Clinic with St. George's

was easily the highlight of the RhodySquash season thus far! On Monday, February 13, the whole team ventured to Middletown to do a clinic with the Boys Varsity team. After a quick warmup, each RhodySquasher paired with two SG coaches. The whole team thoroughly enjoyed playing with a practicing, prep school team, and for many of our students who aspire to apply to private high school, this clinic was an opportunity to practice in such a setting.

After 90 minutes of squash, the entire St. George’s team graciously offered to take the RhodySquashers on a tour of their stunning campus. The evening finished with a team meal in the St. George’s dining hall. We are proud to report that every member of the RhodySquash team had some green on their plate and no more than one piece of dessert! Having spent this year eating way too many eggs, pasta, and fruit bowls, dining hall food has never tasted so good.

Events like these are crucial in terms of enrichment and keeping the RhodySquasher's eye on the prize. I aim to organize at least one event like this every month, and having written this post, I can confirm that the kid's sense of purpose has since been renewed. With all that said, it would be amazing if RhodySquash could move our entire program to St. George's, which I'm in the process of organizing. The Board of Trustees meets next Friday, February 24. Please keep your fingers crossed!

Maddox with Margaret's

Portuguese food in Fairhaven, MA

... or should I say, Margaret's with Maddox. Either way, we've been planning on eating there since our first weekly breakfast last year. In order to bridge the gap between my last outing to Cotuit and having the Maddox's over, we opted to meet in halfway in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The food was excellent ... and different (Sapo Freaky Burrito and Keenwah get old after a while). And Maddox and I began to plan the Passover extravaganza, which I should add, he has graciously agreed to co-lead.

Providence Journal, 2/6/12

What’s your workout?
PAMELA REINSEL COTTER
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 6 February 2012

Name: RhodySquash (13 students who play the sport year-round).

Ages: Fifth to seventh graders at Thompson Middle School.

Hometown: Newport.

Background: The National Urban Squash Program has been around for two decades. RhodySquash Executive Director Ross Freiman-Mendel says he had the idea for a similar program in Newport. “I approached local philanthropists from the De Ramel Foundation, who agreed to generously provide the seed money to get RhodySquash running and they have provided additional operating support as the program has developed and matured,” Freiman-Mendel says. “Our program is free, and we’re constantly fundraising.”

RhodySquash is unique, Freiman-Mendel says, in that the program works with “suburban” poor as opposed to “urban” poor, which happens in New York City and Detroit, for example.

“There are children who are equally underserved in comparatively more rural communities, yet our program is the only NUSEA-type branch to serve this constituency,” he says. “The majority of our students qualify for the [National School Lunch] program, and three-quarters are from racially diverse backgrounds.”

“We use squash as the medium for delivering our program; it’s the ‘hook’ by which we can impart knowledge of the game in addition to rigorous academic tutoring, test preparation, and high school and college counseling and placement,” Freiman-Mendel says.

Freiman-Mendel says squash is particularly well-suited for what his organization hopes to accomplish. “It requires an immense amount of both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. It’s very much a game of attrition, and matches can last well over an hour. It’s been voted the ‘healthiest’ sport by Forbes magazine,” he notes.

“Opponents self ‘ref’ [referee], requiring that each player is honest and a good sport. And from an academic standpoint, squash is tactical, mental, and also heavily recruited by high schools and colleges,” he says.

Workout: Because squash is physically very demanding, the kids do rigorous, but age-appropriate workouts. “Our program meets three times per week,” Freiman-Mendel says. “All practices begin with 50 court lengths to get a sweat and raise their heart rate. Practices include hitting drills, movement drills [ghosting], playing practice games and matches.” Practices often end with “pyramids” — which are “suicides” (running in a quick sprint and turning, line to line) on a squash court. In addition to an hour of tutoring, the kids play an hour of squash, and often play even more after practice. “We also provide nutritious snacks to all of the RhodySquashers after each workout,” he says.

Quotes (from the kids):

Lairab Iqbal, grade 6 — “I love all of the things I learn at RhodySquash. Many people help us with our squash games, and my favorite shot is the boast.”

Rex Underwood, grade 6 — “I like RhodySquash because when you work out you know it’s good for you. They push you hard enough to learn the game and get better at it.”

