The College Squash Association’s Ann Wetzel Award goes to the best female college squash player who started playing squash at college:  each nominee must provide an attestation that they did not even hit for a few minutes during high school.  The criteria for the Award are:

• Outstanding growth technically as a player (records and results);
• A sound understanding of the rules of squash;
• Positive on-court poise and demeanor.

Clair started playing squash during her second year at Smith College in November 2009 – a member (and currently a Captain) of the tennis team, Clair came out for her first squash practice on Monday, November 2, 2009 – and played in her first match six days later.  Clair’s tennis skills got her to the number 7 spot on the Smith Varsity Ladder for the team’s first match against Wellesley College – Clair won 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 against Lindsay Rico in helping her team win the season opener by a score of 7-2.

Two and a half years later,  her last regular season college match was also a win against Wellesley on February 4, 2012 at the number 2 position, an extremely tough 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9 against Emma Haley at the 2012 Seven Sisters Squash Championship at Vassar College. Although Clair has played at the #2 spot for most of the 2011-12 season, she does have two wins playing at the #1 position:  a 3-0 over William Smith’s Caroline Moxley at the Smith Invitational, and a win over Haverford’s #1 Caroline Nightingale at the 2012 Pioneer Valley Invitational on January 20th (3-2).  Video of this match is available was taken by CSA Executive Director Michael Bello.

This progression from being the weakest player on the team during her first practice, all the way to playing in the number 1 position in her final year is all the more amazing when one considers that she did not play in the Spring semester of the 2010-11 season as she was abroad studying in Denmark – so only 2.5 seasons worth of squash!

In addition to improving her playing effectiveness, Clair has also made great strides with her technique as evidenced by video and photos from each part of her career.  As recently as January 2010, Clair was still working on her squash wrist and cocked wrist position as seen in the photo below.

Her continuing hard work has paid off, and at the end of her college career, her technique, including her grip and backhand wrist position, is extremely solid. In the video below Clair demonstrates a great cocked wrist and open face playing difficult balls off the backwall (January, 2012):

There are two key matches that clearly demonstrate Clair’s growth as a player.  The first is her match against Mount Holyoke College’s #7 Marie Ozanne, the second Ann Wetzel nominee for 2012.  In an extremely sporting gesture, MHC Coach Allen Fitzsimmons suggested that Clair and Marie play at the number 10 exhibition spot since they would be unlikely to meet during regular season play.  In a very hard fought and sporting match, Clair won in four (8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8).  In this and other video of Clair her positive on-court poise and demeanor are clear – she turns away quickly from mistakes, accepts officials’ decisions quickly without dispute, and generally has an upbeat attitude throughout a match:

The second key match is from December 2010 in a dual match against Amherst College.  Amherst Coach Robson, in a sporting gesture, sat a couple of players from the top of his line-up, so Clair, playing at #2 got to play the 2011 Ann Wetzel Award winner Mimi Bell (usually #4-#6) – Clair won the match 3-0.  Here is the some video from the final game:

Here is the first match video available of Clair – another match against Wellesley in December 2009 at the Wesleyan Invitational (match information to be confirmed):

Here is the first stroke analysis video available for Clair from mid-November 2009 – racquet face pretty flat on both sides, and definitely not a cocked wrist on the backhand:

Here is Clair’s college squash playing record – note the improvement in both playing position and winning record:

Clair’s knowledge of the rules is excellent – as a #2, she has officiated the #1 players for the past two seasons without a complaint.  It is evident from the videos of her play that she is clear on when to ask for a let and when not to.  In her match with Ozanne one can observe her break a string and then simply reach outside the door without leaving the court to pick up her second racquet – resuming play immediately.

In addition to the Ann Wetzel criteria Clair has grown as leader on the squash team and in the squash community.  despite being away from the team for her Junior Spring semester Clair was appointed Senior Co-Captain and has done a great job assuming leadership of the team.  She is also a great role model on the academic side with a GPA qualifying her as a CSA Scholar-Athlete.

She spent the summer of 2011 as a non-paid intern at StreetSquash, and is hoping to obtain a position with a NUSEA program upon graduation.

To sum up – Clair Oblamski is a very worthy candidate for the CSA 2012 Ann Wetzel Award.

Bosu: 

1. Trinity College
2. Middlebury College
3. Bates College
4. Williams College
5. Mount Holyoke College
6. Hamilton College
7. Franklin and Marshall College
8. Bowdoin College
9. Amherst College
10. Wesleyan University
11. Colby College
12. Connecticut College
13. Tufts University
14. Wellesley College
15. William Smith College
16. Smith College
17. Vassar College
18. St. Lawrence University
19. Boston College
20. Haverford College
21. Johns Hopkins University
22. Rochester, University of

Although theoretically desirable, a level playing field is not always entirely possible.  A very good example of this is U.S. college squash where a number of inequities affect a college’s national ranking.  The most obvious inequity is that there is almost a perfect correlation between academic ranking (e.g., U.S. News College Rankings) and squash ranking(some exceptions), in other words, the best academic schools attract the best high school squash players – perhaps more so than for other college sports, as the use of squash to get into a highly rated college or university is well documented.  This provides an unfair recruiting advantage to the Division I schools, particularly the Ivy League Schools. 

