TigerBlog has a long-standing policy of opening up the floor to those with something to say. Today, though, is a first - a Princeton athlete has taken him up on his offer. Julie Cerullo, a senior on the women's squash team, is a three-time first-team All-America and and Academic All-Ivy League selection who reached the national semifinals a year ago. She offered to write about the chances of having her sport become an Olympic sport. Her piece is well-timed, given what tomorrow has been designated in the world of squash - and that TigerBlog is still busy celebrating the end of the Yankees' season.
What is 140 years old, played by 17 million people in 185 countries, and is described by Forbes Magazine as “the world’s healthiest sport?”
Hint: The Princeton Tigers men’s team is the reigning intercollegiate champion.
The answer is SQUASH.
For all its heritage and global popularity, though, for some reason it is still not an Olympic sport. Squash is not even an NCAA sport!
In an effort to make this right, the World Squash Organization has declared tomorrow (Oct. 20) World Squash Day. It’s a chance to promote the demand of squash lovers that the sport be included in the 2020 Olympics. World Squash Day has garnered extra attention in the U.S. because of the considerable public relations push devoted to the Olympics effort. World Squash has engaged Mike Lee, head of VERO Communications to spearhead the campaign. Lee was instrumental in effecting “Rugby Sevens’” successful bid for a berth in the 2016 Olympics.
Princeton’s ties to squash are deep. Men’s coach Bob Callahan ’77 was recently inducted into the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame. Women’s coach Gail Ramsay is the only four-time intercollegiate women's champion; Yasser El Halaby ’06 is the only four-time men's champ.
Princeton has in its alumni ranks many intercollegiate champions – current men’s Co-captain Todd Harrity ’13, Jon Nimick ’81, Wendy Zaharko ’75, Demer Holleran ’89, and Julia Beaver ’01, to name a few. Some have gone on to incorporate their passion for the sport into careers. John Nimick owns a sports production company that stages athletic competitions, such as international squash tournaments, in non-traditional settings. Jack Wyant ’96 is Head Coach of the University of Pennsylvania men’s and women’s varsity squash teams.
US Squash CEO Kevin Klipstein was recently on campus helping celebrate the 120th anniversary of Princeton Squash, an alumni day that attracted more than 200 returning squash enthusiasts. The celebration entailed two exhibition matches and round-robin play followed by a reception and dinner, during which Klipstein presented a compelling argument and video for why squash should be in the Olympics.
Klipstein accepts that sports seeking Olympic status do have to put forward what positive contribution they could make to the Olympics. But he thinks squash’s case is strong.
“It’s a growing sport with real global appeal, and all five continents have already produced both men’s and women’s world champions. The game has a unique ability to showcase a host city and is easy and cost-effective to integrate. It’s a game that already has well-established men’s and women’s tours and is played in every other major multi-sports games,” Klipstein said. “And by the way it’s a clean sport [from the drug perspective] and really reinforces Olympic Values.”
On paper, squash meets all the criteria required of an Olympic sport in terms of its history, universality and popularity. It’s good for athletes’ health and would be relatively cheap to integrate. But squash will be competing against five other sports for one open berth in the 2020 games.
The other aspirant sports are Karate, wushu (a martial art), roller sports, sport climbing and wake boarding, and it won’t get any easier beyond 2020 as lacrosse and mixed martial arts have announced their plans to seek Olympic status in the future. A possible bid by softball and baseball for reinstatement in 2020 further complicates the decision.
Squash has come close to achieving Olympic status in the past, only narrowly failing to gain the required two-thirds majority vote from the IOC.
There is evidence of broadening support for squash’s bid in the August 2012 issue of “The Atlantic.” In her article, Ashley Fetters rated squash’s changes highly. She cited the sentiment of many, including academic John Barrow, professor of mathematical sciences at Cambridge and author of the book “Mathletics,” who posits that criteria for inclusion in the Olympics should be whether winning the Olympic Games would be the pinnacle of achievement in that sport. One might argue that sports such as golf, soccer, tennis and baseball do not meet this threshold.
Steve Harrington ’13, current co-captain of both the men’s squash team and the baseball team agrees.
He said, “winning the World Series will always be the pinnacle achievement in baseball. Because the World Series and the Olympic Games overlap, the top baseball players wouldn’t even show up to compete for gold.”
For this reason, he believes that squash is much more deserving of Olympic status. He continues, “having the Olympics on the squash calendar would make the sport much more official, and an Olympic gold would no doubt be the highest achievement possible in the sport.”
Like these sports, squash does exist on a professional level, but on a very modest scale. It would be tough to cite a professional squash player who lives merely on squash earnings, let alone one who is able to retire on them. In the case of the baseball/softball rebid, it is widely believed that baseball was ejected because the stars of the game have opted not to play in the Olympics.
Meredeth Quick ’01, who was a member of two national championship teams during her time at Princeton and played professionally post college, argues that squash has an unusual attribute:
You can keep on playing it into middle and even old age. “It’s a lifetime sport – you can play it forever, ” she says. Quick, now a teacher, continues to compete on the women’s doubles circuit, coaches high school squash at her school and has coached two consecutive U. S. Junior National Teams. She believes that squash’s inclusion in the Olympics would encourage greater participation in the sport.
Indeed squash has been growing in the U.S., and Klipstein notes that “squash has grown by a factor of about 25% every year over the last five years.”
There is no question that increased exposure by way of Olympic coverage would boost squash’s profile. Olympic sponsorship funds are distributed through sports federations to their sports. This would be a big boon for squash in terms of supporting national training. And squash is not presently an NCAA sport. Klipstein adds that the Olympics would make a big case for elevating the sport domestically in this regard.
The fate of squash as an Olympic sport will essentially be known by this time next year. While baseball and lacrosse are beloved at Princeton too, it may be squash’s turn. What a coup squash in the Olympics would be for a sport embraced by Princeton – perhaps home of more future Olympians!
[And in case you’re wondering, the game of squash originated at The Harrow School in England. It derived from a combination of the games “racquets” (tennis) and “fives” (handball). The name squash comes from the notion of the rubber ball “squashing” against the court wall upon impact.]
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