Through the years, the squash team has consistently shown themselves more than capable of dominating on the courts as a group of supportive, hardworking, and confident young men. This season is no different, with this year’s varsity team consisting of some of the most talented and dedicated players.
The team proved their resolve and determination to win in two underdog matches against St. Andrews and the Brunswick School, two of the top teams in the nation, ending both matches in stunning 4-3 victories.
“On paper, we were really not expecting to win, but the boys just played [incredibly] all weekend,” Varsity Coach Alex Stait said. “The team’s consistently high performance is reflected in their practice, where they prepare for tough matches such as these.”
Team practices occur nearly every day after school, consisting of different workouts, drills, and match play. Practice starts with a light warmup, followed by a mixture of intense workouts to build up strength and endurance, drills that focus on different aspects of the game, and match play to apply everything. After around an hour and a half of hard work, practice usually concludes with a team stretch and five minutes of core.
Sticking to such a consistent routine has helped the team create a strong chemistry.
“I think that the reason we won the matches this weekend was because of how close we are as a team,” Captain and Sixth Former Andrew Glaser said, “and I think we’ve all worked so hard off-season together—doing Wednesday morning workouts, practices all throughout the fall and even the summer, which I think no other team in the country does. I think that’s what really made the difference this weekend.”
All of this dedication is required to meet the team’s goals.
“Our goal always is to win the Inter-Ac … [but] not really looking at outcome goals too much, we want to just keep the intensity of training and the team spirit going,” Coach Stait said. “If we do that, we’ll get some good results.”
Glaser agreed, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the training process.
“I think the wins show us that if we train like we’ve been training … we can beat any team.”
Andrew Glaser ’24
“The goal is just to keep training really hard, not take these wins for granted, and use these wins as motivation to train harder and be better, and I think the wins show us that if we train like we’ve been training … we can beat any team, so we just have to keep training, and beat EA,” Glaser said.
Though much of the team’s success at the start of the season is due to its rigorous training, the support from spectators also provided the team with a crucial boost of morale. With the outcomes as close as they were, the crowd may have made the difference.
“All of the support we got for this weekend’s matches,” Coach Stait said, “really took us over the edge and made a bit of a fortress for us.”
