The months of January and February were busy for CitySquash coaches and players, capped off by trips to Middle School and High School Team Nationals. At Middle School Nationals, both the boys and girls A teams earned 7^th place in their divisions while representing M.S. 45. Highlights included Alexis storming back from an 0-2 deficit in his final match to win and Edward playing what coaches called the “best squash of his life.”

At High School Nationals one week later, the girls placed 7^th in their division including a nail-biting win over the Hill School. Perla and Jazlyn collected a few 5-game match wins to lead the way. The boys team had a tougher go on the court, but demonstrated grit and tenacity all weekend. Many thanks to our tireless coaches and generous hosts for helping make the trip possible. Up next on the squash calendar: the 2019 Urban Team National Championships at Yale and Choate. 

6 CitySquash seniors applied early decision to college and in December, all 6 found out they were admitted! Congratulations to our Class of 2023 Early Acceptances:

Chris Lucero – Hamilton College

Vanessa Lucero – Franklin & Marshall College

Victoria Haghighi – Bates College

Tanya Mendoza – Connecticut College

Juan Santos – Middlebury College

Xitlali Zuniga – St. Lawrence University 

CitySquash alumnus and Director of Squash Chris Fernandez has been named the new Men’s and Women’s Head Squash Coach of Dickinson College. Fernandez becomes the first urban squash alumnus to lead a varsity college program. “I am truly grateful for such an opportunity and look forward to making urban squash, Dickinson and everyone who’s supported me proud,” Fernandez said. Both of Dickinson’s teams finished in the top-20 in the country last year.

Fernandez first stepped onto the squash court in 2004 as part of the second cohort ever to try out for CitySquash. Chris went on to win a scholarship to the Canterbury School in Connecticut and then moved on to St. Lawrence University, where as a senior, he captained the men’s squash team that was a National Championship finalist. For the past three years, he has served as CitySquash’s Director of Squash in the Bronx.

Squash + Education Alliance Executive Director Tim Wyant, who was leading CitySquash when Fernandez first joined, is one of many proud mentors excited by the news: “Chris will do an outstanding job at Dickinson. Since the time he joined CitySquash in sixth grade, he has been a trailblazer, pushing the boundaries of what people in our network thought possible: winning one national title after another, being a two-sport college athlete, captaining a team that reached the finals of the college nationals. He has a generous spirit, is ferociously competitive, and is a person of integrity.”

Read more about the announcement here. Please join us in thanking Chris for his dedicated coaching and best of luck at the collegiate level!

CitySquash team members, family members, staff, and board fanned out into the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan for the first annual CitySquash Serves day of community service! 125 participants in total rolled up their sleeves across 7 service projects, including delivering meals to home-bound seniors, removing invasive plants along the Bronx River, walking dogs at an animal shelter, and packing lunches for Habitat for Humanity volunteers. Afterwords, groups reflected on their projects and impact before coming back together at Fordham University for a celebration. Many thanks to all of our community partners, including the Bronx River Alliance, Sean Casey Animal Rescue, Citymeals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity NYC, Project Harmony, and more. See below for some picture from the memorable day!

CitySquash students and an energetic group of volunteers from Blackstone braved the stormy weather for a fun afternoon of squash and enrichment activities at Fordham University. On the court, the group ran through a series of drills and games, with some CitySquashers giving pointers to the volunteers who were stepping onto the court for the very first time. Off the court, the group from Blackstone helped out in a variety of ways: art projects with the Elementary students, Spanish grammar and vocabulary with the Middle School students, and mock interviews for our seniors and 8^th graders preparing to apply for college and boarding school this fall.

See below for some pictures from the day. Thank you again to Blackstone for all your support!

5 tours. 13 cities. Over 6,900 miles. The CitySquash team spent Spring Break on the road on our annual Spring Enrichment Tours. For the seventh year in a row, our team members and hardworking staff explored regions beyond NYC on these unique enrichment tours, which included museum and cultural site visits, new food and experiences, and yes, even a little squash.

Below are pictures and reflections from our 2018 Spring Tours. Special thanks goes to our network of generous hosts: the Byrnes family, the Mathias family, Veer Seth, the Jipp-Shyamsundar family, Emma Head, Dave Moorish, and Rob Brooks. Thank you for supporting these lifetime memories! 

