HOWE CUP BOASTS

The 2023 Howe Cup, 300 women strong, was once again the most inspiring, energizing and fun event in the world of squash. Below are just a few of the many stories of the Howe Cup participants, illustrating what makes Howe Cup and women’s squash so special.

The Buckeyes are Growing Squash

In 2022, Ohio represented as a distinct region for the first time at Howe Cup with one D team. Just a year later, their numbers have tripled with players from Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Leading the Buckeye charge has been an extremely enthusiastic crew from Columbus where The Athletic Club of Columbus (“ACC”) has an enthusiastic community playing on four converted handball courts.

Jim Massie, the Columbus Squash League Commissioner for several years, planted the seeds for women’s squash growth by creating a format which ensured that when women showed up for their weekly match, they would always have an opponent who was near their level of play. In 2021, there were 18 women in the league. In 2023, there are 85 women active in league play!  

Amy Tucker, who got an email in 2021 about playing squash, decided to give it a shot. She is now so passionate that at the ACC social events, “I circle the room and approach every woman there who isn’t a squash player to encourage her to try it out.”   Lindsay Turner comes from a squash playing family but hadn’t played for years when she ran into ACC member Catherine Covault who gave Turner the nudge she needed to pick up her racquet again. 

Every Wednesday, from September to April, 55-60 women show up for league, playing several matches in the course of the evening. There is food and drink and apparel for the players, and a What’s App group with 70 women. While Turner and Tucker love that squash gives them a great cardio workout, both women agree that the camaraderie of the women’s group is a key factor in the growth of women’s participation.  “The viewing area above the courts is called the Bird’s Nest, and we are all up there watching and drinking beer when we are not on the court,” says Tucker. Turner adds that she especially appreciates the opportunity “to meet all these awesome women.”  



These two enthusiasts are especially proud of the open and inclusive nature of their women’s squash community.  “We have a wide range of players,” says Tucker,” ranging from novice to very experienced and everybody will play with everybody.“  Clearly, the women of Columbus have a green thumb for growing squash.

Mother Daughter Duo



Joanne Schickerling, a key organizer of the NY teams and StreetSquash coach, needed to find a replacement player for NY when one of the players was injured the week of the event. She didn’t have to look far. Her mother Margo, no stranger to the squash court, was visiting from South Africa and gamely agreed. Sharing the Howe Cup experience made it more memorable for the only mother-daughter duo – and Margo plans on playing next year!

A Match 20 Years in the Making

Nathalie de Champlain was a D player in Montreal 20 years ago when she first saw Fiona Curthoys, also in Montreal and an A player representing Canada, play. “Fiona was my squash idol,” says de Champlain. “I would watch her and emulate what she did on court, including wiping my hands on the court wall, because I figured if Fiona did it, it was important.” The two had never played each other until this year’s Howe Cup. Representing different teams in the A division, the two squared off against each other. Curthoys, with 50 years squash experience under her belt, was not dismayed when her long-time fan won the match. “It was more important to me to celebrate the moment, not the result.”  

HOWE CUP RESULTS

As for the winners:

A Division - San Francisco

B Division - Boston Queen Bs

C Division - Seattle Suits

D Division - Boston D Drop Shots

In the MPB Doubles Tournament, the winners were:

A Division - Nessrine Ariffin/Isabel Restrepo

B Division - Joanne Schickerling/Katiria J Sanchez

C Division - Mel Buck/Jessica P. Powers

D Division - Sarah Hankamer/Adriana Palanpur

Congratulations to all players for contributing to a great weekend of camaraderie, squash, dancing, meeting new friends and getting to see old friends.  Stay tuned for next year, planning is already in the works!

An Update on the Women’s Survey

Thank you all for taking the women’s survey earlier this fall. We have started to analyze the data and this will be the first of a series of articles to let you know what we have found and our next steps to create focus groups and initiate programming to help bring women back onto the courts. Of course we are always interested in what you have to say, so do not be shy and let us hear your thoughts. 

