By Beth Rasin
Grit, glamour and glory defined the 3G bandwidth of Howe Cup 2012. Grit was evident throughout the tournament on the host Meadow Mill courts—not the sweep up the dirt from your shoes grit, but the throw back your shoulders and hunker down to win the match kind of grit. The kind of grit that left some of the younger competitors, including the girls from New York City’s urban squash program StreetSquash and local Baltimore juniors, marveling at the tenacity of the women competitors. “They just don’t give up on anything!” several girls exclaimed. Grit was replaced by glamour at the Saturday night party which took place at the incredibly elegant Baltimore Museum of Art. And glory belonged not only to the winners who took home the trophies in the four flights of play, but to all the players who reveled in being a part of a great sports tradition.
National Capital Prevails Over Defending Champion Philadelphia in the A’s
The National Capital Team entered the finals of the A flight having already lost to their opponents, defending champion Philadelphia, in early round pool play 3-2. Both teams’ rosters represented a wealth of competitive experience, impressive credentials and a range of ages. National Capital was led by Larissa Stephenson, a native New Zealander who is now a teaching pro at Results and was a three-time all American at Trinity College. Margaret Gerety, who played for Harvard where she also got her law degree, was a member of the 1997 US National Junior Women’s Team and the 2001 Women’s National team. In both early round pool play and in the finals, their results against Philly were the same. Stephenson defeated Philly’s Alex Clark, a Scotswoman now teaching at Fairmount Athletic Club, and Gerety bowed to 15-year-old Olivia Fiechter, a member of the US Junior Women’s Squad in 2011.
The finals win by National Capital, who last won the trophy in 2008, turned on the presence of No. 4 Camille Lanier and the results at the No. 3 spot. Lanier, a 17-year-old senior at the Potomac School, ranked No. 5 nationally in the U17, had to miss the first round of play against Philly, resulting in a default for National Capital at the No. 5 spot. Playing at No. 4 in the finals, Lanier dismissed Sue Lawrence, a former Caribbean and US age group champion, 3-0. Shona Kerr, men’s and women’s coach at Wesleyan, rebounded from a 1-3 defeat in pool play at the gifted shooting hands of multi time National Champion Demer Holleran to reverse the results in the finals and clinch the Howe Cup for her team with a 3-1 victory. Potomac School tenth grader Kira Keating anchored the National Capital team with convincing 3-0 wins over Lawrence at the No. 4 spot in pool play and then, at No. 5 in the finals, against another age group champion, Julie Kessler.
Baltimore B Enjoys Home Court Advantage and Wins B and C Trophies
The 11 teams in the B division had the most expansive geographic coverage with teams representing Seattle, California, Canada, Boston, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, DC and Baltimore. The teams who traveled the least distance made it the furthest in the tournament as Baltimore and National Capital 2 entered the finals undefeated in pool play. National Capital had dropped only one individual match en route to the championship round and Baltimore gave up a mere three. It was all Baltimore in the finals, though. While Baltimore No. 1 Patrice McConnell needed five games to defeat Heidi Wagner, No. 2 Liz Evarts defeated Deborah Phippard in four and No. 5 Alexandra Love took the victory over Sarah Davidson in four games as well. Pat Wong, No. 3, (who won the A doubles with her daughter Casey) defeated Leslie Connolly 3-0 while junior Jamie Pawlik was a 3-0 winner over Carole Grunberg.
With an even dozen teams in the C division, pool play was plentiful and, when the dust cleared, the hometown team was once again in the finals. Baltimore C1 and Boston C1 faced off after winning their respective pools with Baltimore bageling the Bostonians 5-0 in the finals. In fact, the C champions—Sarah Evans, Alice Magraff, Deborah T. Long, Hope Blinkoff and Ann Watson—dropped only one individual match during the entire tournament! It was an all-Canadian shootout for third place with Georgetown defeating the Capital girls 3-2.
Newcomers Warwick Eke out D Victory
The team that practices in a barn was the winner in the D flight. The women of Warwick (NY) were playing in their very first Howe Cup, sporting T shirts that said “Own the Night. Save the Day” and had indeed honed their winning skills in a barn.
Warwick’s No. 3 player, Shayne Haysom, and her husband Simon had moved to the Warwick, NY, area from their native South Africa where they had owned a horse farm. Husband Simon is an avid squash player (or, in Shayne’s word, “a squash nut”) and was making the long commute from their Warwick horse farm to the Westchester Squash Club to play. When Westchester replaced the floors on their courts, Simon brought the discarded floor back to the barn, and installed it in the hayloft. “Once the floor was in,” says Shayne, “we cobbled together the rest of the court with drywall and plywood.” That was seven years ago, which is also when Shayne took up the sport.
