By James Zug
Photos by Steve Line/SquashPics.com
There was something primal about it: two Yorkshiremen battling it out in a glass box at a city train station a continent away from home, surrounded by hundreds of screaming people, gladiators in a modern age. In addition, a subterranean fissure was evident. The...
By James Zug
Photos by Todd Rothstein
In early January Merion Cricket Club hosted its 50th William White Tournament. Two hundred and seventy players entered in 18 draws spread across hardball and softball singles and hardball doubles. Over 460 people came to the black-tie dinner-dance, making it the largest social event...
By James Zug
It was bound to happen. At some point, the numbers would stop ticking over. Eight times they had won 5-4 matches. A couple of them were ridiculously close, match balls saved, epic comebacks. It couldn't go on forever like that.
The numbers stopped twice this season. The monkeys...
By James Zug
Drexel University’s symbol is the dragon. It is not the only college with a legendary serpentine reptile as a mascot (Minnesota State University Moorhead also fields dragons) but Drexel boasts an enormous, bronze, fire-breathing, claw-swiping dragon statue leaping on the southeast corner of 33rd and Market Streets....
By James Zug
The 2011 (Part Two) U.S. National Intercollegiate Doubles Championships came to Philadelphia as a part of the U.S. Open’s first weekend. After more than two decades of incubation and careful attention at the University Club of New York, including a tournament in March this year, the intercollegiate...
By James Zug
It is that time of year again. In between Labor Day and New Year’s, the vast majority of books are published. Since squash players are intensely literary as a rule, here is a guide to the books every squash player should know about and own and talk about with...
By James Zug
It is a sign of rude and robust health that the lingering feeling about the 2011 Women’s World Juniors Squash Championships was one of disappointment. On the surface, the tournament went off without a hitch, and the United States did beautifully. In the individual event, we had...
By James Zug
It is not what you accomplish. It is what you overcome.
Charles Mallet-Prevost Brinton died in June 2011 at the age of ninety one. The last remaining national singles champion from the 1940s, he was a brilliant player who overcame epilepsy to win four national singles and two...
By James Zug
It is almost ten in the morning and Amanda Sobhy is finally coming to school. It is her senior year and she’s already been accepted to college and from outward appearances, she could be another teenager with senioritis, an overstuffed backpack slung over her shoulders, her eyes...
Hours after Amanda Sobhy won the world juniors, the World Squash Federation sent out a press release, “Sobhy Soars to World Title Success,” declaring that she had become the first U.S. player to win a world singles title.
It wasn’t true. Alicia McConnell won the 1980 world juniors in Sweden....