Cristal Fuerte, grade 5 — “Squash is really fun because you get to hang out with your friends, do homework, and work out … a lot! I like practicing and winning games. We’ve been sweating a lot, and I know that I’m getting stronger.”

Jayda Rios, grade 6 — “I like RhodySquash because when you work out you can feel your body pushing its limits, and when you do your homework the teachers help you through it, so you can understand it and the coaches give you one hundred percent help and attention and they give you healthy snacks to keep you fit and not ruin your body.”

Volunteer Sasha Hinckley adds, “I work with many kids, helping them exceed in squash. Everyone has their own style of play, likes and dislikes, and attitude toward working out. Every day I push the kids as hard as I can (while still having fun), and they approach the intense exercise with a smile and enthusiasm.”

Ross Freiman-Mendel, founder and executive director of RhodySquash, works with Jayda Rios, 12, of Thompson Middle School, on a squash court at Newport Squash.

Ross Freiman-Mendel, the teen behind RhodySquash

Ross Freiman-Mendel, RhodySquash’s 18-year-old executive director, is using his time and energy with the nonprofit group during his “gap year” in his education. After deferring his acceptance to Brown University for a year, this Newport native took up administering the group.

He went to high school at the Wallingford, Conn., private school Choate Rosemary Hall, where he volunteered for the New Haven urban squash program, Squash Haven. Between that and a similar program, Street Squash, in Harlem, N.Y., Freiman-Mendel says he got the idea for RhodySquash. He’s been collaborating on the project for three years, but next year he will be returning to his studies. RhodySquash is now conducting a search for a permanent, full-time executive director.

The RhodySquash program has an academic element including tutoring, test preparation and high school and college counseling and placement.

Above, Jaileen Guerrero does her homework.

"Video of the Day" on Providence Journal site!

Newport This Week, 1/6/12

News & Features
RhodySquash Finds Its Stride in Newport
January 6, 2012
By Meg O’Neil

Since the first tryouts of roughly 50 kids at Thompson Middle School back in early October, RhodySquash, part of the National Urban Squash Education Association, has found its stride in Newport over the last few months.

The NUSEA is a movement that brings squash to inner-city area, and invites students to dedicate themselves to a vigorous afterschool program that incorporates squash instruction, academic tutoring, mentoring, as well as community service and cultural outings – for free.
After holding two tryout sessions that narrowed the team down to 13 future Squash players, RhodySquash is the only program of its kind in the state, and co-founder Ross Freiman-Mendel recently revealed just how successful the inaugural team has become.

Due to the popular demand of the program, there is a long waiting of middle school students who are eager to eventually join the team.

Freiman-Mendel also says that the team’s retention rate has remained 100 percent; a feat in itself considering the team meets at the Freebody St. courts three times a week for two hour sessions.

The weeks of learning the rules of the game and afterschool practices paid off as the entire team competed in their first tournament, the RhodySquash RI Open last month at St. George’s in Middletown. TMS sixth grader Jayda Rios played in the adult draw, receiving a US Squash ranking – a first for the team.

According to Freiman-Mendel, “”The RhodySquash Open was an opportunity for all of the kids to play in a US Squash sanctioned event and to see professional squash at its finest.”

While the team performance on the court is important, it’s just as important in the classroom. During their practices, the team divides up, with half spending the first hour on the courts, learning techniques and drills while the other half is in the program’s tutoring center, where they can work on homework and study. When the hour is over, the two groups switch for the remainder of practice.

The program has volunteers and tutors to help with homework and practices, and believes in reaching out into the community as well.

Community participation has been a vital part to the success of RhodySquash, according to Freiman-Mendel. He says that they have recruited volunteers to provide a 2:1 student-to-teacher ratio both in the classroom and on the courts.

“Support and excitement from the community continues to grow as we expand our network of volunteers and donors,” he said. “We’ve reached beyond the squash community in identifying locals who are committed to the improvement of Newport youth.”

An impressive showing for a program in its first year, the results have garnered attention other squash groups in the area.

“The program has exceeded all of our expectations. With a working knowledge of the game, the team will play in more competitive matches in the new year. The end of January will witness our first ‘inter urban squash match,’ when we travel to play SquashBusters, our sister organization in Boston,” said Freiman-Mendel.

Besides the upcoming event in Boston, RhodySquash has also slated other matches at schools in the area including Portsmouth Abbey and St. George’s.

