Squash News
winter / 2015
LETTER FROM ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT, ZERLINE GOODMAN Dear Friends, You have been amazing over the past year. Thank you. You have shown as much interest in Yale Squash as at any time in our history. It has been particularly thrilling to see how many younger graduates have become involved. Many of you were at a terrific opening season party at the Yale Club in early November. Some of you played in a pre-party round-robin or met some of the current men’s and women’s teams, and everyone celebrated the women's 2004-06 teams, which were three-peat national champions. If you weren’t there, you simply must come next time! We plan to do more events like this that have no agenda other than to get Yale squashers together. Your financial support is critical to help us not only continue to build excitement and connect our community but also provide the resources necessary for the success of the current team. Many of you may not realize that Skillman’s goal each year is to raise the entire annual budget for the Men's and Women's Teams. Head Coach Dave Talbott and the current teams need you to take part in helping to keep our amazing Yale Squash program going strong. Please, grab your credit card and give to Skillman now at:
http://www.yalebulldogs.com/information/ alumni/associations/squash. You also may be interested to know that a primary focus for Skillman for the next few years will be to fully endow the program so that the annual budget will be guaranteed and your support will go instead to growing and consistently improving the entire experience. We are gearing up for that push now, and Coach Talbott has made it clear that this is at the top of his list of things to accomplish during his tenure. You will hear more from me, Dave, and Bob Gould '81, who is heading up the endowment committee. We already have significant commitments from a number of you, and there is no doubt that we will reach our goal. After all, Dave always gets what he wants. In the meantime, the current team needs your support for this season. Thank you so much for your help and your enthusiasm. Very Best, Zerline L. Goodman
Save the Date Wednesday, January 20th Live Stream Party Yale vs. Trinity, locaƟon TBD
Saturday, February 6th Yale vs. Princeton RecepƟon at the home of Abigail Reynolds ’89, Princeton, NJ Formal InvitaƟon Forthcoming
Saturday, February 14th Yale vs. Harvard, Alumni and Senior Day, New Haven, CT
SQUASH / WINTER, 2015
COACH’S CORNER Dear Alumni and Friends, The Yale Squash Teams have been hard at work since returning to campus in late August. Both the Yale Men and Women have worked hard in the weight room and on the court. Associate Head Coach, Pam Saunders, Head Assistant Coach, Lewis Walters, and Yale Strength Coach, Mike Harris have all worked closely together to construct a training program for the fall that has been innovaHEAD COACH, DAVE TALBOTT tive and put the teams in the best position possible to be successful this season. Both teams competed recently in the Pre-Season Ivy League Tournament. The Yale Men won the event, beating Harvard 5-4 in the finals after 9-0 and 5-4 wins over Dartmouth and Columbia. The Yale Women finished 3rd with a solid 5-4 win over Princeton. A loss to Harvard after a win over Cornell set up the win over Princeton. Led by Yale Captains, Annie Ballaine and Sam Fenwick, both teams have responded strongly in training. Senior Georgia Blatchford has stepped up both on and off the court as the only other senior on the Women’s side, while Zac Leman, Pelaaj Bajwa, and Peter Dewire have done a very good job as senior leaders along with Sam. On the women’s side, juniors Jenny Scherl, Shiyuan Mao, and Maddie Tomlinson will all play key roles along with the three returning sophomores, Jen Davis, Jocelyn Lehman, and Selena
THOMAS KINGSHOTT ‘18
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Maity. Sophomore transfer Ashley Suan joins our three freshmen, Caroline East, Emily Sherwood, and Celine Yeap to bring four new players to the team. The Yale Men are deep with three experienced juniors, Kah Wah Cheong, TJ Dembinski, and Liam McClintock leading a strong sophomore class of Pierson Broadwater, Tripp Kaelin, Thomas Kingshott, Arjun Kochhar, Max Martin, and Nader Rastegar. The three freshmen, Jonathan Kovac, Jay Losty, and Yohan Pandole are experienced and can contribute right away. The strength of the Yale Men is the depth of the team. There is very little drop off all the way down the line-up. This group can contend both in the Ivy League and nationally for a title if the team can stay healthy throughout the season. The work ethic and focus is there. The combination of senior leadership, an experienced junior class, and enough talent all the way down makes this a team with high expectations. The Yale Women have improved more in the pre-season than any team in a number of years at Yale. Across the board, every one of them have committed to our goals and training. The difference on court from September is tremendous. The results in the Ivy Scrimmage showed all our women what we are capable of achieving this season. This team will be surprise this season in both the Ivy League and CSA. The regular season opens for both teams with Franklin and Marshall on the road on Dec 5th, followed by Brown the following week. The teams are excited to begin the regular season, which will culminate with the National Team Championships at Yale the last weekend in February. We look forward to reporting on all the action and seeing many of you at the Brady Squash Center this season for a match. Dave Talbott, Head Coach Yale Squash
GEORGIA BLATCHFORD ‘16
SQUASH /WINTER, 2015
SKILLMAN ANNUAL RECEPTION Honoring the 2004-06 Tri-Peat National Champion Women’s Teams On November 6th, the Skillman Association gathered in the Library at the Yale Club of New York for a cocktail reception to kick off the 2015-16 season and honored three outstanding women’s teams. More than 75 alumni and friends of the program joined the members of the current men’s and women’s teams in a wonderful night of comradery and celebration. Several alumni joined the current players in a round robin tournament before the event. Amy Gross ’06 and Michelle Quibell ’06 addressed the crowd and their teammates. We hope to make this event an annual tradition and look forward to seeing you at next year’s reception!
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2015ͳ16 SCHEDULE AND RESULTS Sat, 12/05
at Franklin & Marshall
Men W, 7-2, Women W, 8-1
Tue, 12/08/2015
at Brown *
Women, 4:30PM, Men, 6:00 PM
Sat, 01/09/2016
Cornell *
12:00 PM
Sun, 01/10/2016
Columbia *
12:00 PM
Fri, 01/15/2016
at Amherst
Women, 10:00 AM
at Hamilton @ Amherst
1:00 PM
Sat, 01/16/2016
at St. Lawrence
12:00 PM
Sun, 01/17/2016
at Rochester
12:00 PM
Wed, 01/20/2016
Trinity (Conn.)
6:00 PM
Fri, 01/29/2016
Stanford
Women, 2:30 PM
George Washington
7:30 PM
Middlebury
Women, 12:00 PM
Navy Men,
12:00 PM
Williams
2:30 PM
at Princeton *
Women, 12:00 PM
Sat, 01/30/2016
Sat, 02/06/2016
Men, 2:30 PM Sun, 02/07/2016
at Penn *
12:00 PM
Fri, 02/12/2016
at Dartmouth *
12:00 PM
Sun, 02/14/2016
Harvard *
1:00 PM
Fri, 02/26 – Sun 2/28
Howe Cup/CSA Team Championships @ TBD
Fri, 03/04 – Sun, 03/06 at CSA Individual Championships @ Hanover, NH