The James DeRoy Sportsmanship Award is presented each year at the US Junior Closed Championships (Gold). The award is given annually to one male and one female ranked junior U.S. SQUASH member who has best represented and demonstrated the principles of fair play and sportsmanship on and off the court during their junior squash career. This year’s recipients are Thomas Mattsson of Philadelphia, PA, and Alexandra Van Arkel of Radnor, PA. The DeRoy Testamentary Foundation (Detroit, MI) has, for many decades, been a generous patron of deserving junior endeavors (not limited to sports), including contributions to U.S. SQUASH Junior Development for over 15 years.
Mattsson, a senior at the Lawrenceville School, will be one of eight American juniors representing their country at the 2008 World Junior Squash Championships in Switzerland from July 27-August 7. He will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in the fall. Van Arkel a recent graduate of Episcopal Academy and helped Episcopal reach the finals of the 2008 Women’s High School Nationals. She will be attending Yale University.
This year was the first year that the William T. Ketcham Award has been presented. The award is endowed by Treddy Ketcham, the former president of the USSRA (1965-67) and one of squash’s most influential and beloved figures. The Ketcham Award is presented to one male and one female ranked junior squash player who has improved his or her game substantially over the past squash season. This year’s recipients of the inaugural Ketcham Award are Nicholas Sisodia of Chicago, IL, and Amanda Sobhy of Sea Cliff, NY.
Sisodia, who graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in June, will be joining Mattsson in Switzerland this summer for the World Junior Championships before entering Dartmouth College in the fall. Sobhy, only 14-years-old and a freshman at North Shore High School, made substantial progress with her game over the past year. She won the U.S. Junior Open Championships in the Girls Under 15 division and also won the U.S. Junior Championship (Gold) playing up in the Girls Under 17 division.
