The Wake

College students and 65-year-old men, in a closed off room, slap around balls. There’s no foul play here, this is the University of Minnesota Squash Club. The squash club is a group of roughly 50 athletes who meet three times per week to compete in a game that few people neither play nor know much about.

Brief Overview of the Game

Squash is a combination of tennis and badminton. The racquet used in the sport is about as long as a badminton racquet, but it’s as strong as a tennis racquet. There are two types of balls used in squash, the hardball and softball. The hardball is traditional and not widely used anymore. The U squash club uses softballs.

The court for squash is odd. Like racquetball, the game is played in an enclosed, four walled room. However, in squash there are boundaries on each wall and the ball must strike within the boundaries. The side walls have lines angling down and if the ball touches the side wall, it must be under the angled lines.

Scoring in squash is similar to the scoring in volleyball because only the server can score. If the non-server wins a rally, he or she then becomes the server. Like tennis, a server switches halves of the court on each serve. When the game is tied 8 to 8, the non-server gets to decide whether the game is played to nine points or to ten. There is no “win by two” rule in squash. A player wins a match in squash by winning three out of five games.

U of M Squash

Members of the club range in age from 18 - 65. The club is always open to new members and frequently has newcomers at their meeting times. Jacob Williams, first-year graduate student at the U, played tennis in high school and college. Williams recently took up squash and says “One of my professors got me starting to play and he suggested that I join the club.”

Vinh Chung, squash player and coordinator at the U, said that matches can last anywhere from 20 minutes to a half hour. In that time, players are constantly strategizing and running. Chung went on to say that squash is like a chess game because shots are intended to make the opponent run around and wear themselves out.

It is extremely cheap to be a member of the U of M squash club, only $10 per year. The dues cover the cost of social events and clinics taught by professional squash players.

Squash will be played at a very high level April 20 to April22 when the University of Minnesota Squash Club hosts the Minnesota state singles squash tournament. The tournament will feature more than 100 squash players from around the state and metro area.

If you’re interested in joining the squash club or learning more, the club meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. at the Rec Center on East Bank.