In the ensuing seven years, even though the court is a little short and a little narrow, it has attracted 25 players. “We call them the FOB,” said Shayne, “Friends of the Barn.” Included in the FOB are the members of the Warwick Howe Cup team. Playing at No. 1 was Shannon Darling, who took up the game just three years ago, and won three of her four Howe Cup matches. “The first time I played was in a tournament,” she said, having been persuaded to do so by another South African “squash nut” who had a court in his office, to take the plunge. Darling, a multi-sport athlete who has played racquetball, soccer, softball, tennis and rode horses, had no trouble picking up the basics of the game. When asked if the pungent aroma in the hayloft was distracting, given that the barn also houses horses, Darling laughed and said, “We like it. We are also equestriennes.”
Playing at No. 2 was Shayne’s daughter Brenna, who had played hardball squash as a student at Phillips Andover, where she also rowed crew. She returned to playing squash about two years ago after a long layoff from the sport. A resident of New York City, she is in high demand by the FOB for a game when she visits her parents. “We all try to grab her to get on court with us,” says Darling. Brenna was responsible for the team’s Blowfish T-shirts and their slogan—as fitting for the hangover remedy she launched this past year as it is for a Howe Cup squash team. Rounding out the championship team were Deborah Cox at No. 4 and Chris Staritz at No. 5.
Warwick made it the finals with an undefeated record in pool play, while DC edged past Philadelphia, 3-2, to claim the other finalist spot. Jessica Laterman and Sara Khan gave DC an early lead with wins over Cox and Staritz but Shayne Haysom put Warwick back in contention with a 3-0 victory over Michelle Kim. Brenna Haysom evened the score by defeating Candace Craig, 3-1 and Shannon Darling clinched the trophy when she defeated Wendy Hall, 3-0.
For all the team members, this was their first “away” tournament. Before coming to Howe Cup, they had played in the Hudson Cup, a local team tournament with mostly men. While they were able to play in the event, they were only allowed to have their matches count in the final standings if they played on a team with men. Their matches as an all women’s team were not allowed to be tallied for the team results. “We weren’t so happy about that,” said Shayne,” and it motivated us to get together and play Howe Cup.” Not only did their results count, they were good enough to take the Cup.
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Howe Cup got its official name in 1955 when Virginia Griggs donated a trophy to be presented to the winners of a national team tournament that had first been played in 1928. The Howe Cup is named in honor of Margaret Howe and her twin daughters Peggy and Betty, all of whom were national champions. This great mother-daughter squash tradition was in full flower at this year’s Howe Cup, which featured four mother-daughter duos.
In addition to Shayne and Brenna Haysom of the Warwick D trophy winners, Shari and Christine Kogon of Canada were teammates on Canada’s Georgetown C team. Baltimore’s Lissen and Katie Tutrone played for Baltimore A, joined by Casey Wong, whose Mom Pat played on the trophy winning B team. Pat and Casey also teamed up to win the A doubles trophy.
Understanding the Angles— Christine & Shari Kogon
Christine Kogon picked up squash at the age of 22 at York University in Canada. She was a tennis player and squash, initially, was something to do in the winter. She found that she liked squash better, perhaps because she could use her expertise in math and physics, subjects Christine taught for 39 years. “The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection,” Christine noted, going on to explain that the ball comes off the wall at the same angle it is hit into the wall.
Now 64, Christine had been playing four times per week for the past 42 years. “I even played through my pregnancies,” Christine said, which means that that daughter Shari was introduced to squash in the womb. Despite that early introduction to the sport, Shari was drawn more to team sports, and played soccer and ice hockey growing up, good enough to have represented Ontario in elite competition. Mother and daughter now play at the Georgetown Racquet Club where mom Christine comes out on top in their challenge matches. Christine was thrilled to have her daughter join her for the Howe Cup weekend, “although I think I totally embarrassed her last night,” she said, referring to the Saturday night party. Shari smiled and mentioned the video she has on her phone of her mother’s dancing, to which Christine responded, “How about if I get you a Lululemon outfit in exchange for that video?”
Families that Play Together, Stay Together—The Wongs and Tutrones
The first time Pat Wong picked up a squash racquet was during the tryouts for the Wellesley squash team. Growing up in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Pat had played basketball, softball and tennis. Upon her arrival at Wellesley, coach Suki McGraw persuaded Pat to give squash a try. By her sophomore year, Pat, her twin sister Nancy and her roommate Ginny Grant were alternating at the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots on the team. (Ginny came to Howe Cup with the California team, and saw Pat for the first time in 20 years.)
