What is Squash for the Junior Player?
Squash is a competitive varsity sport, and the highly selective colleges that offer it actively recruit top high school squash players to their teams.
In Division 1, 7 of the 8 Ivy League colleges (Brown University excepted) together with University of Virginia offer both men’s and women’s squash. Georgetown University and Stanford University offer Division 1 women’s squash only.
In Division 3, 11 northeastern liberal arts colleges offer both men and women’s squash while Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers men’s squash only.
Despite being considered a niche and somewhat upper class sport, squash is played by more than 1.6 million people in the United States.
US Squash, the national governing body is working hard to get squash included in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028, and if successful, the Olympics will help raise the sport’s profile attracting even more players to the sport. Traditionally, squash has been more popular outside the United States than within, but that seems to be changing rapidly.
While there are clubs and squash courts distributed throughout the country, mainly through conversion of racquetball courts, squash remains a heavily east coast centric sport, with a minor concentration in California.
The Junior Squash Player Opportunity
Currently, the number of junior squash players at the competitive levels continues to be quite limited. Those junior squash players with access to good coaching, practice and tournament experience quickly stand out and are heavily recruited by the Division 1 colleges.
In fact, based on the squash rosters at the colleges, there appears to be a shortage of talented junior squash players domestically, requiring the Division 1 colleges especially to recruit numerous foreign players to their teams.
This apparent shortage of domestic squash talent at the junior level offers opportunity for those who can afford it as squash is an expensive sport to pursue, just like fencing, golf and tennis. The need to travel to compete and rise in the squash rankings raises costs significantly.
The opening of the Arlen Specter US Squash Center, a state-of-the-art facility, in October 2021 on the campus of Drexel University in Philadelphia, marks a big step forward for squash as the facility will not only serve as the headquarters for US Squash, it will serve as a base for outreach to local and regional communities to promote the sport to aspiring young squash players of all backgrounds through its SquashSmarts academic and athletic mentoring programs. The new facility has 18 traditional glass courts, 2 show courts, a high performance training facility for Team USA and it will also house the US Squash Hall of Fame.
Squash for Junior Players
US Squash has a clearly designed tournament structure that enables junior squash players to progress up the squash rankings as their game improves.
Junior Squash Tournament Structure
US Squash maintains 4 levels of tournaments for junior players, providing a system of development and mobility as players improve their squash skills. These levels are;
Junior Championship Tour (JCT) tournaments - the highest level of junior tournament for the best junior players in the country. There are 5 JCT tournaments annually, and events are played over 3 days.
Gold tournaments are designed for advanced players from around the country. US Squash organizes 28 Gold tournaments annually, and each events at each tournament are played over 2 to 3 days.
Silver tournaments are designed for intermediate players looking for higher level competition, opportunities to earn points for a higher ranking, and development as a player. US Squash accredits 80 Silver tournaments annually, and events are played over 2 days at each tournament.
Bronze tournaments are local, one day tournaments designed for players to establish a junior ranking and gain competition experience. US Squash accredits about 100 Bronze level tournaments annually, and these tournaments are played over one weekend day.
Squash Ratings System
US Squash maintains player rankings across age groups using a skill based tournament structure and sophisticated algorithms to score a player’s performance across a variety of factors. The college squash coaches reference these objective metrics in athlete recruitment of junior squash players.
The ratings structure for junior squash players has 2 levels, Tournament Points Rankings and Ratings-based Rankings.
See: The Ratings Game: An Analysis of US Squash Ratings
Tournament Points Rankings
Tournament Points Rankings are age group and gender based with points accumulated from tournaments only. Players must play a minimum of 3 tournaments to receive a ranking.
According to US Squash, points are assigned based on tournament level, size, and player finishing position. Points are assigned on a win-loss basis only.
Rankings are determined based on an average of the player’s point totals from their best events based on a divisor that starts at the best 4 tournaments and increases as players compete in greater numbers of tournaments. Points accumulated are valid on an 11 month rolling basis.
The Tournament Points Rankings are designed to reflect a player’s most recent performance in tournaments
Ratings-based Rankings
Ratings-based Rankings are based on results of all recorded matches including tournaments, leagues, ladders and friendlies. These rankings integrate all players across age and genders including adult and junior players.
US Squash uses an algorithm to produce a rating for each player adjusted based on results against individual opponents, creating a standardized scale. Rating adjustments take into account wins and losses, whether a match was won in 3, 4, or 5 games, and the relative rating of the opponent. A player only needs to record at least one win and one loss on their player account to receive a rating.
According to US Squash, matches from the prior 45 months influence a player’s rating, though recent matches are weighted more heavily than those further in the past.
Ratings-base Rankings are designed as a measure of a player’s long term ability.
