The Smith College Squash Team celebrates a great year of learning, fun and good times at the 2009 Smith College Athletic Banquet. The team’s three graduating seniors – #2 Jessica MacLeod, #9 Mercedes Pepper, #10 Liz Hughes – receive awards from Head Coach Tim Bacon.
Highlights of the season include a move up the rankings and a win over Women’s College rival Wellesley College! With the loss (sad:( ) of only three players, and more than a dozen women introduced to the game at SMith College this year, the team is looking forward to a fantastic 2009-10 season!
One of the great things about playing squash at one of the U.S.’ top liberal arts academic institution is the wide array of course offerings. The current Smith College Squash Team has a wide range of interests from the sciences – to the arts. In this video clip we see Senior Mercedes Pepper chat about her final art design project – which is related to – squash!
Mercedes came out for the Smith College Squash Team when she took ESS 100, Introduction to Exercise & Sport Studies, with Smith Head Coach Tim Bacon. Mercedes had never played squash before, but learned what squash was during the course. Mercedes went on to play for the team for three years (Junior Year Abroad in Fiji!) and four years later, is getting ready to graduate in a couple of weeks.
Back when the idea of women going to college was frowned upon, Sophia Smith, an heiress, left her fortune to establish Smith College, which was founded in 1871 and opened in 1875. The idea of women playing sport was also a strange one – the first women’s college basketball game, between Smith’s freshman and sophomore teams, was played there in 1893.
Squash began at Smith College in 1929 on one court. Three more courts were added in 1934 in what is now called Alumni Gym – now the site of the Smith College Archives. The Smith College Team now plays of 5 state of the art ASB courts donated by Albert Gordon in Ainsworth Gym (Dorothy Ainsworth was a famous American Physical Educator who taught at Smith College.
Leading the way in women’s squash in the U.S., Smith College was sending students to the Women’s Intercollegiate Championships by 1965 – with Jane Slocum ‘69 wining the event in the 1968-69 season. Official team competition began in the winter of 1972 – more than 37 years ago!
Tennis in the 1950's at Smith College
Smith Students in the 1940's
Smith College Squash continues the tradition of involving young women in a great sport at one of the world’s best academic institutions.
Coach Tim Bacon got offered two tickets – for $15 instead of $30 apiece – to Jimmy Fallon’s show as he strolled past the Calvin Theatre on Sunday in Northampton, MA – home of Smith College and America’s #1 Small Arts Town. Here is a preview write-up of the show in the Daily Collegian – Smith College’s brother University a short hop, skip and bus ride from the Smith College Campus).
Here is an interview with Jimmy – he loved Northampton, and visited and was raving about about all of Coach Bacon’s favorite places just steps from the Smith College Campus: The Tunnel Bar (built inside an old railway station); Herrell’s Ice Cream – site of many visits by the Smith College Squash Team; and The Toasted Owl – where Jimmy had chicken wings (Coach Bacon prefers the Breaded Chicken Fingers in Thai Peanut Sauce).
The next night on his show, Jimmy Fallon also mentioned The Basement (another Coach Bacon favorite), site of weekly shows featuring up and coming local talent. A little known fact about Northampton is that it is on a circuit of clubs and venues in the Northeast for top acts (Bacon Brothers, Kris Kristofferson, Melissa Ethridge, etc.) – and of course the location of a recent film by Mel Gibson last fall.
Did the team party with Jimmy Fallon after his show – possible but Coach Bacon hopes not!
Not every squash team in the U.S.A. has a faculty Advisor, and of those that do very few actually play squash and help out by hitting with the team. Here Dr. Scott Bradbury hits with Jessica MacLeod, Smith’s #2 player. Scott teaches in the Department of Classical Languages & Literatures, and has also been the Director of Smith’s Junior Year Abroad program in Florence, Italy. This year 12/20 members of the team were Scholar-Athletes with GPAs of 3.5 of above. The Smith system works and Scott is a great advisor!
Many girls who play high school squash never really think about attending a women’s college. Since so few actually apply – squash playing girls have an enhanced chance to get into a great academic school like Smith College. Most girls will not apply because they do not want to be in an environment with only girls – this is definitely not the case at Smith College!
The Smith College Squash Team has just defeated both the Men’s (11th straight undefeated season) and Women’s Squash Team’s and moved into the #1 spot in the Google rankings for the search term “college squash”!
Smith College Squash Defeats Trinity College Squash Teams
The move ahead of Trinity also moves Smith College Squash into the #1 spot as the College Squash Association and Squashtalk.com have decided to terminate their relationship – SquashTalk will no longer be the official news source for college squash, and will surely decline in the rankings.
It is difficult to say exactly why the Smith College Team has pulled ahead of Trinity; more beautiful campus, wonderful leadership opportunities for women, the actual town of Northampton’s vibrant life, Smith’s pioneering Engineering program for women? Perhaps it is the fact that Smith College no longer requires SAT scores to be admitted? Perhaps it is Smith College’s sense of history – many of the nation’s smartest women went to Smith before they were allowed to atend the Ivy’s?
Some colleges with Varsity squash programs are prime examples of urban blight (including a couple of Ivy’s…sshhhh) – some top academic schools with squash are STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (no names but they are in Maine and upstate New York:), and at least one top college is in a totally dry, boring town of upper class snobs (HILLARY!). Only Smith College Squash has the ideal combination of beautiful campus and cool urban chic (50 + bars and restos within 1/2 mile of campus), 25 mins. (at 95 – 100 mph in a WRX) from a busy International Airport…as we see in this video…
Smith College Squash Captain Alice Reznickova leads her team mates on a short jog at the start of practice to support Elizabeth Guyman, her co-captain and also a member of the Smith College Lacrosse Team. Intently focussed as they are on the game, the team does however notice a “guy without a shirt amongst the spectators”.
The Smith College Squash Team has a great history of mulit-sport athletes. Katie Evans (‘00) was back on campus on Sunday to play in the Alum Lacrosse Game. Now a Doctor of Physiotherapy in the Philadelphia area, Katie played Squash, Lacrosse and Field Hockey all four of her years at Smith College – playing number 1 for the squash team in her final year.
Posted by Tim Bacon 
Posted by Tim Bacon 
Squash began at Smith College in 1929 on one court. Three more courts were added in 1934 in what is now called Alumni Gym – now the site of the Smith College Archives. The Smith College Team now plays of 5 state of the art ASB courts donated by Albert Gordon in Ainsworth Gym (Dorothy Ainsworth was a famous American Physical Educator who taught at Smith College.
Posted by Tim Bacon 
