by Robert P. Mosier
Is there anything an aging squash player can do to improve the odds of being on the court or even a national champion at age 100? With average life expectancy continually edging up, it is an interesting question to ponder. A study group of squash players, who call themselves the “PS100” or “play squash till 100,” have been working on answers.
Since 2006 the PS100s have traveled to the Cloister at Sea Island, GA, to play squash doubles over a long winter weekend. At the same time, they have studied what can be done today to improve the odds of being a squash-playing centurion.
The visionaries for the PS100 weekends are long-time Cincinnati squash player Jack Wyant, Sr., and coach Don Mills. “I started the weekend when the courts were built at Sea Island,” said Wyant. “It has grown to be a fantastic way to have fun and look at the future.” Everyone stays at Wyant’s cottage at Sea Island, and, in more recent years when numbers have expanded, at a cottage next door. Guests are designated coffee tenders, laundry masters and bicycle captains, the latter of which “organizes and manages the inflation of the tires of the bikes,” Wyant writes in the annual PS100 information sheet. “The pump is electric.”
Squash doubles provides the foundation for the PS100 weekend. Mills, the former pro at the Cincinnati Country Club, organizes groups into thirteen-minute doubles games with the emphasis on technique and learning rather than winning. The thirteen-minute rule proves to be a good vitality extender—most of the aging squashers find that they can play thirteen-minute matches all day with rest intervals in between. Yet it is also a good workout: each match is only 780 seconds, but that lasts much longer than it sounds. Over the weekend, a total of sixty-four of these matches gets played. Along with Steve Hall, Sea Island’s professional, Mills provides expert advice. Don’t “be a potted plant after hitting” is a classic Millsism.
The squash is only part of the weekend. Each morning begins with an hour-long, hands-on tutorial in the gym with the Cloister’s fitness expert, Trish Welch. The bottom line of this routine stresses the importance of stretching before and after squash to keep the muscles from tightening up.
Over lunch each day, the PS100 study group is treated to a lecture on healthier living. Some are on injury prevention or training regimens. This past year Dr. Greg Rouan spoke. An internist who heads the University of Cincinnati Medical School (and an accomplished squash player), Rouan discussed the rule of seven’s—drink seven glasses of water each day, eat fruits and vegetables seven times a day, sleep seven hours per night and exercise seven times each week to the extent of breaking a sweat. The goal of this is to keep arteries clear and unclogged to help avoid heart attacks, strokes and aneurisms. Drinking in moderation (one drink a day) is acceptable; drinking in excess can lead to cirrhosis of the liver—not conducive for protracted longevity. Never smoke.
In addition to toned muscles and a healthy life style, a good athlete at any age needs a positive, can-do attitude. Another recent speaker was Dr. Morris Pickens, a sports psychologist. Dr. “Mo” as he likes to be called, spends his work day with professional golfers teaching them how to have a positive mental attitude, how to recover from an aberrant shot, and in the end, how to win. A lot of Dr. Mo’s advice was applicable to squash in terms of thoughts that might go through each player’s head before, during and after a game to gain a winning edge.
After all of this theory, the PS100 group is always ready for some proof positive that all of this actually works. Enter the annual guest of honor: Bob O’Brien, A young ninety-six, O’Brien does not play squash (that would have been over the top), but he does work out daily and keeps his mind active by being involved in his family business. Bob is impressive, sharp witted and a great inspiration to all. He has three rules for longevity: each day have one martini with a cheese olive; each day work out; each day have or think about sex.
If squash is already part of your regular diet, just incorporate the recommended improvements outlined above. The likely result? You may well end up taller, thinner, younger (in spirit), better looking (with more hair), live longer and be richer—not bad rewards whether you make it to one hundred or not. Either way, you cannot lose.
“Let me play squash with my friends,” goes the PS100 theme song (sung to the tune of “Fly Me to the Moon”), “whatever age they are.”