The Elementary School Tour at the Baltimore Aquarium, where they spent the night sleeping among the sharks!

Elementary School Tour: Chesepeake Bay – Washington D.C. – Baltimore

 “My favorite thing about the trip was visiting George Washington’s house and the aquarium because we saw amazing sharks.” – Rafael, 4th grade

The Middle School Tour in front of the Nashville Parthenon in Tennessee.

Middle School Tour: Smoky Mountains – Nashville – St. Louis

 “I loved it all, because everything was a new experience for me. If I had to pick, I would say the Gateway Arch was my favorite. I’ve never seen a monument quite like it before.” – Fatima, 7th grade

The Squash Tour takes in a Detroit Tigers Baseball game.

Squash Tour: Detroit – Toronto – Niagara Falls

“My favorite part of this trip is seeing my younger classmates play squash along with learning from them. I enjoyed playing with them because I don’t do it often. Being an older classmate has made me realize the responsibility I have to my team. I also enjoyed stopping in the Heidelberg Project in Detroit because we saw a different perspective on art.” – Giselle, 12th grade

Students from the Brooklyn program enjoy some down time at their campsite in North Carolina.

Brooklyn Tour: Washington D.C. – Smoky Mountains – Atlanta

 “Being at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights opened my eyes more to the inequalities faced by many people in our country and beyond.”  – Zoe, 7th grade

The High School Tour expresses their gratitude outside one of their host stays.

High School Tour: Hartford – Albany

 “I have connected more with my teammates. My favorite part was when we prepared a meal together. It was challenging but we have learned new skills such as communication, working together and patience.” – Seth, 10th grade

Last weekend, CitySquash 8th grade student Caleb Boateng made history. Competing at the U.S. Middle School Team Squash Championships at Yale University, his Brunswick School team was crowned National Champions! Playing #4 on the Brunswick team, Caleb was undefeated in the tournament and became the first student from any urban squash program to be in the lineup of a U.S. National Championship-winning team.

Caleb’s achievement is the product of hard work and determination many years in the making. The son of Ghanaian immigrants, Caleb joined CitySquash in 2011 as a third grader at P.S. 205 in the Bronx, and quickly distinguished himself with his positivity, energy, incredible work ethic, and love of squash.

Now in his third year at Brunswick, Caleb is excelling in and out of the classroom, remarkable given his daily commute. He wakes up each morning at 5AM, walks to the Fordham Metro-North train station, takes the train and then bus to Brunswick’s Middle School Campus in Greenwich–a trip that takes over an hour-and-a-half each way. Despite all this, Caleb remains as engaged as ever with CitySquash, making after-school practices back in the Bronx, helping his younger teammates, and traveling to weekend tournaments.

Caleb is quick to give credit to the accomplishments of teammates who came before him: “Alumni like Katiria Sanchez, Andrew Cadienhead, and [current CitySquash Squash Director] Chris Fernandez show that CitySquash prepares you to play at the highest level,” he said. As for his future goals, Caleb hopes to play for Brunswick’s high school varsity team one day, attend Yale University, and become one of the top players in the country. “I’d also like to go into business but be able to play doubles matches at night. That would be great.”

CitySquash is thrilled to congratulate Caleb, his family, and the Brunswick team! 

Mentor Gray Huffard with Caleb on his first day at Brunswick in 2015.

This past weekend, CitySquash competed in the Urban Team National Championships in New York City. Over 500 urban squash players from 21 national and international programs came together for the annual event that is put on by the Squash + Education Alliance. Despite the depth of competition, CitySquash prevailed in three out of the eight championship divisions at the tournament!

Congratulations to our CitySquash BU17, GU15, and BU13 teams for bringing home the hardware. CitySquash has now won a record 96 Urban National Titles in its 16-year history!

See below for the winning teams from the weekend:

The BU13 Team Champions were comprised of a mix of Brooklyn and Bronx team members: (L to R) Dominik, Randy, Jesus, Diego, and Alexis.

The BU17 team (L to R) of David, Jesse, Dylan, Yoskart, and Anthony.

The GU15 team (L to R) of Brianna, Dalia, Giselle, Kimberly, and Madelein edged out CitySquash’s “B” team for first place!