From Squash Player 25.2
The College Squash Association (CSA) Individual Championship, founded in 1932, marks the crowning of the best male and female players in U.S. varsity squash. Not so long ago, this competition went largely unnoticed outside of the closeted corridors of America's elite educational establishments.
Today, it carries rather more relevance to the squash ecosystem beyond.
The 2025 edition of the CSA Individual Championship was held side-by-side with the famous Tournament of Champions on the all-glass court beneath the spectacular chandeliers of Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal, New York City. This juxtaposition with the elite professional game symbolised college squash's rise in stature, from an enjoyable side pursuit for the socially privileged to a nest of future champions.
Not so long ago, the best American junior squash players faced a fairly binary choice: prioritise your education and future career in industry by going to college (perhaps using your squash achievements to help gain entry) or forego college in order to become a professional player.
At that stage, there were very few examples of young squash players who had combined both successfully. College meant hitting the books first; boasts and drives second.
That's no longer the case, with Ali Farag, alumnus of Harvard and current world no.1, being the most obvious example of this shift in priorities and possibilities. Amanda and Sabrina Sobhy, Olivia Weaver, Todd Harrity, Aly Abou Eleinen, Victor Crouin, Georgina Kennedy, Sivasangari Subramaniam and more have continued the wave of role models who have earned a degree and taken first steps on to the PSA Tour whilst doing so.
This movement is taking place concurrently with the USA's rise as a major threat to Egypt's global squash hegemony, with LA 2028 providing extra motivation and a clear focus for deeper investment.
The American education system is becoming the beating heart of the development of many of the world's best players, which is in turn changing the landscape of our sport. So how did this shift occur?
THE BEGINNINGS
Let's first go back to the origins of college squash in February 1923, when Harvard played Yale in a five-a-side match (boys only back then) in New York. Harvard's squash team would remain unbeaten for the next 15 years, but that didn't stop other schools in the north east building courts and starting programmes in an attempt to beat them.
In the decades thereafter, team and individual competitions were founded and expanded, first for men then women, before both women's and men's collegiate squash switched from hardball to softball (bringing it in line with the rest of the world) in 1992 and 1993 respectively.
In 2002, the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) and the Women’s Intercollegiate Squash Association joined to form the College Squash Association.
That brings us to around the time of the first shoots of change, sparked by the arrival of head coach Paul Assaiante at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
He broke the Ivy League's shackles on college squash, leading the previously modest Trinity College to 13 successive national championships. This run included 252 consecutive match victories between 1998-2012, often cited as the longest winning streak in college sports history.
When Assaiante arrived, Trinity were in Division Three of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the aspirant college president of the time wanted to grow its sporting reputation. Assainte recognised squash as a potential vehicle to achieving that, chiefly because college squash is an individual sport within a team environment, thus new recruits take little time to 'gel' into a cohesive unit as they would in basketball, football, ice hockey etc.
It was a potential 'quick win'.
This led to U.S. college squash's first ever coordinated overseas recruitment drive. Assaiante reached out to stronger squash nations and persuaded some of their best young talent to play for Trinity, starting with England's Marcus Cowie, then the no.2 junior in the world.
His arrival brought Trinity's first ever win over Harvard and the following year saw the start of the 252-match streak. Cowie was later inducted into the CSA Hall of Fame.
There had been overseas recruits before then, but Assaiante kickstarted a systemic change in approach. These days, there are around 50 different nationalities on the varsity squash circuit, with around 25% of total players coming from overseas.
Virtually every major college's head squash coach now attends the World Junior Championships, US Junior Open and other international tournaments, eyeing up potential new recruits from abroad and initiating conversations with their parents that prove to be life-changing.
These broadened horizons in pursuit of athletic excellence started around the late 1990s and initially caused some resentment among the indigenous squash-playing population.
James Zug, the renowned U.S. squash historian, writer and podcaster (who graduated from Dartmouth in 1991 and whose father played squash at Princeton in the 1950s and 60s) says parents and prospective students were initially irked by overseas talents filling up precious places on college teams.
Zug said: "Some people struggled seeing their son or daughter being denied recruiting spots because of increasing numbers of overseas players, but I think that feeling has died away to a large extent.
