently comprising NUSEA (with more in the pipeline in the near future), is clearly far along in its stated mission of helping motivated and talented young people from economically disadvantaged households in its neighborhood fulfill their academic, athletic and personal potential; compelling evidence of this was given when several student attendees at The Bash read speeches they had written for the occasion. Based on the enormous success of last night’s undertaking, both in terms of the dollars raised and the enthusiasm that permeated the entire gathering, its long-term goal of building an academic and squash youth center in the Bronx seems well on its way to being realized in the not too distant future.
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