For the past twelve years, CitySquash has served and called the Bronx home. On February 23rd, the program officially expanded to another borough and community: Brooklyn. Thanks to a partnership with the Poly Prep Country Day School, CitySquash Brooklyn will recruit fourth and fifth grade team members from PS/IS 163 Bath Beach and PAVE Academy in Red Hook. The program, like its Bronx counterpart, will be an intensive mix of squash instruction, academic tutoring and enrichment, community service, cultural outings, and mentoring. Within four years, we anticipate this expansion to increase CitySquash’s overall enrollment by at least 50%.
The program got off to a great start. Seventy students from nearby PS/IS 163 signed up to try out for the team and were shuttled through squash drills and academic stations over three days. Smiles and laughter were commonplace as the students were eager to learn a new sport. Over the next few weeks, CitySquash Brooklyn will select from this group its inaugural class.
The expansion to Brooklyn is the result of the generosity and efforts of many people, including, but not limited to: Headmaster David Harman, Steve Andersen, Ben Oliner, and Meredith Quick at Poly Prep; Principal Jessica Riccio, Scott Buchanan and Maryann Wasmuth at PS/IS 163; Spencer Robertson, Executive Director of PAVE Academy; and CitySquash’s new Brooklyn Board. Peter Feldman, who has served the past three years as CitySquash’s Director of College Prep and Academic Chair, will be leading the initiative as Program Director. Peter Nolan, a graduate and former squash player at Kenyon College, is heading up the squash program with help from Poly Prep’s assistant squash coach Jamal Callender.