Newport Daily News, 11/19/11

‘Our program changes lives’
By Josh Krueger
Daily News staff

NEWPORT Ross Freiman Mendel makes no bones about the fact that his work is not a new idea.
It’s just new to this area. Freiman-Mendel is the co-founder of RhodySquash, an after-school program designed to introduce kids to squash and use the sport to sharpen their skills in the classroom. It may sound groundbreaking, but Freiman-Mendel freely admits he’s following a trail others have blazed before him.

“RhodySquash is not an original idea,” he said. “We take pride in the fact that we’re copying what other organizations have already done and done well.”

RhodySquash has 13 participants from Thompson Middle School. Three days a week, they report to the courts at 8 Freebody Street for a couple hours, sometimes longer. The 13 kids are split into two groups. One group spends an hour on the squash courts while the other spends that time studying with the help of tutors. After an hour, they switch.

“If you’re not serious in the classroom, you can’t play squash, and we made that very clear early on,” Freiman-Mendel said.

Freiman-Mendel, a Newport resident, graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall School in Wallingford, Conn., last spring. He’s taking a year off before college, and during that year, RhodySquash is his full-time job.

“Urban squash programs are not new. The first one, which was in Boston, was probably started 20 years ago, and they’ve been popping up all over the country,” Freiman-Mendel said. “These programs are a proven success all across the country. Urban squash programs have a 100 percent graduation rate from high school, and 90 percent of those kids end up going to college."

“Our program changes lives.” Freiman-Mendel previously had worked with Squash Haven, a program in New Haven, Conn. When he returned home after high school, he wanted to start something similar.

“There is a need in Newport. People think of Newport as the land of the rich,” he said. “They don’t understand that there is need here, and that’s actually a hurdle we’ve had to overcome.”

Another hurdle was finding start-up money, and that hurdle was cleared with the help of some local philanthropists. “The program is completely free and we rely on support from our local community,” Freiman-Mendel said. “I approached the De Ramel Foundation with this idea and they provided the seed money for us.”

Finding kids who wanted to participate was much easier than expected. In early October, a tryout was held at Thompson and 54 students attended. “We didn’t know if two kids were going to show up, or 50,” Thompson principal Jaime Crowley said. “We literally had no idea.”

A second tryout proved necessary and from there, the group was pared to 13. “We selected these kids on commitment, above all, innate athletic skill, enthusiasm, need, all of those went into consideration,” Freiman-Mendel said. “The most important thing was commitment and enthusiasm.”
 
There’s no question all 13 participants have both. Kevin Vivieros, a sixth-grader, had to choose between squash and the Thompson boys basketball team. He’d never played squash before and didn’t really know what it was before that first tryout. But when the time came for him to choose, he chose squash. “I just wanted to try something new,” Vivieros said. “I didn’t know anything about it, and it was a hard decision, but I wanted to do something that I hadn’t already done.”

Nijah Johnson, a sixth-grader, had a similar outlook, and after a day of sitting in class, she enjoys being active. “We get to move around a lot, and we don’t really get to move around a lot in school,” she said.

Vivieros has proven himself as a pretty talented squash player, but he said RhodySquash also is helping him in the classroom.

“I’ve got basically all ‘A’s on all my tests,” he said.

Michael Boughton, a sixth-grader, also likes the combination of academics and athletics.
“Since we get half the time studying and half the time playing, it keeps us on task for school,” he said.

All 13 kids that started with the program a month ago still are on board. Crowley said that kind of success is almost unthinkable. “I had no idea where this was going to go, and it has been incredibly successful,” he said. “What I’m most proud of is 100 percent attendance. Every kid. After school, it’s next to impossible.”

A month and a half ago, some of these kids had never heard of squash, let alone played it. Now, they can’t get enough of it. Freiman-Mendel said Vivieros stayed an extra 90 minutes after everyone else had left last Saturday’s session.

“No one’s forcing them to be here, and they tried out to be in this program. They all made the very conscious decision that they wanted to do this program,” Freiman-Mendel said. “We can’t get kids off the squash court. I know they love it.”

Like a lot of sports, squash is relatively easy to pick up, but difficult to master. Freiman-Mendel, who played the game all four years at Choate, said all 13 kids learned the game very quickly. “It’s not hard to start getting the basic skills so you can start playing matches,” he said.