First, many thanks to Maureen Wylie for leading the charge in creating a survey that would incorporate your feedback. The goal of the survey is to identify programs that will foster playing squash throughout all stages of a woman’s life, and create opportunities at all skill levels for all women. As we work through the results, our goal is to pilot programs that support the growth of women’s squash communities throughout the US. When pilot programs prove successful, create frameworks for those programs to be used in communities across the United States.

First, let's focus on the basics.

 

Keep in mind that we are looking at both categories of women who are currently playing and women who are not. We had 317 women answer the survey with 260 women currently playing squash, or 82%.  

The data is beginning to paint a picture of why women like playing squash and we are focused on answering the following questions: 



1. What kinds of programs can we put in place to get women to stay on court or return to play?
2. What types of programs are women looking for? Do those programs exist today? If so, which ones are working and can we model them in other cities?
3. Do the women who are currently playing want the same types of programs as the women not currently playing? Would setting up these programs bring women back onto the courts?
4. Are there cities that would pilot programs? If you live in a city that would like to pilot some programs, please reach out to us.
5. Which cohort should we focus on first? Is it the 35-50 age group?

Let’s start with the group of 260 currently playing. 

We see a drop off after college and have a program in place to address that group of players with our College Transition program. The other drop-off we see is in players between the ages of 35-50. We know that this is the time that women are career focused and raising families.   

We also know that of the current players across all age levels, the largest skill level is C. That is to be expected, but good to see the data confirms our intuition.

Across all age groups and skill levels the top survey reasons why women play squash are:

1. It’s a great workout.
2. I love the game.
3. I love the community.
4. I love the competition. 

We’ve begun brainstorming some potential solutions to foster play without the necessity of competition. For example, create clinics that can be “drop-in” or “pay to play” that focus on ghosting, on-court fitness drills, and non-competitive socials.  

In addition, knowing that there is a drop-off because of family and career conflicts, we will be holding focus groups to discover opportunities to keep women playing during this time. Examples would be before work drop-ins, family court time (evenings or after school), the ability to have a “homework” space for completing homework while moms are on court, Saturday or Sunday morning as a mom’s morning out clinic.  

And this is just the beginning! You can see the possibilities with what we’re learning. We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, please feel free to email Emily Silva if you have ideas, would like to be part of a focus group or would like to pilot a program in your area. 

More insights to come in the December newsletter. 

Player Profile

Enjoy this month’s player profile featuring one of the top junior players in the country, Riya Navani (pictured on the right). Written by Migyu Kim.

Riya Navani is a young model of elegance, athletic prowess, and inspiration. At only seventeen years old, Navani has been ranked #1 in the girls under 11, girls under 13, and girls under 17 divisions; #3 in the girls under 15 division; and currently holds the #2 spot for girls under 19. In addition, Navani was named a 2022-2023 High School All-American and has represented the US on multiple occasions, including in the esteemed British Junior Open and World Junior Championships tournaments. 

Navani recently added another accomplishment to her list of successes, specifying this particular one as one of her most cherished squash memories and experiences. At the end of September in the first round of the Southwestern Open in Houston, Texas, Navani, playing as a wildcard in her second PSA Gold event, beat world number 45 Nour Aboulmakarim in a roller-coaster five game battle. Navani won the first two games, at the verge of a clean defeat, before Aboulmakarim came back to take the match to the fifth game. Navani reflected on how the win was a manifestation of her hard work, perseverance, and a step towards her dreams and goals: “It hadn’t been an easy phase, there’s so many ups and downs emotionally…I think a big win like this kind of changed a lot for me, it made me feel a lot more hopeful. It was a huge accomplishment to win a PSA match like that and so that was just one of my cherished memories because it was a culmination of seeing all the hard work pay off and plus it’s my dream to be on that stage.”

January, February and March are focused on National Doubles Championships while singles play will happen at the local and regional level.

Start preparing now for the US National Masters and Skill Level Championships, and introducing the City Cup,  in April.  More details to come in the December Newsletter.