Squash Promoted to Varsity Sport

A new member has been inducted into the hall of Columbia sport. Columbia squash, until now the only Ivy League squash team with club sport status, has been elevated to varsity level. The two new varsity squads—one men’s, one women’s—will spend the next two seasons in development before taking the court for the first time as Columbia’s 30th and 31st varsity teams in 2011.

Interest in making a varsity sport of squash had been expressed to the Athletic Department since before Athletic Director M. Dianne Murphy arrived at Columbia in November 2004. Columbia alumni and former members of the club squash squad had appealed to Murphy’s predecessor, as they did to Murphy, to promote men’s squash to varsity sport status. At that time, however, the athletics budget could not sustain the 29 sports already established or afford to add another varsity program without greater resources. Moreover, Murphy, who had led several initiatives elsewhere to ensure gender and minority equity in college sports departments, told the interested alumni that a men’s squash program would have to have a women’s counterpart.

By the winter of 2006-2007, two years later, interest in varsity squash had not waned, and new prospects had arisen. The recently unveiled Columbia Campaign for Athletics: Achieving Excellence, a $100 million initiative to improve Columbia University athletics, was in its preliminary stages. Murphy and her staff were seeking benefactors to support the unprecedented campaign. Columbia squash found its material catalyst in Geoff Grant, SEAS ’82 and former club squash player, and his wife Annette, BC ’83. The Grants’ promised endowment would make varsity squash a practical reality for the first time.

“During that time we had several conversations with people around campus,” Murphy said. “We approached the undergraduate deans to discuss the merits of varsity squash at Columbia. We had conversations with the University administration, University development of alumni relations, University budget office, to see whether or not we could actually do this.”

In May 2007, Murphy brought a proposal to promote club squash before the Faculty Athletic Committee. There was no policy in place for adding varsity teams, however; the committee deemed a policy necessary not only for squash but future additions. Murphy agreed.

From May to August of this year, Murphy and her colleagues on the committee developed rules to govern the addition of varsity teams, including standards meant to promote the “16 guiding principles” of Columbia athletics.

With potential funding secured, logistical data, and the new policy in place, Murphy brought a second proposal to add two squash squads to the existing varsity teams before the Faculty Athletic Committee. The FAC approved the motion unanimously. The 30th and 31st intercollegiate sports programs at Columbia, the first varsity elevations under the new policy, were officially recognized.

The addition of the squash teams was long in development, but it came as a surprise to the current club squash players.

“I wasn’t aware of the donation made by Geoff Grant,” said senior captain of the club squad Nik Trikha. “He kind of did that very separately. So it was great news, but it was new to my ears.”

Trikha and his teammates had expressed their desire to see squash elevated to the Athletic Department as well as Brian Jines, the director of Intramural and Club Sports, over the past four years. No formal petition was ever presented, but it was clear that the move would have popular support among the athletes themselves.

Since college squash is not a NCAA-regulated sport, but rather falls under the domain of the College Squash Association, Columbia club squash faced varsity squads of equal caliber in years past, including Vassar, Fordham, and Haverford. As the only Ivy League squash program without varsity status—and the resources that come with it—Columbia has lagged behind its natural competitors in the CSA rankings and not been given the opportunity to play them. The majority of both men’s and women’s Ivy teams comprise the perennial elite of the squash arena. Columbia’s squad consistently ranks 20 places behind its Ivy peers.

But both Murphy and Trikha are optimistic about the future of varsity squash at Columbia. In the spring, head coaches are expected to be named by the Athletic Department, followed by a search for their assistants. Columbia squash’s nine-year partnership with Street Squash, a Harlem-based organization that promotes after-school activities for local, underprivileged youth, has helped lead to an agreement to provide the varsity squads access to the organization’s new squash facility, currently under construction. The Columbia squash teams are slated to take their home court in Harlem for the inaugural 2011 season.

New York is considered by many to be the squash hub of the United States. The question of whether the Columbia community will prove to be as supportive an environment as the city that encompasses it is not past the point of conjecture. Trikha remains confident in the days ahead for Columbia squash—a team he will be leaving, but not without leaving his own mark.

“With the information that the squash program is going to be a varsity program by 2011, I think you’re going to have a lot of interest.” Trikha said. “I definitely foresee the program being a top-10 program maybe five, six, seven years after it becomes varsity.”