George Washington University Athletics
Squash Makes its Mark on Urban Youth
8/17/2018 2:08:00 PM | Men's Squash, Women's Squash
GW Squash celebrates decade-long relationship with nonprofit Squashwise
Haley Hunt is a rising sophomore on the GW women's squash team and an intern with the GW Athletics Communications department. She recently wrote this piece about GW's relationship with the nonprofit organization Squashwise.
"Do you play squash every day on top of classes?," a girl with a purple floral quarter zip asks. The other players look on, eyes wide, with the same question crossing their thoughts as they grip their racquets tightly against their chests.Since 2008, GW Squash has hosted students from the Squashwise program for on-court match play, campus tours, and Q&A sessions. Squashwise is a nonprofit organization in Baltimore, Maryland that connects urban students with squash, mentoring, career development, and college preparation. The program, which supports 75 middle and high school students, is run by Executive Director and Co-Founder Abby Markoe, a GW Squash '03 alumnus.
Each year, GW Squash travels to Squashwise to spend time with students both on and off the court.
"My favorite part about the visits is spending time with the kids and getting to answer all of their questions about academics and athletics because they all have the opportunity to have a similar college experience," said GW Squash co-captain Brooke Feldman.
Squashwise students split their afternoons between squash practices and classroom sessions. In addition to match-play against local schools, advanced players in the program have the opportunity to participate in U.S. Squash accredited tournaments.
"I have seen the level of Squashwise squash improving over the years of our partnership," said GW Squash head coach Wendy Lawrence. "Our players enjoy the sessions, and the kids really look up to them."
This year, the men's and women's teams traveled to Baltimore during their winter training to play with and offer college advice to Squashwise students. Most recently, Squashwise visited GW for a campus tour, where players were provided a deeper glimpse into life as a student-athlete.
"This is a great partnership," said Squash and Volunteer Director Zach Bradley. "We love making trips to GW to give the kids a view into the life of a college student-athlete. It's great to challenge strong nationally-ranked players from a college squash team, and to get the chance to talk to players about their experience."
One of Squashwise's short-term goals is for its students to compete at the college level. The program recently started a high-performance team, which provides more frequent and individualized coaching instruction, to better prepare students for collegiate squash.
Most recently, five students qualified for the U.S. Squash Bronze Nationals, while 11 players competed at The Squash + Education Alliance (SEA)'s All Girl's Tournament at Choate Rosemary Hall.
Programs like Squashwise have proven successful in supporting urban youth. The SEA reports over 2,500 students enrolled in youth programs across 23 cities nationwide. Squashwise boasts an 86 percent college matriculation rate in comparison to the 43.6 percent statistic for Baltimore City Public School graduates.
"We work because we provide students with an incredible incentive to engage them in their learning, to engage them in setting life goals, looking at colleges, and getting ready for the kind of careers they want," Markoe said.
After 10 years of partnering with Squashwise, GW Squash will continue to work with students and looks to broaden its reach by contributing to both the development and expansion of SEA programs in the future.
"It's awesome that Wendy has worked on continuing and developing this relationship with Squashwise," said Bradley. " It is always one of the highlights of our year, and it is one of the opportunities that our students always look forward to. I hope we can keep it coming for many years come."
Players Mentioned
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