By Jennifer Gabler
Women are different. Even though we compete and succeed against men on the court, the way we get to the court may be different. When traveling for business, many squash players would have no qualms about walking right into the local club and seeking out a game. But in many cases, women would like a more personal introduction to a club or the certainty of securing a game in a different city. Also, the success of Howe Cup shows that women enjoy the team format and camaraderie of going to tournaments with a group rather than on their own.
During the last Howe Cup in Redwood City (CA), Wendy Comstock from Portland met Rashmir Balasubramaniam from Seattle. They brainstormed about building a closer connection between women players in the two cities. Shortly after returning home, Rashmir sent a note to Wendy recommending that Ellen Mohl (from Seattle) and Wendy talk because they both had an interest in this project. Ellen started an email group list of the Portland women based on the list of 35 who had gone to Howe Cup. Since then she has added more names to this list. Wendy created a similar email list for Portland. These two list masters/networkers have been using email to connect the women in these two cities, making it easier for women to secure games when traveling to the other city, encouraging groups of women to attend tournaments in each other’s cities and creating a vital link to post-college age women so they stayed connected to the game.
Ellen has used this email networking effectively in other situations, at times managing huge lists. Ellen’s rules are to blind copy (bcc) all the email list names so people don’t feel their email addresses are compromised, keep the email message content “homey”/not sterile and definitely no “trash talking.” As Ellen says, “I feel that women connect better on a more personal level. Women will be more inclined to play squash if they know a woman to play squash with and if they know where to go when traveling. I find email the most efficient way to connect people as everyone is on email constantly.”
Securing a game when traveling for work/keeping professional women playing
Danielle Schindler had done her medical residency in Portland where she had become squash-playing friends with Ellen Zaharchuk. Danielle then moved to Los Angeles and then Seattle and the friends lost touch. After Howe Cup, Danielle became part of the Seattle email group and Ellen part of the Portland email group. When Ellen was coming to Seattle for a business trip, she asked Ellen Mohl to put out an email asking for a game when she was in town. Her friend Danielle recognized her name, they arranged a game in Seattle and the long lost squash friends were reunited.
Traveling to tournaments and to play women in other cities
Women find traveling to tournaments sometimes challenging in terms of time commitment and cost. Many regional and local tournaments struggle to host women’s only draws and in many cases combine men and women in one draw. Even though women can compete with men effectively, playing in a women’s only draw is preferable to many women players as they can rely on strategic play rather than compensating for physical strength differences. It also allows women to test their skill against other women they normally do not play.
In January 2010, Wendy Comstock and Gretchen Wagner from Portland went to Seattle to play in The Seattle Open. They accepted invitations for home stays and had a great time. As Wendy said, “Getting to know people and having a great time off the squash court made for a great experience.” Two weeks later, a group of ten women from Seattle came to participate in Portland’s Rose City Tournament at the Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC). The Portland women offered to host as many women as needed housing, and Wendy’s husband Tim hosted a dinner for all the Seattle and Portland women. As Wendy said, “Those of us who participated now feel that we have developed special new friendships that promise to grow over time.” The Portland women are also hoping to host a “Women’s Doubles Weekend” at the MAC for Portland and Seattle players. The MAC has two doubles courts, while women from Seattle do not have access to doubles squash. Wendy hopes that this event will ignite some interest in doubles in Seattle.
As a result of these invitations, many of these issues surrounding travel to tournaments were solved. First, many more players from Seattle were motivated to attend because friends were going, also hosting players in their homes and providing a group dinner eliminated big elements of the cost factor. Also staying at a host’s home was more enjoyable than staying in a hotel and created further connections between the players of these two cities.
Connecting post-college players to the local squash scene
Making the transition from college play where everything is set up for you (courts, other players, coaches, competitions, etc.) to post-college play as a young adult getting started in a new city and/or new career is a tough one. And it is just at this critical juncture, where the game of squash loses many players due to demanding time constraints of entry level jobs, lack of funds to join clubs or travel to tournaments or the hurdle of having to seek out and make a connection with a whole new set of local squash players. Andrea Kato and Gerrie Chia are young college graduates who were part of the Seattle group that traveled to Portland’s Rose City Tournament. These recent college grads might have not gone on this trip if it was not for the momentum of the group trip, the offer to be hosted in homes of Portland players and the welcoming emails from the Portland hosts.
Andrea Kato said, “As our skills improve, we become more competitive and want to enter more tournaments for the playing experience and to challenge ourselves to raise our game. That is our main motivation for playing in many of the local tournaments. We were very appreciative of the warm welcome we received in Portland and it would be great to foster that kind of relationship with other clubs/players regionally and around the country. Gerrie and I come from the Seattle Athletic Club Northgate where we are two of four women who play squash and almost always are playing with men or in the men’s draws, so it is always great to see support for a strong women’s draw in Washington, Oregon, and California tournaments. We both think it is great that Ellen and Wendy are trying to develop strong ties in the Northwest women’s squash circle and get more women interested in the game. I think the bond we develop with neighboring clubs will help keep people interested and hopefully attract more women players.”
The Pattern Has Emerged Between Portland and Seattle, Let’s Expand It To Other Cities
The women’s committee has been re-organized by region, with regional representatives’ names and email addresses published on the women’s page of the US Squash website. Many local players also have their own email lists of women squash players. Let’s see if we can expand this Seattle/Portland viral email networking to other cities and regions to further support women’s squash. If you would like to be included in this email connection and join your city’s women squash players to the Seattle and Portland network, email Ellen Mohl at ellenmohl@yateswood.com. Prior to Howe Cup, many of the Portland and Seattle players did not know each other at all and now look where this email connection has taken them!