Squash Athlete Recruitment
At the college level, squash is indeed a niche sport offered by a total of 34 colleges for varsity men’s squash and 32 colleges for varsity women’s squash. Of these colleges, 20 of them are highly selective colleges offering men’s squash, and 22 of them are highly selective college’s offering women’s squash.
The group of colleges offering squash as a varsity sports is small such that varsity teams compete with club teams in tournaments organized by the Collegiate Squash Association (CSA). There are currently 45 men’s squash club teams and 15 women’s squash club teams.
However, the athlete recruitment opportunities are only with the varsity squash teams, and not the club teams.
The rating and ranking system for squash is very clearly defined making it quite straightforward for a college squash coach to identify potential athlete recruits to their varsity teams.
Collectively based on our assumptions which you can read below, these varsity teams yield an estimated 60 athlete recruit positions for each gender annually.
See: Comparative Athlete Recruitment Opportunities Between Squash and Fencing
Division 1 Squash Teams
Men’s varsity squash teams in Division 1 range in size from 11 players at Harvard to a high of 19 players at Columbia and Dartmouth. The average team size for men’s varsity squash is about 16 players.
Women’s varsity squash teams range in size from 11 players at Stanford to a high of 18 players at Columbia University. The average team size for women’s varsity squash is 14.6 players.
Assuming that the players are evenly distributed across 4 years, each freshman class should yield an average of 4.25 recruit openings for men per college, and an average of 3.7 recruits for women per college.
In reaching this estimate, we have assumed that every squash player on a Division 1 team is an athlete recruit based on the strong squash player profiles posted on the team rosters.
While it is unlikely that every player on the roster was “hard” recruited according to Division 1 rules, the other players on the team were likely to have been “soft” recruited, where they applied through the normal admissions cycles and received strong written support from the college squash coach.
| Division 1 Colleges | Men's | Women's |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia University (incl Barnard College) | 19 | 18 |
| Cornell University | 15 | 14 |
| Dartmouth College | 19 | 13 |
| Georgetown University | - | 14 |
| Harvard University | 11 | 14 |
| Princeton University | 16 | 16 |
| Stanford University | - | 11 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 17 | 17 |
| University of Virginia | 13 | 15 |
| Yale University | 18 | 14 |
| TOTAL DIVISION I SQUASH PLAYERS | 128 | 146 |
Division 3 Squash Teams
Men’s varsity squash teams in Division 3 range in size from 11 players at Vassar College to 19 players at Amherst College. The average team size for men’s varsity squash in Division 3 is 15 players.
Women’s varsity squash teams range in size from 10 players at Williams College to 16 players at both Colby College and Hamilton College. The average team size for women’s varsity squash in Division 3 is 13 players.
The squash rosters for Division 3 disclose very little information about each player’s history with the sport making it impossible to estimate how many players were recruited under Division 3 athlete recruitment rules and how many players “walked on” to the team even if they played squash in high school.
We can quite safely assume that Division 3 teams have more “walk-on” athletes, and fewer members on each team are recruited under Division 3 recruitment practices where the athlete applies through the normal admissions cycle and the application is strongly supported in writing by the college squash coach.
The team size of 10 in competitive college squash will likely require even Division 3 colleges to recruit many members of their team.
| Division 3 Colleges | Men's | Women's |
|---|---|---|
| Amherst College | 19 | 15 |
| Bates College | 14 | 13 |
| Bowdoin College | 15 | 13 |
| Colby College | 19 | 16 |
| Hamilton College | 15 | 16 |
| Haverford College | 12 | 12 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 15 | - |
| Middleburry College | 16 | 11 |
| Tufts University | 16 | 14 |
| Vassar College | 11 | 12 |
| Wesleyan University | 15 | 11 |
| Williams College | 13 | 10 |
| TOTAL DIVISION 3 SQUASH PLAYERS | 180 | 143 |
Lack of Diversity is Disappointing
Varsity squash is not at all egalitarian. Substantial numbers of squash players on the varsity teams attended a relatively small clutch of elite private high schools in the northeast, and a couple in California. Very few attended public high schools. Given that the foreign players pay cash for tuition and board, we assume they and their families can afford the hefty $80,000 plus annual price tag to attend college and play squash.
The lack of socio-economic diversity in the sources of squash athlete recruits is very disappointing.
However, things can only look up from here as US Squash improves access to good coaching and training facilities. And more families become aware of the athlete recruitment opportunities that squash offers.
No Scholarships for Squash
Neither the Ivy League colleges nor the Division 3 colleges offer athletic scholarships to recruited athletes meaning that recruited squash players can only rely on financial aid to meet their financial needs to pay for college. Stanford University, Georgetown University and University of Virginia also do not offer athletic scholarships for recruited squash players leaving them to depend on financial aid to pay for college, if necessary.