“I think people are now more international and less parochial in outlook, appreciating what these international players bring to colleges, with different experiences and ways of playing the game that have enriched everybody's life."
Chris Gordon, who was assistant coach to Assaiante at Trinty, also remembers this period of change: "There was understandable frustration that certain American players were missing out on spots, but it's testament to Paul and other college coaches in how they changed the way they spoke to parents and prospective athletes, helping them understand that recruiting these foreign players was adding value to the overall squash scene. It ended up making the whole process a lot more robust.
"The hunger for success at college level made it necessary to recruit foreign players, but that forced the American players to improve. If the overseas student has good enough grades, has a good enough level of English and has a good enough level of squash, he's going to get that spot in the school - and the only way an American player can combat that is to be relevant squash wise.
“It's made American players a lot hungrier and a lot more inquisitive, looking at different ways to get better as a squash player."
As college squash began to globalise and strengthen in the early 2000s, several home-grown players started to make the elusive transition from the classroom to the professional ranks: Julian Illingworth of Yale, twice a national individual college champion, later became eight-time US champion and world no.24; Gilly Lane of Pennsylvania, a four-time All-American, went on to reach world no.49, and the slightly younger Todd Harrity won both the team and individual national college trophies with Princeton before winning four PSA titles and hitting world no.34.
Some of the early foreign imports who used college as a successful gateway into the pro ranks included Egyptian Yasser El Halaby, who graduated from Princeton and become world no.40, and Colombia's Bernardo Samper, who left Trinity in 2005 and got to world no.57.
But at this stage, they were still exceptions, who, in retrospect, can count themselves slightly unlucky to graduate just before the real foreign influx and big investment really began to raise standards across the board. Good squash-playing graduates from the best colleges were still mostly opting for careers in industry, not on the professional circuit.
Standards of squash within the collegiate system still weren't quite high enough to pump out oven-ready players who slid seamlessly on to the Tour.
New Yorker Chris Gordon, now 38, made a decision around that period to turn pro straight away and not go to college. He recalls: "Twenty years ago, when I was making that decision, the pathway just wasn't there. I was really hungry, so I wanted to get there as quick as possible. It seemed to me that losing those four years when you're in college could determine my success on the tour. That was pretty much what made my decision."
Not long after Gordon's decision to forego college, there was a 'tipping point', when aspirant players began to view college as a viable route into the pro game. A big factor in that was the growing influx of the world's best coaches on to the U.S. varsity squash scene.
In 2010, England's legendary Mike Way, former coach of Jonathon Power, took over the squash programme at Harvard.
Soon afterwards, a teenage Amanda Sobhy arrived. By the time she graduated in May 2015, she was no.10 in the world. A year earlier, Ali Farag had left Harvard. Although he did not participate on the PSA Tour as much during his studies, he had reached the top 20 within 18 months of graduating, and went on to become one of the greatest players ever to hold a racket.
John White, the Aussie-born Scot who reached world no.1, was appointed as head coach at Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2011; France's ex-world no.1 Thierry Lincou arrived as head coach at MIT in Boston in 2013 and Australia's David Palmer became head coach at Cornell in 2016.
This trend was happening for several reasons. One, naturally, was the financial incentive, with remuneration that outstripped anything offered by a national governing body, club or private tuition. But there were other factors, too.
Zug explained: "One of the things I think is attractive to an overseas coach is that at a university you're part of this incredible, close-knit community. You really get to mentor young people for four years, and you're doing that within the team atmosphere.
“It's a lot of fun, and coaches have down time during the college breaks, unlike individual coaching at a club, which can be a lot of grinding and hard work.
"I'd also say another reason they love it is the parents are not as physically involved. In high school, parents are very active in their children's squash career. They're watching every training session and it's a little harder to find some breathing room to work with kids on and off court. Having these kids as they grow up, you're able to come along for the journey with them."
A direct impact of having the likes of White, Lincou and Palmer on campus was in-depth knowledge of what it takes to make the transition from top junior to the PSA Tour. They helped to foster academic staff's understanding and acceptance that students need competitive experience outside of the college framework.
