James Willstrop Is a Putz

The very informative (and getting better all the time) squash site Daily Squash Report published an excerpt from James Willstrop's book, and the excerpt, available here, exposes this gentleman as a putz.

I'm sorry about that, because not long ago I was all for his ascendancy to the #1 spot in squash. Now I would like all US players and fans to give him one long unending boo every time they see him play. 

A putz is a great Yiddish word that means either an uninformed fool or a penis. You be the judge.

In Willstrop's book, which I urge you not to buy, he rambles on about American squash in general and the World Squash Federation's 2010 World Squash Awards event, held at the Tournament of Champions. 

Mr. Willstrop it appears was very disconcerted by a few hardball and hardball doubles awards that were given out at this event, apparently feeling that this is not really squash in the true sense and that Americans are always fooling with things better left unaltered. (This is why England is still a monarchy, even though most Brits can't figure out what it is the royals do...)

He goes on to complain about the stupid Americans coming up with different terms for shots (Rails? It's a drive!) and heaven forfend, those Yanks have even dispensed with lets! Pshaw!

He mocks our sports -- baseball, American football -- as being not truly world sports. This from a representative of a country that is still enamored with cricket. Isn't that a bug?

In his myopia he has failed to understand that squash has been an American sport for nearly as long as it has been an English sport, but it developed along different lines. I suggest he read James Zug's history of the American game, which is a great book. (Buy it here, Mr. Willstrop.) We have our traditions too, although we, unlike the British squash establishment, are prepared to innovate.

The North American Open is going on as I write this. Give Willstrop a hearty boo for me, thanks.

Web Round-Up

It's great when new internet sites about squash crop up, and I try to troll around the web from time to time trying to find the latest stuff. 

I recently got an email from a new site called Squash Hero, an admirable effort whose principal goal is to give those interested in purchasing a racket a variety of statistics on rackets and then try to identify the cheapest internet source. The site also has a section on squash tips, which are taken from other sources and amalgamated on their site. 

The breakdown of racket specifications on Squash Hero is a good service. It provides specific data about each racket that would otherwise require a lot of searching to get together in one place: it reviews weight (and whether it is appropriate for beginners or doubles play), head size, head-heavy balance (being the distance between the midpoint of the racket's length and the center of its mass), and string density (which they calculate as number of mains x number of crosses/racket head area). The site then notes the lowest price they have found for the racket. When you click on the racket's image, you get additional information, such as beam width, type of stringing, and type of grip. 


Obviously, the principal benefit for the squash player is being able to quickly go to the squash internet store that offers the cheapest price, and generally speaking the site does indeed offer up the cheapest I could find. But they are not flawless. I looked up the Wilson Hyper Sledge Hammer 120G: Squash Hero finds the lowest price on Amazon for $149, but my favorite squash store is Squash Gear, and they list the racket for $139. 


The site takes a little getting used to. You can sort your racket selection by manufacturer, weight, head size, or cost, all of which is great. But it takes some diddling to really get the feel for how the system works. Overall, though, I'd say it is worth it. It would be nice if they populated the site with additional squash tips, news, photos, etc. We'll see. 


A great site that is absolutely not to be missed is No Let!, a video review of squash play with very interesting commentary. I'm not sure who is responsible for this blog; there doesn't seem to be any attribution for it on the site. But whoever is doing the commentary knows his stuff, and I highly recommend this site and encourage whoever you are to keep at it!


Another blog you should definitely bookmark is Racquetsphere, by squash's very own James Zug. He covers not only squash but also the more rarefied sports of racquets and court tennis, which are worth reading up on. Racquets really is the mother sport to squash, and court tennis is the mother sport of tennis. Both are minuscule peculiarities in the world of sport nowadays, but I can vouch for the fact that court tennis is a lot of fun, and I can also aver that I haven't the cohones to venture onto a racquets court, for fear of getting killed by its golfball-like ball that ricochets around the court at nearly 200 mph. Zug gets around in the world of all three sports and has interesting observations and anecdotes about all three.

Run To Your Bookstore

I was given a prepublication copy of a new book by Paul Assaiante, Trinity College's squash coach who happens to be the winningest college coach ever, of any sport, and James Zug, the incomparable writer who, in addition to his historical books, is famous in the squash community for writing "Squash: A History of the Game," which if not already on your bookshelf should be (buy it now and here).

This great duo teamed up to write a book which on the surface is a firsthand account of the 2009 national intercollegiate team championships against Princeton, a match that the Trinity posse would end up, as we all know, winning in a squeaker, 5-4.

I confess that I never had a coach anywhere near as good as Assaiante, and I also confess that before reading this book I had only the thinnest notion of what separates a good coach from a great one. I also had no idea what the phrase "run to the roar" was supposed to mean. 

One of the keys to Assaiante's success is an all-consuming, 24/7 passion for his boys on and off the court. Indeed, he explicitly says as much: "The reason we finally became national champions in 1999 and the reason we haven't lost ever since is not recruiting or luck or better technical knowledge or tactical advice. There is no secret, mysterious formula. The reason is time."

Each chapter nominally looks at each match that was played that day, but the focus in fact is much wider, exploring what it means to be a parent, what it means to love, the importance of living in the now, the measure of character, and the alchemy of control. This book is a much bigger book than simply a squash book, or a book about coaching. That's why I would recommend it without qualification for anyone who is a squash fan, a sports fan, a person interested in the philosophy of life, or a parent. Particularly a parent....

Assaiante pulls no punches, yet most of the punches he inflicts are directed at himself. When a kid loses a match, he wonders how he could have coached that boy to a different result. When a student does well on the court but struggles off, he agonizes how he can help. He is constantly questioning how he can do his job better, and gradually, he does. About the book, he writes: "This is not easy. At times it is tragic, disappointing, painful. I have made horrible mistakes. I have suffered and I have made others suffer. And those moments have taught me as much as the victories."

Assaiante is not content to water down the story in any way, because the story has its ugly aspects, but he seems determined to record his failures straight on without blinking so that others might learn from his missteps. If that's not a coach, what is.... 

And threaded throughout this book is the recurring nightmare of his son's heroin addiction, a torment that tortures him still. 

The voice of the book is first-person singular, with Assaiante doing the speaking, but the presence of Zug, crafting the lines, is ever apparent. This is another great work by Zug, an award-winning author and senior writer for Squash Magazine.

This is a full book, with no circumlocution. Its about two bats and a ball in a box, but it's about a lot more than that.

You can buy the book here. I urge you to do so.