Two months ago in Squash Magazine, I began sharing with our readers a vision I’ve had for a squash mecca in my Publisher’s Note. At the time I wrote those columns, I hadn’t really put much thought into existing facilities in this country other than a passing mention of the Fairmount Athletic Club recently opened by Demer Holleran outside of Philadelphia, PA.
But by putting forth my thoughts about my dream club, I did overlook one currently existing and very active club in this country that has accomplished many of the things I put forth. And that is the Meadow Mill Athletic Club in Baltimore, MD. Neeless to say, neglecting to recognize Meadow Mill struck a nerve with its owner, Nancy Cushman. I’m happy to say, however, that rather than quietly let an opportunity slip by, Nancy emailed me to express her disappointment. But the result of our email dialog was an outstanding description of all the things Meadow Mill, Nancy and her director of Squash (and 2007 USOC Developmental Coach of the Year honoree)—Peter Hefernan—have accomplished. So rather than writing something from scratch, what follows is what Nancy Cushman so aptly provided to Squash Magazine.
When MMAC opened in 1992 with eight international courts and 2 doubles under one roof-that was an amazing undertaking. Most people thought it was a great idea for squash, but an insane business prospect. When Meadow Mill proved itself to be successful, it made many other facilities look at the possibility of building and or converting courts to the international size. If you remember, this was around the time when the change to softball took place in colleges too. Eventually, all of the Baltimore area clubs converted their hardball courts into international courts to be competitive.
In 1994 Meadow Mill hosted the US National Singles Tournament ( which back in those days had about 500 people ). I still owned The Racquet Club of Roland Park, which at the time was a facility that had 2 hardball singles and one doubles court. I converted that building into 4 international singles courts barely finishing the project the week before the National Singles Tournament began. We used that facility as an auxillary site for our juniors programs until the fall of 2001 when we took more space at Meadow Mill and added 6 more singles courts there. Also that year, we sold The Racquet Club to Roland Park Country School for their squash program. To this day, that school is the only school in Baltimore that has their own squash courts.
Meadow Mill has hosted every national US tournament at least once—some several times. And for the last five years, MMAC has hosted either the Gold or Silver National Juniors, plus numerous local adult and junior tournaments and events. Navy and Franklin & Marshall now play one of their intercollegiate matches here.
When you talk about hosting a tournament and being able to have it all under one roof, Howe Cup immediately comes to mind. This is one tournament that benefits so much by all of the players being able to see each other and watch play at all levels. Meadow Mill has hosted this tournament 3 times. The most successful was 2007, when Peter ran a format that guaranteed all players to have at least 3 matches-most had more.
I can’t say enough about Peter and the countless hours he spends for the good of the game and the players involved. Many pros are all about the money. That is the last thing Peter is thinking about. He wants everyone that comes to a tournament, clinic or whatever to enjoy and get the most out of it that they possible can. He pushed the US Squash to offer plates at the National tournaments, especially for juniors. When people travel they want to get as many matches as possible. So many pros want to set up a draw so that the tournament is over and done ASAP, not at Meadow Mill.
As I said in my last email, Peter was nominated through US Squash and was awarded the Developmental Coach of the Year (2007) by the United States Olympic Committee.
In 2007, I established the Meadow Mill Athletic Club Foundation. This is where Peter and I began our outreach program for Baltimore City School students to be exposed to the game of squash and to promote fitness and nutrition to the participants. Not only have we developed a squash program for the kids, but because of our work with so many other schools and because of our many events, the students from our outreach program can take part in many of our activities. We continue to look for other city schools that can participate in our programs.
Also through my foundation, my fitness director is starting a fitness academy to train city kids to be employable in the fitness market. These are kids that have dropped out of school, but want to get their GED. This program will provide tutoring so that each participant will obtain their GED and will be certified to teach group fitness classes, or will get their personal training certification or find employment in the equipment maintenance field. The kids also receive nutrition and wellness counseling too. This is going to grow into a fantastic program.
Baltimore Squash Wise, which began this November has already been able to be a part of what goes on at Meadow Mill. They have been exposed to several of our school events and exhibitions that we have hosted. They played in our Middle School Championship Tournament which was played at Meadow Mill two weeks ago. It was an opportunity that most urban programs could not have in their own city, much less in their own club.
Peter should also get the honors for pushing all of the schools in the area to begin a middle school program. It is obvious that it provides a feeder for the junior varsity and varsity teams and it gets young players thinking as a team player. Today, 11 schools—most of which have middle, junior varsity and varsity programs—play at Meadow Mill. That translates into about 20 different programs going on in the winter season.
Peter led the way to get the Baltimor boys prep school league to be recognized by the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, just like all of the rest of the varsity sports in the Baltimore area. Peter manages and schedules all of those matches which is one more undertaking that has truly enhanced the varsity programs, but would not have happened without his efforts. Now he is working to try to get a girls league started. This will bring more female players into the ranks, when they too get recognized for playing squash.
Many kids give up playing squash because it is an individual sport at the tournament level, but when the kids can play on a school team, it adds a whole new dimension.
We also have after school clinics for kids and Saturday morning clinics for players as young as 5, even some 4-year-olds have joined us.
We will be continuing all school programs through the third week in February. In the MIAA league there will be a week of team play-offs and a week of individual player play-offs. We will host a Bronze tournament in February for all of our local players. March 6-8 we will host the Gold Junior Nationals-which I hope you will come to.
Finally, In 2007, MMAC started an urban outreach program to a Baltimore City middle school—The KIPP School. In a partnership with the Carrera Program, MMAC has introduced squash to over 300 KIPP students. In 2008, The Polytechnic Institute, a Baltimore City public high school, began a squash program through the efforts of MMAC. Today, both of these programs are growing and now have teams that compete with the local prep schools.
Not only does MMAC serve the junior population with ability levels ranging from beginner to national champion (Katie Tutrone) but it also introduces new adult players to squash on a regular basis. Two free weekly clinics are taught by Peter or one of his assistants to introduce people to the great game of squash. Many clubs rely on members who already know or play squash. MMAC creates new squash players then arranges games for them.
Needless to say, I am very proud of what MMAC and especially, Peter Heffernan, have brought to the Baltimore squash community and the rest of the country. And all of this is just about squash. Look at our website www.meadowmill.com to see the rest of what we do.