Many students now play in smaller PSA events in America, racking up ranking points and invaluable elite-level court time.
Gordon commented: "These days, you're almost getting two for the price of one [playing college and pro squash]. Going to college is now almost a no-brainer."
India's current world no.32 Ramit Tandon, who attended Colombia University in New York from 2011-2014, said of elite college coaches: "The way they approach the athlete has changed from what it used to be 10 or 15 years ago, where you're just playing college matches.
“They help you balance your college squash career and your academics along with your professional career, because they have been there, done that. They understand how the PSA works. They say, 'We can let them go to these tournaments.'"
Let's take a brief interlude here to explore the tale of Ramit Tandon, which tells us plenty about the stark choice that his generation faced between pro squash and a suit and tie.
Graduating with a BA in statistics, he was amply qualified for a lucrative career in finance but also skilled and experienced enough to become a pro squash player. It was a tough decision.
Partly influenced by his parents and because it was "what all his friends did", he chose to become a hedge fund analyst on Wall Street. But he soon found himself watching Squash TV on his laptop under the desk.
"I was watching all the guys who I was training with in New York. They're playing squash by the Pyramids, and I'm on a desk crunching numbers. I was just thinking, 'I wish I was at the US Open. I wish I was in Egypt.' I realised that [finance] was something I could come back to and do for the rest of my life. But what I'm missing out on, on the squash court, I can't come back to it when I'm 40. It's a 'now or never' situation. I didn't want to have any regrets later on."
Winning Asian Team Championships, playing at the Commonwealth Games and lifting four PSA Tour trophies (so far), with a 'proper job' waiting for him on Wall Street should he choose to return to it, it looks to have been a pretty good decision.
Todd Harrity was another of the early examples that players can indeed 'have their cake and eat it' by enjoying all the fruits of higher education and using college as a launchpad for a professional squash career.
Harrity led Princeton to the CSA team championship (2012) and won the CSA individual championship (2011). In that same year, he was part of the USA men's team which claimed its highest ever finish at the World Team Championship (seventh).
He went on to win the U.S. national title three times and reached a career-high world no.37.
Harrity believes college squash was an experience that readied him for life, not just the rigours of the PSA Tour.
"University was just an amazing four years of growth and development," he said. "I just wasn't the same person when I left as I was when I entered. My experience playing college squash was really character building. You're part of a team, and the team changes as the seniors graduate and the new group comes in.
“When you start out, you're a freshman, and then as you go through the four years, you become more of a leader. You learn a lot about yourself and how you respond to pressure.
"Time management is also a very important skill to have in university, and balancing my athletic and academic commitments was a challenge. You have practice all week, then you're on a bus to away matches for the weekend, you have an exam coming up and assignments that are due, so you're trying to manage all these different obligations, play squash at a very high level, and do as well as you can in school.
"I would personally counsel anyone to go to university. The last few years has definitely weakened or even removed the stigma that you can't go to university and have a pro career afterwards. If I had a son or daughter that was in the same position, I would say, 'If you want to go pro, that's fine, but you're going to university first.' I wouldn't have traded it for anything."
THE COLLEGE SQUASH CAULDRON
Balancing studies with squash is one element of how college squash builds character. Another is the atmosphere of matches, which is almost unparalleled globally. U.S. college sports are of an entirely different nature to anywhere in the world.
Many are nationally televised to millions of captivated viewers and attract six-figure crowds to gigantic stadiums, complete with the traditional American razzmatazz.
College squash matches routinely have over a thousand spectators, waving banners, wearing fancy dress, chanting and berating visiting opponents. It's a fight-or-flight learning environment.
Tandon said: "A lot of them have too many drinks, and they're kind of shouting in your face and waving posters. Sometimes they get personal; they've looked you up and know your track record. Sometimes it gets a little obnoxious. But it's a lot of fun.
“Not just the squash, but everything around it. You travel in those big buses and you feel like a soccer team. My favourite part about college squash was the atmosphere and the energy at matches."
Harrity recalls the evening when his Princeton team ended Trinty's famous 13-year winning run with victory in the National Team Championship final in front of their own supporters.
