Yale Hosts Their First USA National Championships at Payne-Whitney Gym

 

Show Court at Yale's Brady Squash Complex

A FIRST FOR YALE
The USSRA held the National Championships for the first time ever at Yale University. This reflects the fact that the best squash facilities in the USA, and in fact in the world, are now at the leading US Universities - at Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Trinity, Williams, Amherst and a few others. (not to mention the world class facilities at the Groton (Mass) , St Georges (Newport RI), and Hill (Pottstown PA) Schools).

PERFORMANCES FOR THE AGES
There were some great career performances punctuated by strong showings this year in the age groups. Charlie Butt, from Maine, won yet another age group title, with a dominating performance at the 75+ bracket. Jay Nelson, from New York, had an equally impressive showing at the 60+ level. Jay continues to compete highly competitively in the Metropolitan NY "A" leagues and gathered in his 19th (!) National Title.

Satinder Bajwa, Harvard's director of Squash, showed he can still play, as he won a competitive 45+ age bracket without losing a game. And Florida's Brenda Grossnickle had another strong year, taking the 40+ age bracket while also competing in the skill levels. We also must call out Julie Lilien's courageous win in the women's 5.0+ skill levels in a furious battle of survival with Boston's Orla Doherty. At 4PM on Sunday afternoon, with a core group of spectators on hand, Doherty and Lilien battled down to the last point. Both competitors came off court after the final point on rubbery legs.

HIGHLIGHTS

Morse and Hobler in the Men's Over 85s

There were some other notable positive signals coming from this year's nationals.

Some of these that we noticed were,

There were also some trends that generate more concern. Some of those we feel cause concern are,

 

We close with an excerpt from Richard Levin's welcome letter:

	Champion Latasha Khan (background) and finalist Meredith Quick (foreground)		Champion Damian Walker