By Kevin Klipstein
I was 14 years old and among the best junior squash players in the area. Asked to play an exhibition match with my coach at a local YMCA, I jumped at the chance. New to the concept of an “exhibition” match being for entertainment, I was out there to win, and it was a close match. There were about 75 people watching, and as the match went on, my on court behavior deteriorated, I started to swear after losing close points.
“It is our goal to encourage everyone in the game to be courteous, respectful and responsible for his or her own behavior.”
While I knew it was wrong, I wasn’t able to stop. My father had been watching, and after the match, he made it clear that my behavior was inappropriate and unacceptable. Thinking back, I’m surprised he didn’t pull me off the court right then and there. Had it been a tournament, I suspect he would have—with my coach right behind him.
Last week, U.S. SQUASH introduced an initiative and a new role in its junior squash competitions to increase the awareness of, and compliance with, the Sportsmanship and Conduct Guidelines. The initiative is simple: make sure players, parents, coaches and fans are aware of the Code of Conduct. It’s posted on www.ussquash.com under: LearnγRules. The new role involves the same parties in being “Official Observers,” the eyes and ears of the tournament staff to help ensure compliance with the Guidelines. Official Observers are asked to bring instances of violating the Guidelines to the attention of the tournament staff in order for them to take action if appropriate.
What is striking for me to see these days in attending junior and adult competitions is how complicit we are, players, parents, coaches and officials, in accepting bad behavior on court. Whether it’s arguing about “bad calls,” playing double bounces, calling “cheap lets” or bullying the opponent, what seems to be the exception, rather than the rule, is a player who accepts the calls made, calls double bounces on him or herself, and makes every effort to clear after striking the ball and every effort to play the ball, even if it puts him or her at a disadvantage in the point. After all, if you hit one up the middle, shouldn’t you be at a disadvantage in retrieving the next shot?!?
So while I lost the exhibition match 25 years ago, and behaved poorly, I was taught a valuable lesson about a code of conduct for sports. That being respectful of your opponent and the officials, courteous on and off the court and in control and responsible for your own behavior are the fundamentals of competing in a sportsmanlike manner. Squash requires all of this, while being in very close quarters with your opponent, often in situations where the players are physically and mentally pushed to the limit, when the difference between winning and losing fairly, is in the hands and control of each player, regardless of the officials involved.
The challenge, and in some sense, the essence of the sport, is the requirement that it places on competitors to balance all of these elements in our control: sportsmanship with the desire to win; courtesy and respect with raw determination; fair play while testing limits physically and mentally. Perfect behavior on court is not the goal, and it never will be. Rather, it is our goal to encourage everyone in the game to be courteous, respectful and responsible for his or her own behavior. This, I believe, is critical to preserving the essence of the game.