Pat honed her game when she went to U. Penn for grad school and played every day. Returning to the Midwest, Pat continued playing squash in St. Louis, meeting her husband John on the squash court. “My daughter Casey was introduced to squash at the age of three weeks,” said Pat. “She sat in a little ‘pumpkin’ seat at the back of the court while I played. “ Now an eighth grader in middle school, Casey was playing in her first Howe Cup. A multi-sport athlete like her Mom, Casey plays soccer, lacrosse, tennis and golf. “Playing in Howe Cup has made me remember how much I love squash,” she says. “I haven’t really played women before, and it was shocking to me how much strategy they use…and how they go after every ball!” Casey especially likes the fact that squash is something her whole family shares in common. (Older sister Lindsay played Howe Cup in 2007). “I like how we can all talk about it.” Mom Pat concurs, “It is so much fun for all four of us to play doubles together.”
Lissen Tutrone is another talented tennis player who converted to squash and became an A singles and doubles player. She was 25 and living in Boston when her friend Kat Castle (now Kat Grant) persuaded her to join Boston’s T&R Club. “At the time it cost $700 to join, which was a small fortune to me,” said Lissen. “So I decided if I was going to spend the money, I was going to learn to play…and I became addicted.” The addiction was passed on to daughter Katie. Now 16, Katie first started playing at age six, “because both my Mom and Dad played.” She would sometimes play with brother Taylor, but she would also go on court and hit by herself. Lissen recalls that shortly after Katie started play, she hit 35 balls in a row to herself.
At age eight, Katie wanted to play in a squash tournament. Lissen wasn’t quite so sure Katie was ready for tournament play, to which Katie adamantly replied, “You have no right to keep me from playing.” She played in the tournament. Today, she is equally obsessed, although she does play other sports, including soccer. “I would get mad if I couldn’t play every day,” she says. “It is just so much fun. It allows you to be creative, which you can’t be so much in soccer. And you can get all your energy out, especially when you are stressed.” It is hard to imagine Katie being stressed. When Howe Cup was last hosted in Baltimore in 2006, Katie exuded joy every time she could jump on a squash court between matches. That joy remains undiminished today even as she competes in junior tournaments. Asked what her current ranking is, Katie replied,” I have no idea.” (Katie was ranked No. 5 in the girls Under 19 for the 2010-2011 season.) More than anything else, it is the joy of playing which has been passed on from these mothers to their daughters.
A Post Doc in Squash
“I got my post doc in squash at the University of Pennsylvania,” says Toby Gordon, whose “real” doctoral degree is in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University. After getting her undergraduate degree from Penn in the late ‘70s, Gordon stayed in Philly and worked on her squash game. She had several “professors” to whom she could look to shape her game. Squash coaching legends Al Molloy and Ann Wetzel were still in residence and top US players Ned Edwards and Gil Mateer were on the men’s team. US women’s squash legend Barbara Maltby would practice at the Penn courts. Toby’s primary coach was Bruce Collins, who had at one time owned the world record in the hurdles, and had then shifted his competitive energies to squash.
When Johns Hopkins was looking for a squash coach, Ann Wetzel gave them Gordon’s name. Gordon took the job, for which she says one of her most significant responsibilities was “driving the team.” After coaching at Hopkins, Gordon also coached a Baltimore high school team. She had stopped playing, but six months ago, decided to get back on the court. “I was really sucking wind at first,” says Gordon, “but my game is starting to come back.” As for Howe Cup, Gordon said, “I am so into this. All the matches have been great.” And she got to watch one of her former students, Liz Evarts, win the B Cup trophy with the Baltimore team. “Just think,” said Liz, “winning today really started back with Toby when she was my coach at Hopkins.”
Hooked on Howe Cup
Growing up in Sri Lanka, Jothie Karthigesan played badminton, netball and tennis. She also ran hurdles in track and competed in the high jump. It wasn’t until she attended graduate school in England that she was introduced to squash. Of course, that game of squash was the international softball game. Unable to return to Sri Lanka because war was being waged in her homeland, Jothie came to the US to pursue post doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School. The game of squash being played in Boston in the ‘80s was still hardball, so that was the version Jothie played as she started entering local C tournaments. “I went from softball to hardball, and then back to softball,” she says with her trademark bright shining smile.
Jothie is still in Boston doing neurological disease research—specifically trying to ascertain the underlying causes of multiple sclerosis and encephalic diseases. It should come as no surprise then, that what she enjoys best about squash is that “it is a very mental game, and very challenging.” Jothie’s first foray into Howe Cup was in 1990—and she has been hooked ever since. “I just love it,” she says.”Every year, I fight for my place on the B team. There is such wonderful camaraderie and you get to watch so many different levels of play.”
