Squash

Basketball was really the first link in the chain for me. Or, rather, being cut from the A team in 7th grade. Frankly, I didn't really like playing in the Duck league, as it was called (that was an intramural league that those on the B team played in). So, I decided that, rather than play another year of the Duck league, or make the A team but not play as much, I decided to give squash a try in 8th grade.

I had heard of it, but never really had any idea what it was. I got 1 or 2 lessons from Joanne at Trinity before going to my first day of practice at KO so that I wouldn't completely make a fool of myself, but I was still really bad. However, as the season progressed, I continued to play, and even got in several lessons throughout the winter. By the time the season ended, I was in love with squash. For many years before that, lacrosse had been my main sport; now, lacrosse was out the window, and squash filled its place.

Freshman year was when my squash career began to take off, because it was my first year of actual competition, rather than just playing the people who were at practice with me. Now, that isn't to say that I was any good; I lost every single game that I played in every one of our matches. However, I was getting lessons once a week, and got a membership so that I could use the Trinity courts whenever I wanted to, and wasted no time in going down to play on the weekends. By the time the season ended, I knew that I wanted to continue playing squash for quite a while longer. I was getting lessons every week, even through the spring.

Fast forward to sophomore year. I was playing on the Varsity team, if not very high up on the ladder. For the first half of the season, I was still getting lessons at Trinity, playing my school matches, but I noticed that I wasn't really improving as much as I wanted to. Sure, I won a game or two, but that was it. However, during the second half of the season, I finally got in touch with Mick Robberds, the squash pro down at Hartford Golf Club, whom I had been trying to reach for quite a while. I had heard about him from Mason, the #2 player on the team, who had been getting lessons from Mick for quite a while. As soon as I went down there to play, I absolutely fell in love with it. Mick was great; he really helped me get my game underway, and I was noticeably improving. I won a couple of my matches, and could tell that I was really getting better.

Once winter of sophomore year ended, I knew that I didn't want to stop laying just because the season had stopped. I was getting lessons from Mick once a week, and I was playing in the clinics at Hartford Golf Club as well, which was really beneficial because I was able to get in some good competition. However, the really big push was this past summer, when I was playing 5 days a week almost every week. Mick was holding camps, and bringing in different professionals to help out each week. I was playing for 2-3 hours every single day, resting up on the weekends, and going right back to it on Monday.

Now, I am still getting lessons from Mick every Friday, and going to the clinics every Wednesday, and loving every minute of it.