StreetSquash

I love Squash and I love this place! Have been spending some time volunteering to assist the coaches with court drills for the kids. ‘Wait, am I here to help them or are they here to help me?’ These kids know their sport and are amazing! The speed, agility, competitiveness and strategy needed to play this sport is an adrenaline rush and is my key to a great workout. In addition, I get to work with some awesome kids… I can’t wait to find the time to get back there.
For a school, the bathrooms are immaculate, the kids are extremely well behaved and polite, at least the ones I’ve encountered and trained with and the squash courts are like you’re in an Ivy League gym or club.
All of the kids here start out knowing nothing about squash or even that a sport of this sort exists. Based on my discussions with the kids, some have been teased by their peers, but they haven’t let the teasing stop them from pursuing the art of the sport. You see, one of the goals at StreetSquash is to help inner city youth vie for scholarships to one of the many Ivy League schools out there… Isn’t that awesome?!? I think so. I wish they had programs like that when I was younger.
Anyway, I’m glad that I’ve been able to be a part of this process to help these kids, it has been gratifying to say the least and I wish each and every one of these children much success.
Kudos StreetSquash for being there and providing motivation for our inner city youth!

Streetsquash is like a diamond in the rough. You can easily walk past this place and never know its there. But if you have the opportunity to go in and experience the amazing work these guys do, it’s pretty impressive.
For those who don’t know what squash is, and I certainly didn’t before I came here, its a racket game that’s played indoors on a small court. Its very fast paced, way more difficult than it looks, and pretty entertaining. Imagine hitting a spalding ball off of a wall just 20 feet away with a tennis racket… that’s the best analogy I can come up with for this game. When you watch these guys play it definitely looks strenuous but fun!
I come here regularly with my students as a part of a weekly program. My school does pay some sort of fee for the session (sorry it isn’t a free for all) but I’m not quite sure how much it is exactly. The coaches teach the kids the basic rules of squash, work on drills related to the game, and also lead them through strength and conditioning exercises. I mentioned its a pretty fast paced game, so there’s no way you can just put a bunch of 9 year olds on the court and let them smack the ball around with no coordination. The do a good job of building their hand eye skills while keeping it fun for them.