Great job on revamping Squash Magazine. Loved Kevin Klipstein’s story on his Cornell experience. We had even less comfort. When we played the Naval Academy in 1957, five of us drove from Ithaca to Annapolis in my Ford, which seated six. We arrived at Annapolis at about 11:00pm, were greeted by a midshipman and taken to the visiting team barracks. All well and good despite all of us sleeping in one large barracks. As normal college undergraduates, we slept perfectly well till a thunderous roar awakened us at 6:00am, as the entire corps of midshipmen marched past the visiting team barracks, which was located right outside the mess hall. That was it for sleep. We then got a tour of the academy before our match, which was played before 200 screaming midshipmen (fifteen was a big crowd for us in those days), on courts that must have been eighty degrees. Needless to say we got trashed and got back to Ithaca just in time to go to sleep at 9:00am. Ah to be young.
Jeffrey Laikind
Via email
What struck me most about the Matthew Article was that it featured him not wearing glasses. In pro football, baseball, and hockey, competitors all wear helmets and protective gear; however, in pro squash, players are still competing without eye protection. There are a number of downsides to the practice. Squash pros in the Boston area, for example, play without glasses in the 5.5 league. This is not a good example for the generation of aspiring young players whom they teach.
Tristram C. Dammin MD FACEP
Boston, Ma 02108