"We had to win the last three matches [out of nine] to take the title, and I was one of the players in that last shift," he recalls. "I remember the three of us in the locker room beforehand, and we said, 'Let's do this.' When we won, it was just pandemonium. It was so exciting. Our friends had all come to watch and the place was packed. It's definitely my favourite college squash memory."
Dartmouth alumnus Zug recalls the long bus rides from northern New Hampshire to away matches as particularly special.
"That was really the core of the bonding, dark winters driving along and figuring out how the world works and how to make it better.
"People have great loyalties to their high school sports teams, but it's even stronger at college because you live there, it's a 24/7 365 experience. You're away from your family and living in this very small, tight-knit community. That is the core of why college squash is so strong; it's the intensity of those four years.
"It's so exciting and interesting to watch college squash and to see these young people grappling with the pressure, the sportsmanship and the bonding... These kids from all over America and the world, coming together, and fighting as hard as they can for their alma mater."
There's a long tradition of gender equality in U.S. college sports, with women's teams being treated no differently to men's in terms of resources, athlete support, interest or crowd size. This may partly explain the strength of U.S. women's pro squash relative to the men, with the Sobhy sisters and Olivia Weaver having had the advantages of the immersive and supportive college environment en route to the world's top 20 and a collective runners-up spot in the last two Women's World Team Championships (2022 and 2024).
Gordon observed: "There are a lot more opportunities afforded to young women to get into different kinds of sports and physical training than in other parts of the world where it's just not as accessible. I think that helps get our junior girls on the pathway much quicker. The junior boys have been more of a struggle, but it's catching up rapidly. The amount of foreign players and coaches that are now in the country has forced the U.S. junior boys to raise their level dramatically."
Concurrent to this has been the development of world-class squash facilities at colleges. Most prominent among these, of course, is the Arlen Specter Centre on the campus of Drexel University in Philadelphia, featuring 16 singles courts, two all-glass showcourts and two doubles courts.
It now serves as US Squash's national HQ.
The Specter Center has allowed the US Junior Open to expand into the biggest individual junior squash tournament in the world, giving many more young American players a global platform and helping to lift standards amongst college recruits. US Squash's Junior Championship Tour (JCT) structure is producing excellent competitive players while the Squash and Education Alliance's urban programmes are widening the base of the participation pyramid.
Another perhaps overlooked factor in college squash's burgeoning success is the American culture of philanthropy. It's common for alumni to make donations to squash programmes at their former colleges. Zug explains: "I help out with the Friends of Dartmouth squash group and we have alumni who graduated in the 40s and 50s who are still contributing money, mentoring and helping the current students. That's a crucial part of making college squash so strong. It plays a quiet role that people don't really realise."
THE FUTURE
Despite all of the above, squash remains the preserve of only a percentage of the U.S. college sport ecosystem, principally concentrated around the north east.
As Gordon explains: "It's not played in your University of Texas, your Oklahomas, Alabamas, Floridas, those big state schools with big budgets for sports who churn out athletes.
"I hope, with squash getting into the Olympics, that's going to put down a marker for our relevance and will help them notice that squash is something that could really help their programming. Squash getting into LA 2028 is going to be a catalyst for a lot of growth, and a lot of people starting to become aware of what the sport is and how much it can offer college squash. I think we're barely cracking the surface on squash growing in the U.S.
"I think we have a fantastic opportunity to become one of the next great squash nations. Look at rugby. It's not a big game in the States, but as soon as it got into the Olympics, it started getting televised and now our rugby sevens team is relevant globally. I think squash is in a fantastic position for that to happen in the U.S.
“We have this platform of junior tournaments and college squash, and now LA 2028 gives us that vehicle to take it into the public eye."
If and when that cultural awareness shift occurs, college squash will be in a prime position to expand its role as a breeding ground for the nationally and internationally recognised champions of the future.
No longer will it be a full stop for young squash players' ambitions, but a vital step on the journey to greatness, following in the footsteps of pathfinders like Farag and Sobhy by producing well-rounded, confident, intelligent, honed athletes fully equipped to take on the world.
