US Squash conducted the 2025 Silver and Bronze Nationals this past weekend in the salubrious surroundings of the Arlen Specter Center in Philadelphia. With the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel acting as the co-hosts, it was a very successful, but somewhat inclement weekend in University City for us all!
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
A word of explanation on the events. The National Championships occurred last weekend in Philadelphia, with 14 qualifying. If you missed our report, there’s a quick link here to bring you up to date. The Nationals last weekend were the home to the top 16 U11’s and top 32 in all other age groups. This weekend the Silver Nationals were the proving brackets for those players who did not make the Nationals cut, with those outside the Silver cut then placed into highly competitive Bronze Nationals.
THE HEADLINES
Across both events Squash Tigers boasted 15+ of our players. Those entrants became 6 quarter finalists and three third place winners! Shout outs in particular to our 3rd place crew, Katherine in the Silver BU13, Riyanshi in the Silver GU11 and Dev in the Bronze BU13! An exceptional weekend with a bundle of stories to be told, some of which we will delve into below! As an end to this preamble I must reiterate how proud the coaching team was of all our players, an amazing group of youngsters who played with heart, with skill and with undoubted sportsmanship.
WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE?
Candidly, the event looked magnificent, as it should, on some of the best venues in the world. If you haven’t seen our Insta story, the link to our weekend adventures is here and similarly if you’re keen on our “photo dump”, it may be found on Facebook. The Specter Center is an amazing venue and the kids were spectacularly athletic… and thanks to both the coaches and parents who sent Coach Claire and I some excellent pics of the action.
SILVER CHAMPS
The girls' draws produced three of our quarter finalists! Riyanshi moved through the GU11 wonderfully well, losing a hard fought semi-final before recharging to dominate the 3rd place play off. What a season it has been for Miss Riyanshi, moving her rating 0.7 and consolidating her game all before the age of 10! Similarly Miss Katherine had an awesome weekend in the GU13, winning 3rd place in a very solid performance. We would be remiss to not point out that similarly to Riyanshi, Katherine has moved her rating 0.65 in the past year… outstanding reward for her hard work. Our other GU13 standout was Sara, perhaps the most improved player in the club, who finished in a very satisfying 10th position after six hard fought matches. I know rating data can be very boring, so I promise to quite after this one… however I would be “double-remiss” not to point out that Sara has moved her rating 1.27 in twelve months and that should bring a big smile to all our faces.
Angela finished in a strong 5th position, competing well in a very deep and competitive GU17 draw. Angela came back from 2/0 down in her second round to win through to the quarter, lost narrowly at that point and then finished strong. We know she would have liked a little more, but a weekend to be proud of and some great squash played.
In the BU19, Edward was our stand out performer and was involved in perhaps the match of the Tournament in the consol quarters - not often I’ve written that sentence, but here it is online, check it out and feel free to make up your own mind. We were very proud of him… By way of seniors and talking about players to be proud of… Humzah made us proud on and off the court. Although having a rough draw in the BU19, Humzah was effortful and showed excellent sportsmanship and presence of mind under pressure. We’ll miss him when he goes off to Wesleyan next year, and certainly their coaches are excited to see him suit up for the Cardinals.
THE BRONZE AGE
The Bronze Nationals draws saw two of our quarter finalists, in Dev and Luke, who unfortunately played each other in the quarters! Talk about a little unlucky to travel to a National Championship and play someone you see almost every day, but that’s squash and we have to take the draws we are given. Still very impressed with both of the boys to make it through to that stage of the tournament, bigger things ahead for both of them. Shout out to our only BU11 Bronze contestant, Ethan, who gave his all in a draw that’s never easy.
I would encourage families of all the youngsters in the program to look at participating in a Nationals next year, whether that be Gold, Silver or Bronze, it’s a great culmination to a hectic winter season, and although I appreciate it’s not always a convenient time of year it frequently serves as a source of motivation and inspiration for the competitive road ahead!
WHERE TO NOW COACH?
Glad you asked, excellent question.
With the Championship Season now concluded, we kick off our Spring programming. Spring provides opportunities for a rankings jump for many of our players. There are TWELVE Golds between now and Summer in addition to another DOZEN Silver events and FIFTEEN bronze events all within relatively easy travelling distance to the club. This Spring culminates with the first ever June "Super JCT" in Philly.
If you’re in any doubt as to what this means for you or your child then we can make some time to chat. If it’s a simple question, wander up to me at the club, if it’s slightly more nuanced then please drop me an email and we’ll set up a time to either sit down and chat, or to Zoom. Regardless, see everyone at the club soon, big things ahead!
