By Bob Callahan, Princeton Men’s Squash Coach
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Playing college squash is a wonderful experience! The friendships, camaraderie, practices, travel, and matches all make your college experience richer. Being a member of a team is a source of self-esteem, and a way to put order and discipline in your day.
As part of a two-part series, I hope to help you better understand the world of college squash so that you can have a wonderful four year career at the college of your choice. This portion will focus on which schools to apply to, and how to increase your chances of being accepted. In next month's article, I will talk about application and acceptance.
Preparing to Apply
The best advice to any aspiring college squash player is study. Nothing will increase your chances of getting into a top college more than getting the best grades possible, in the most challenging courses possible, along with reasonably good SAT scores. College is an academic challenge, and schools look for applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to challenging themselves academically in high school. Being a “recruited” squash player may help your chances of being admitted, but it will not make up for a so-so academic record. It is never too early to start working hard. Get in the habit of studying hard and doing your best every year in school.
Since most schools require SAT tests (many of them require SAT 1’s and SAT 2’s), you need to prepare for these as well. Create a schedule that will enable you to take both the SAT 1’s and SAT 2’s several times by the November test date of your senior year.
To Which Schools Should I Apply?
Once your academic house is in order, you need to focus on deciding which schools are of interest to you. There is an excellent college squash website, www.collegesquash.com, which lists all of the schools playing intercollegiate squash, along with ranking and contact information. Visit each college’s website to help decide if they are academically and athletically in the right ball park.
There are a few ways to learn more about schools:
1. Visit the squash team’s website. Most teams have one nowadays.
2. Visit the school. Play in a squash tournament there, attend a summer squash camp, or visit the school for a day.
3. Contact the coach. The coach’s e-mail address is available on the school’s website or on www.collegesquash.com.
4. If you are seriously interested in a school, send the coach a note expressing your interest along with a list of your squash and academic achievements. Let them know where and when you are planning to play in tournaments so they can come watch you play, and sort out a time to come visit them.
Visiting Colleges
Plan to visit colleges in the spring of your junior senior year. Meet with the coach, ask about the squash program, make an appointment with the Admissions Office to meet with a member of the admissions staff, and get a feel for the campus and how you see yourself fitting in. Do you like urban schools or suburban schools, big schools or small schools? We have a wonderful group of college squash coaches right now, so you will have a great squash experience anywhere you select.
If you can’t visit in the spring, definitely visit over the summer. By the time September rolls around, you need to have narrowed your list of schools to a manageable few. Use weekends in late September and early October to spend a day or so at each of your top choices. You should be able to pick one for Early Decision, if interested.
A few words about the NCAA: NCAA rules prohibit coaches from calling you on the phone until the July 1 before your senior year in high school. They can send you letters and e-mails starting in your junior year (questionnaires can be mailed to you any time in high school). You can visit a school anytime, but a coach can only provide you with an expense-paid “Official Visit” one time for a maximum of 48 hours after your first day of senior year. Each high school senior may accept no more than five official visits over the course of their senior year.
Recruiting
Colleges try to have a well rounded undergraduate student body with students representing a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. Strong academic performance is the key criteria for admission; however, colleges give credit to students who have demonstrated success in extracurricular activities on a national or international level of success. If a student is ranked No. 5 in the country in squash, it has clearly taken a lot of time away from studying to accomplish this. If that student has a strong academic background as well, he may be admitted before a student with only a strong academic background.
A coach is expected to inform the Admissions Office of any applicants that have a national or international level of success in their sport, and that information often is included in the evaluation of the candidate. Almost all colleges consider the extracurricular contributions that applicants are likely to make to campus life.
Some colleges hope to enroll three to five squash players per year, while others may hope to enroll only one. Coaches primarily use national rankings as the first source of information for evaluating high school players.
If you want to be recruited, make sure you play enough tournaments to get a good ranking. If you attend a Boarding School, it is tougher for you to play in tournaments, so you need to forward your prep school results—good wins and good losses—to the coach. Make a videotape of you playing a match and send it to the coach. Be persistent, because the more information the coach receives, the better able he/she is to make a good decision about whom they will support with admissions. |
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