Massachusetts junior squash started off with a bang with the introduction of the New England Junior Open tournament, held in conjunction with the US Open in early November. This event was held at Harvard University’s Murr Center and drew close to two hundred juniors (U13–U19) from all over the nation who came to compete against one another and watch the pros play. Many of the local juniors took the opportunity to play with the pros during the popular “Junior Jam”.

 In January, the MSRA Junior Committee held the Massachusetts Junior Open Tournament at the Murr Center, and attracted a wide range of juniors locally and from other states. In February, the Harvard Club held their successful Future Stars tournament that drew a large crowd of participants, and March wrapped up the Boston tournament season with the Massachusetts State Junior Championships. This event was only open to Massachusetts residents, and was hosted by SquashBusters at their wonderful facility at Northeastern University. Other state junior tournaments were the Purple Cow and the Berkshire Open, both run by Zafi Levy of Williams College.

Local Boston and area clubs participated in the Junior League, an MSRA program held at the Murr Center on Sundays in December and January. The Junior League is designed to give beginner and intermediate players experience in playing matches.

On a national level, many of our juniors competed in the USSRA “Selection Tournaments” and in the US Junior Nationals (Gold). The US Junior Nationals were held in March at Yale this year, and the Massachusetts juniors who competed were (followed by their national ranking #): (BU19) Mark Froot #2 (finished second), and Chris Vernick #25; (BU17) Will Sullivan #21; (BU15) Julian Kirby # 21; (BU13) Liam McClintock #3 (finished third), Pehlaaj Bajwa #7, and Edward Columbia #20; (GU17) Cece Cortes #4; (GU15) Casey Cortes #5, Dori Rahbar #12, Sarah Loucks, Corey Schafer #25, and Ashley Brooks #39.

Several of our juniors participated in the US Junior Nationals (Silver) tournament in Baltimore in April. This tournament is open to juniors who are nationally ranked below #32 in their age division. Some of the juniors chose to play “up” in an older age division. Adam Vartikar was the Champion of the BU17 division and Taylor Foehl took the Finalist trophy in the BU15. Other BU15 players were Sam Tifft-Sokolsky, Matthew Baker-White, and Toby Koekkoek. James Fulham and Cheraag Bajwa played in the BU11 division, and James placed first. Sarah Crosky captured the GU17 Championship title and Allie Rubin was the Finalist. Kimron Bajwa played in the GU13.

Local juniors who went to Philadelphia in February as part of the US Junior Training Squad this year were GU17 Cece Cortes, GU15 Sarah Loucks and Casey Cortes, and BU13 Liam McClintock. Liam McClintock made the US Junior Team that will compete against Canada in the Can-Am Junior Challenge or “Battle of the Borders” in September.

Four of our local U19 players, Mark Froot, John Fulham, Chris Vernick, and Kristin Rubin, will be heading off to college next fall to play squash. Mark Froot, co-captain of the Belmont Hill School squash team, was the ISL Champion. His school team won the ISL divison 9-0. Mark qualified for the Junior US Men’s Team that will travel to New Zealand for the World Junior Cup in July. Chris Smith of SquashBusters and Northeastern University is the Head Coach. Mark will be attending University of Pennsylvania next fall. John Fulham, also of Belmont Hill School and co-captain of the squash team, had an undefeated year in the ISL. He recently played in the US Under 23 Closed Tournament and lost in the semi-finals to world-ranked Chris Gordon, but defeated #1 ranked in U19 Trevor McGuiness in the 3-4 playoff. John is heading to Yale this fall. Chris Vernick, the number one player at Milton Academy, will be attending Cornell in the fall, and Kristin Rubin, also the top player at Milton, will be going to Hamilton College. Best of luck to all of you next year!

The MSRA Junior Committee likes to recognize players who are committed to the sport regardless of their experience and level. This year’s Most Improved Player Awards went to Sarah Crosky, Katherine Nimmo, and Greg Crane. The Best Sportsman Awards went to Amory Bennett and Eliana Saltzman. The Camp Awards, scholarships for a summer squash program, was given to SquashBusters Stephen Vo and Ashley Brooks. Stephen will be attending the Power Squash Camp at Dartmouth this summer, and Ashley plans on using her Award money for the Holleran Girls Camp at St. Paul’s School.

Congratulations to all of you juniors for your hard work and dedication, and we look forward to a fun squash season next year!

by Libby McClintock