The second inequity relates to the different rules used for NCAA Division I and III schools – the Division I rules allowing for “more” coaching intervention (even though squash is no longer an NCAA sport, squash-playing institutions adhere to NCAA rules) than Division III Rules.

Obviously, even within a Division III college athletic department the disparity can be the basis for illogical comparisons between teams, with all sports except squash being discussed in terms of their Division III ranking.

A more accurate picture of a Division III college squash team’s performance would be attained by comparing their performance to those who are similar – in other words, other Division III institutions.  Smith College coach Tim Bacon, a former member of the CSA Executive committee, has been calling for separate rankings for Division I and III teams for a number of years, for the reasons outlined above.

The Division III Squash Rankings will be published here on this site, every time the CSA issues a “joint” ranking until such time the the College Squash Association takes over the task of publishing a separate ranking for Division III schools.

1. Trinity College
2. Bates College
3. Middlebury College
4. Williams College
5. Mount Holyoke College
6. Hamilton College
7. Franklin and Marshall College
8. Bowdoin College
9. Amherst College
10. Wesleyan University
11. Colby College
12. Connecticut College
13. Tufts University
14. Wellesley College
15. William Smith College
16. Smith College
17. Vassar College
18. St. Lawrence University
19. Boston College
20. Haverford College
21. Johns Hopkins University
22. Rochester, University of

Squash is not a NEWMAC sport – but the same supportive college environment that produced 20 fall sport NEWMAC scholar-athletes helps the Smith College squash player succeed at both squash and academics!

Unlike other teams which pressure students with practices five days a week – so far this season the Smith Team has only been practicing three times a week – with days off (today for example is Otelia Cromwell day at Smith – a day that celebrates diversity) to help with academic pressure.  At Smith College, the average athlete GPA is higher than that of the general student body! 

Squash training is very carefully planned by Head Coach Tim Bacon, former Canadian Jr. Men’s National Coach (he took the team of Jonathon Power and Graham Ryding to the 1990 World Championships in Paderborn, Germany).  He is the only college coach with a Master’s in Coaching, who is also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and a Registered Mental Training Consultant – as well as being a Level 4 Squash Coach.  Every detail of training and competitions carefully planned out – here is a copy of the Smith College Squash team’s annual “periodized” training plan for 2011-12:  How good do you have to be to play for the Smith College Squash Team?  Here is our #1 in action last weekend on World Squash Day.  We are working on Jacqueline’s “Pakistani” or “Egyptian” wrist flick/snap (she is from Singapore:) and her deception – a lot of work to do, but she is learning quickly!

How good are the Smith College academics?  Better than Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. if you measure success according to the number of Fulbright Scholars! Smith College is ranked #1 in the U.S.

P.S. In case you did not know (I have been getting a lot of letters from International male squash players looking for a great U.S. College:) Smith College is a women’s college.  If you are a high school girl worried about “no boys”, you can relax - there are boys at Smith – they take classes at Smith, you can take classes with them (more than 10,000 of them in our 5-College system!) at their colleges (a short bus ride away) – take a look at our “Boys At Smith” YouTube series.  we are about to publish “Part IV” since coach Tim Bacon (the only college coach who teaches academic courses!) has two more in this semester’s Psychology of Sport Class!

What was the topic of the first practice?  Smith Coach Tim Bacon, the only Level 4 Certified Coach with a Master’s Degree in Coaching in the world (and he is a Registered Mental Training Consultant and a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) introduced his team to the two tactical models the team will use to base their improvement plan on:  “The Egg Model” and the “System 3″ zone model of tactics.  These models guide players in the shot selection based on the tactical context a player finds themselves in when about to play the ball (e.g., on defence in back of court with difficult ball).  The latest motor learning research has shown that a “tactics first” approach accelerates learning and improves match performance.

How and why was Smith able to start so early, and why are none of the other teams practicing?  According to Bacon “the NCAA rules concerning season length are the single most important factor in the extremely high America College athlete injury rate“. “Although well-meaning, no one in the NCAA has the sport science background to understand proper training planning and methodology – they are only administrators – the result being rules that restrict season to very short lengths – almost ensuring inadequate athlete preparation and high injury rates prior to very intense competitive seasons”. 