Jothie also enjoys renewing old squash acquaintances and meeting new friends. “I knew Lissen [Tutrone] when she was a C player in Boston—and Jen Gabler, too.” This year, she even met another player from Sri Lanka—Tehani Turuge, playing for New York City where she now lives after graduating from Trinity College. Jothie’s biggest highlight at this year’s Howe Cup, though, was playing squash legend and multiple national titleholder Joyce Davenport, playing for Philadelphia. The 50-something Jothie lost to the 69-year-old Davenport who, despite her age, was occasionally seen doing the drop and roll as she chased down every ball. The result mattered not so much to Jothie as the fact that she had the opportunity to play a match against a legend, and get some pointers from her after the match. “She told me to use my forehand more,” Jothie says. That excited Jothie because, even with a quarter century of playing under her belt, she says, “I am still getting better.”
Achieving Women
They share a locker at CityView Racquet Club, a career path in marketing, the commitment to re-energizing women’s squash in NYC and a true joy for the game. So it was fitting that Jessica Green and Emily Stieff shared the 2011 Achievement Bowl for contributions to women’s squash.
Jessica, a native of New York City, had ventured onto a squash court only a few times in high school. She took up the game in earnest at Amherst College, where she majored in biology and was No. 17 on an 18-player ladder. “I didn’t get to actually compete for the team until I was a junior,” Jessica recalls. By senior year, her tenacity and commitment landed her in the No. 5 spot on the team. After graduation, Jessica put down her racquet for seven years, while she spent time in Washington, DC, working at a nonprofit and in Los Angeles for a science museum. Returning to New York City to study for an MBA at Columbia University, Jessica was inspired to pick up her racquet to volunteer with StreetSquash.
Emily played high school squash at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore and then at Connecticut College, where she was also on the lacrosse team. After graduation, she returned to her hometown, where she worked designing purses and coaching squash at her alma mater’s rival, Roland Park. After a few years, Emily was ready for some new adventures and found her way to the Big Apple. “When I moved to New York City, it took some effort to navigate the squash scene and figure out where to play,” said Emily. She landed at the New York Sports Club on west 63rd Street near Lincoln Center, which is where Jessica had also started playing. The two were part of a small group of women players. “There were only four women’s league teams in 2006,” Emily says. “There weren’t enough women playing tournaments, so we always ended up playing in the men’s draws,” Jessica adds. “But we knew there were women players out there,” Emily chimes in, “we just had to find them.”
Persuaded by team member Lianne Ritchie to join the Board of New York squash, Jessica and Emily received the wholehearted support of the Board to focus their energy on building the NYC women’s squash community. The two spent the summer of 2007 scheming and planning and launched Women’s Squash Night in the fall. “We knew it was really important to give women a sense of community, so Women’s Squash Night is designed to be as much about social interaction as it is about squash,” Emily notes.
As marketing professionals—Emily is in charge of Visual Branding for a Unilever product line, and Jessica recently joined the Audubon Society as the Vice President of Engagement—they knew that communication was integral to the success of their initiative. They put posters up at every club in the city, sent regular email communications to the women’s community, offered a rules and refereeing clinic, and introduced themselves to every woman player they encountered. “You might say we were stalking the women squash players of NYC,” Jessica laughs. Their efforts have paid off.
There are now 16 women’s league teams, a women’s doubles league, a co-ed doubles league and approximately 50 women playing in each of the local tournaments. Women’s Squash Night, an evening of round robin play and socializing, attracted 80 players this past September, and will become a national initiative this fall. New York had five teams totaling 25 players at Howe Cup, a far cry from just a few years ago when only one New York City team participated. “Emily and Jessica have given so much to women’s squash,” said NYC Howe Cup team member McKenzie Jones. ”Their time, energy and enthusiasm have had a huge impact on all of us.”
A Good Sport
The 2011 recipient of the Feron’s Wedgewood Sportsmanship Trophy stands out from the crowd when she flashes her slightly crooked smile and cracks a joke that makes everyone laugh. Kim Clearkin is an accomplished competitor who has inspired players of all ability levels with her enthusiasm, good humor and exuberance for the game.
Kim’s joy for the sport is abundantly evident in her playing, coaching and volunteer leadership as co-chair of the US Squash Women’s Committee. Kim’s squash career began at Oxford University in England, where she received a Ph.D. in physics. After her first career as a project manager and IT consultant, Kim transitioned into coaching squash after the birth of her children. Kim has mentored and coached dozens of women in the San Francisco area, where she is Assistant Squash Professional at the Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood City, California. Whether she is on court teaching novices or playing an intensely competitive Howe Cup match, Kim’s gracious sense of fair play and infectious humor is unwavering. The primary driving force behind California’s increased participation in Howe Cup, Kim brings out the best in her teammates and opponents—truly embodying sportsmanship on and off the court.
