Charlottesville Squash

05/07/2012
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Victor Elmaleh, Hardball Doubles National Champ and UVa Class of 1941

In case you were waiting for a “for example” in the last post, here’s a pretty good one…

Francis Johnson passed along a selection of articles profiling UVa Alum and Hardball Doubles National Champion (and architect, developer, musician, painter, and basically Michelangelo reborn) Victor Elmaleh. And even this selection, which included an interview from Old New York Stories, a piece from The New York Times’ City Room Blog, an entry in Alex Beam’s Vanity Fair Squash Blog, as well as a blurb from the Wall Street Journal, barely skims the surface of Elmaleh’s variegated and prolific life.

Click the video below to watch a 2011 interview with Mr Elmaleh:

05/06/2012
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Open Call for Items for UVa Squash Archive (Material, Digital, or Other)

We have been proud to call ourselves the online home for University of Virginia Squash for the 2011-2012 season. But now it’s time for the team to move into a domain of its own. Yes, within the next couple of weeks, the University of Virginia Squash teams will be giving up this tired blog shack for a brand new web address on campus as an Alumni Interest Group site.

All of this is part of the master plan to transform the adolescent club squash program into varsity adulthood. As you might imagine, this initiative will entail plenty of administrative stone breaking. But it’s also providing the impetus and means to establish a UVa Squash Archive.

That’s the fun part. And, lucky you, that’s where you come in. If you have anything, and we mean anything related to the history of squash at UVa–from a digital photo of last year’s team to a piece of the tin from the courts at Slaughter, from a newspaper clipping from the ’90s to an oral history or anecdote from the ’30s–please contact us. Even if you just have a story to tell or know someone who might have a story to tell.

Material items will be stored and displayed in the new courts, possibly as part of the exhibition/trophy case commissioned from Gropen Inc. Gropen’s display cabinet will also incorporate various pieces of digital media. And all of the above, plus what’s left over, will be archived on the new website.

04/26/2012
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UVa Players in CSA End of Season Rankings

The CSA has published its end of season individual rankings and several University of Virginia players finished in notable position. Third-year captain Kelly Whelan, who has played #1 for the Cavaliers since joining the team, ended up at #145 in the Dunlop Women’s College Squash Association Individual Rankings. Three players on the men’s side were ranked inside the top 400. Fourth-year captain James Patteson concludes a tremendous college squash career ranked at #250 on the Dunlop Men’s College Association Individual Rankings . First-year standouts Matt Brown and Ned Whelan ended at #363 and #371 respectively.

University of Virginia Squash Makes Headlines

04/24/2012 by grant | 0 comments

It’s late April and the University of Virginia Squash program is blooming.

On Wednesday U.Va. Today published a press release announcing a $12.4 million gift from the Quantitative Foundation that will fund an eleven-court squash center (nine singles, two doubles). The new facility, which will be located at Boar’s Head Sports Club, has the potential to serve as a gateway for the sport in the Southeast.

Since then, the story has been picked up by NBC29, the Charlottesville Newsplex, and The Daily Progress, as well as by the governing body of intercollegiate squash, the College Squash Association.

Evidently, the squash gods are hard at work in the region. Later in the day on Wednesday, Tyler Hinckley, one of the founders of the UVa Men’s Squash Team, posted on the Virginia Squash Club’s Facebook page that two more squash courts were in the works as part of the North Grounds Recreation Center Expansion. According to the UVa Intramural and Recreational Sports website, “The project will begin in mid-April, 2012, with a tentative completion in fall 2013.”

03/24/2012
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Squash Goddess Slam Women’s Squash Tournament

The third annual Squash Goddess Slam Women’s Squash Tournament will be held March 30-April 1 (this coming weekend) at St. Anne’s-Belfield School. There is a draw to fit just about every skill level (from 2.5 – 4.5 to be exact) and proceeds go to benefit the Charlottesville Boy’s and Girl’s Club. So if you won’t do it for yourself, do it for the children.

If you want to play, don’t delay! Here’s a link to the pdf version of the entry form.  The official registration date has passed but I think they’ll let a few stragglers in. Email tournament director Stephanie Bosserman (smbosserman@gmail.com) for more details.

UVa Squash in CSA Final Rankings

03/20/2012 by grant | 0 comments

Drum roll please. The College Squash Association just posted their final rankings for the 2011-2012 season.

The UVa Women’s team, who entered the season without a ranking, concludes the 2011-2012 campaign at #32. The Cavalier men, also unranked in the preseason poll, finish the season at #42. Feathered, wide-brimmed hats off to both squads.

Click here to view the final women’s rankings in full. Or here for the men. Or below for a stirring rendition of “The Good Ole Song.”

 

Charlottesville Squash Blog – Live from Turks and Caicos

03/15/2012 by grant | 0 comments

K&G Squash in T&C

The Foreign Office

Now that the season is winding down, the Charlottesville Squash Club is getting a bit of well-deserved R and R. Of course, we couldn’t resist a bit of vacation squash to break up the monotonous regimen of doing, well, absolutely nothing. We were, therefore, fortunate to run across local squash guru Rob Ayer (oops, forgot to set up our photo shoot), who is hard at play cultivating squash on Providenciales.

The Graceway Sports Centre is, as far as we could discern, the place to be, though we also heard tell of courts at Ambergris Cay and Blue Water Squash Club–neither of which, evidently, has much of an online presence.

What we can say is with some measure of authority is that anyone trying to mix squash and sun would be well advised to check out the scene in T&C.