Many universities and colleges further contribute to high injury rates by further reducing the period in which athletes can train and play under coach supervision – for example the Ivy’s start their season on October 15, and the NESCAC schools on November 1.

A former coach, sport scientist and coach educator in the world-reknowned Canadian National Coaching Certification Program, Bacon has personally helped train more than 30 world champions, including an Olympic Gold Medalist in a number of sports. He took advantage of the NCAA Division III rules which allow every team (except those in conference that impose more restrictive restraints) to have a 19-week season.  Recognizing the need for periods of regeneration and the need to take into account academic stress (since it contributes to overall training stress), Bacon did not include the weeks of Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break in his official season.  He also uses a progressive start to scheduling practices – starting with twice a week and moving to five times a week, allowing his athletes time to adjust to both academics and squash – a very smart approach to College Squash!

Here is the team relaxing at the end of last season – Ben & Jerry’s at the coaches house!

Smith has already received acclaim for its excellent food, beautiful campus, innovative science programs (such as Engineering), welcoming approach to International students – and Fulbright scholars – so this is another jewel in the crown if you want a college where you can play squash.  If you are a high school student who is looking to play squash and live in a dorm like a palace, click this link and find out more about Smith College!

This is a great example of the type of “women leading” activity which is part of the Smith College philosophy – only available at a women’s college!

Here is a sampling of what the rest of the Smith College Squash Team is doing this summer:

• Right after graduating co-captain Guyman went to Rwanda to lead a group of high school students in work projects to aid the local children;
• The team’s other graduating co-captain is buy studying for MCATs to get into Med School;
• Catie Blunt, Xi Zhao, Szilvi B. Kiss were all working in the Smith Science labs (Smith has one of the top science programs in the country) – Catie managed to flood one of the labs she was working in (sorry – no pics!) – Northampton is a beautiful place to spend the summer!
• Clair Oblamski is interning at StreetSquash in New york City!

We will update what everyone is doing in college squash in our next post!  In the meantime if you have any questions about college squash or Smith College academics, drop head coach Tim Bacon a line (tbacon@smith.edu) – Tim has been busy doing professional development including a) working on a second strength training qualification Tim is the only College Squash Coach who is a NSCA Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist; b) he filmed the finals of the Women’s Junior World team championships between Egypt and the U.S.A. and will be analyzing the matches using Dartfish (he is the only Dartfish Trained Head College Squash coach) and publishing a report of the tactical tendencies of the two countries.

Ironically, you can get into some of the Ivy league schools, often regarded as the U.S.’ top  schools with only average grades if you are a really good player – thanks to a practice where a team is given 1-2 “picks” by their Admissions department.  Some might call this “cheating”, since this option is not open to all of the college squash programs – therefore creating the opposite of a “level playing field” (one of the Fairplay Principles).

Smith College, the largest women’s college in the country, is one of the toughest schools to get into if you play squash – particularly if you are an International student.  Smith is one of the Seven Sisters colleges – formed at a time when the sexist Ivy leagues refused to admit women!

The accompanying article talks about how 15% of the Class of 2015 are international students – two of whom will be playing for the Smith College Squash Team!   Jacqueline Zhou from Singapore, and Vivian (SunWoo) Lee from Korea, are one of only a handful of recruited squash athletes admitted to Smith over the last 17 years. Along with the return of three Smith students who were abroad for most of the season, they will form the nucleus of a team that is looking to move up 10 spots in the CSA 2012 women’s rankings. 

How good a school is Smith College?  Over the last six years, Smith has produced more Fulbright scholars than any other U.S. college!  The Smith College squash team has featured the “best” scholar-athletes in the country the last two seasons (most scholar-athletes in 2009, top GPA in 2010).

If you play squash and are a good student you can contact Head Squash Coach Tim Bacon for more information about Smith College and playing for the Smith College Squash Team.  Tim (tbacon@smith.edu) is the only U.S. College coach who is a full member of the Faculty who teaches academic courses – and his Squash Coaching blog is the ranked #1 in the Google rankings.

Smith Squash Grads 2011

Yesterday, Tim was late to practice as his beloved MINI was in for servicing – with an unpredictable pick-up time combined with bad traffic from the dealership in Hartford leading to his absence from practice.  Here is a picture of Tim in his MINI Cooper “S” with then World #1 Karim Darwish and World #19 Miguel Angel Rodriguez.  Tim was Director of Coaching for the PPS squash camps at Mercersberg Academy in PA last summer. 

In this short video, Head Smith Squash coach Tim Bacon explains his coaching philosophy that is designed to advance the leadership skills of the Smith College Squash Team.  Szilvie B. Kiss, who has only be playing since January, stepped up and got the team organized in Tim’s absence – a triumph for Tim’s coaching philosophy.