Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Vol. CLIV, Issue 6
Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Tune out the Racquet, Squash it

With all the hubbub surrounding Sherwood Athletic Center’s new, state-of-the-art climbing wall, improved training room facilities and team locker room space for varsity programs, one of the most important improvements seems to have been pushed to the way-side: resurfaced squash courts!

I understand that many of you probably do not play, or perhaps have not even heard of, the game called squash: that is, unless you went to some super exclusive East Coast private school. The purpose of this column, then, is to enlighten you with the merits of the sport and maybe score some fellow squash-playing partners.

The first thing you must know is that squash is not like racquetball. Racquetball, while fun, is a bastardization of the sport: straight up. It was invented so that people could play so-called squash on a regulation handball court, which were popular across the nation in the 1940s and 1950s.

If you were to compare the two to sandwiches, something to which I’m fond of comparing things, racquetball would be your Philly cheese steak: blue-collar, greasy, consumed around the nation; squash would be your Italian BLT: approachable, clean-cut, but with a certain chic to it as well.

It takes a person of discerning taste to pick the Italian BLT over the Philly. It takes a person of discerning taste to pick squash over racquetball. Racquetball is good; squash is great.

Squash is played with a rubber ball about half the size of and much less bouncy than a traditional racquetball. Because a squash ball doesn’t bounce nearly as high as a racquetball, squash is a more tactical, methodical game.

Racquetball exchanges frequently devolve into a home-run derby of sorts, with each player trying to whack the ball harder than the other, hoping to catch a corner of the wall, send the ball flying off at a weird angle and catch his or her opponent off-balance.

There is some strategy in racquetball, to be sure, but even then, the winner is most often the person who can hit the main wall nearest the floor most consistently.

A low shot dies when it hits the wall, rebounding only a fraction as much as a ball hit any higher, because the friction of the floor slows the ball’s velocity almost immediately after it rebounds off the wall.

On a squash court, wailing away at the ball won’t get you very far. Playing the walls, varying your shots and lobbing balls over your opponent’s head all become extremely important.

This is made all the tougher in squash because the court is lined off; you can’t hit the ball off the ceiling like in racquetball or catch the ball any higher off the back wall than at a certain point.

Saying that squash is a more calculating game is not to say that it is a slow game, by any means. The tight confines of a squash court, which is eight feet shorter than a racquetball court, mean that the game frequently gets fast and frenetic.

Despite all of these advantages, squash doesn’t seem to be played at all on the Whitman campus. I have gone down to the courts quite a few times and found a few racquetballers playing on the adjacent courts, but no squash players.

Part of the reason for this, I’m sure, is that Whitman loans out equipment for racquetball rather than squash. Racquetball, but not squash, is taught as a 1-credit SSRA course.

Why is this? We have squash courts: it doesn’t make sense to have them if we don’t use them. As they are, they’re just a waste of space.

If anybody wants to play some squash, e-mail me at [email protected]. Oh, and I play racquetball too.

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  • J

    jayApr 14, 2016 at 11:03 pm

    Squash players seem to spend all their time hating on racquetball. Racquetball players spend all their time playing racquetball. I suppose if a r-ball player were injured, they may take up more of a finesse game like squash as the ball seems to move in slow motion compared to a racquetball.

    Reply
  • G

    Guillermo CalderónApr 11, 2014 at 12:51 am

    Beautiful article Mr. Hudson.

    Squash is passion for the ones who train over a daily basis.

    However, i am still wondering why on earth Squash is not so popular in the US…having so many people, such a big country playing squash would definitely launch its popularity to the stars…

    Reply
  • P

    Peter mcmillinDec 3, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    I had a really good laugh at your totally biased, equally ignorant article comparing racquetball to squash. You statement about the lack of strategy is amazing. Your comment about rball being blue collar vs calling squash eliteist is a disservice to both sports. One should really themselves to commenting about things that they have at least a small amount of knowledge about.

    Reply
    • T

      The SquashistDec 8, 2009 at 7:54 am

      Mr. McMillin, you are probably a very nice fella, but you are in fact dead wrong, and Mr. Hudson dead right. Racquetball was in fact invented by the squash pro at a club in Greenwich Conn to create an easier game for those who couldn’t quite do squash. Squash is a much more tactical game than racquetball requiring much more physical conditioning for the reasons Mr. Hudson describes. You deride Mr. Hudson for commenting on things about which he knows nothing, but alas, in your ignorance, the truth is the obverse. Let me end with a quick analogy: Checkers is to chess as racquetball is to squash. Now go out there and make your mama proud — get on the squash court and step up your game a notch.

      Reply
      • A

        AlexDec 9, 2009 at 2:07 am

        I must also disagree with Mr. McMillan. My squash coach in high school was a national racquetball champion and he also confirmed that high level racquetball players play squash to improve their control and placement, i.e. their finesse and tactical aspect of the game.

        Also, while I don’t think it is a good thing, access to squash is limited mostly to either private schools or expensive private clubs and this has contributed to its status as a more “elite” sport. Squash also has a much deeper history, going back to the British Empire and is highly identified internationally with former Birtish colonies (India, Pakistan, Egypt, East Coast U.S. and of course GB itself). Thus there is a certain anglophilia to squash that I personally enjoy but also adds to its characterization as more “elite” than the fairly common athletic-club racquetball. Indeed, perhaps racquetball could be called more uniquely American (both historically and symbolically/ideologically)?

        Reply
    • R

      RogerDec 8, 2009 at 12:46 pm

      Hey guys, I’m now totally confused! I prefer Italian BLT’s over Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches any day, love chess more than chequers but play racquetball! Mr Hudson, Squashist and Mr McMillan, please help end my confusion.

      Reply