Watching Wednesday’s practice, Crowley was impressed with how much the kids have improved. “We had 54 kids in the Thompson gym who had never held a racket, had no idea what a squash ball could do,” he said. “And now, you see these guys doing multiple volleys, it’s amazing.”

Programs like RhodySquash have myriad benefits, and squash is the driving force. “Squash is the means to an end. There are a lot of ends — character, performance in school, and eventually placement to good high schools and colleges,” Freiman-Mendel said.

“Squash is the hook to get kids in.” Vivieros said he’d like to continue playing squash until college, but as Freiman-Mendel pointed out, opportunities exist to play squash at the college level. “Squash is fun. It’s an excellent workout and in terms of the college aspect, it’s the most heavily recruited sport, because not a lot of people play it,” Freiman-Mendel said.

There will be plenty of people playing this weekend at the RhodySquash Rhode Island Open, which will be held at St. George’s School in Middletown. The event will feature a professional tournament and an amateur tournament, as well as a draw for the RhodySquash kids.

“This weekend is the first tournament they’ll be playing in, and they’ll actually get to use the drills that they’ve learned and implement them in a real match situation,” Freiman-Mendel said. “They’ll be playing at St. George’s, which has eight amazing squash courts, in a very academic setting and there will be, hopefully, hundreds of people there to support them and the pros. And they’ll all have an opportunity to hit with the pros.”

The opportunity with RhodySquash extends into the spring, and if the first month is any indication, all 13 participants will be there until the end. “What I am most proud of is the kids’ commitment and dedication, because it’s a long program,” Crowley said. “It opens doors that never would have been open to a lot of these kids. How many of these kids would have ever played on these courts? None.”

Newport This Week, 10/9/11

News & Features
RhodySquash Swings into Newport
October 9, 2011
By Meg O’Neil

NEWPORT, R.I. – Venture a guess at what has been voted the healthiest sport to play by Forbes magazine, and odds are that you’re probably wrong. According to Forbes, that title belongs to squash, with Forbes saying that it’s the best sport in the world for getting and staying fit, and for Thompson Middle School students, a partnership with a local mentoring program called RhodySquash is set to open doors for student’s futures in the sport.

The brainchild of RhodySquash is Executive Director Ross Freiman-Mendel, an 18 year old Newporter who recently graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school in Connecticut, and decided to take a gap year in between graduation, before he heads to Brown University next year to get the program up and running.

According to him, RhodySquash is part of the National Urban Squash Education Association, a movement that brings the sport to inner-city areas, and invites area students to dedicate themselves to a vigorous afterschool program that incorporates squash instruction, academic tutoring, mentoring, as well as community service and cultural outings – for free.

The free program exists thanks to funding from the de Ramel Foundation, and private donations through the organization’s website at www.RhodySquash.org, where anyone can contribute to the group.

While the program was beta-tested last spring for a few months at the end of the school year, Freiman-Mendel held afterschool tryouts for the program at TMS on Wednesday, Oct. 5, where close to 50 students attended, all hoping to earn one of 12 open spots on the team. Due to the overwhelming response of interested students, a second tryout was slated for a date in the near future.

A sport that is mainly limited to boarding schools and Ivy League universities, squash is growing in popularity across the country, and the goal of RhodySquash, the only program of its type in the state, is to get TMS students scholarships to reach that level of education and success.

“Squash is one of the most heavily recruited sports for high school and college, because not a lot of kids play it,” explained Freiman-Mendel. “So our job is to show kids that if they work hard, they can get good at it, and show them that a lot of schools offer scholarships for people who demonstrate need.”

The afterschool program is held at the Newport Squash Club, located at 8 Freebody St., and contains two full-sized squash courts and a classroom for students, where they will receive both homework help and standardized test tutoring.

“RhodySquash instills the values of hard work, and teaches all the necessary adjectives that one associates with success: hardwork, discipline, and sportsmanship,” says Freiman-Mendel, who along with TMS Principal Jaime Crowley, have worked together to spread the word about the sport in the school, hoping to attract kids to the possibility of participating in the course.

It was the idea of being able to continue education that intrigued Crowley the most, prompting him to jump on board with the program. 

“What I’m most intrigued by is the opening of doors this program can offer,” said Crowley, who admits his knowledge of the sport is minimal. “I played squash once in my life and I grew up here and I think most people have never played – talk about giving students something new to try!”

To introduce the concept of RhodySquash to TMS students, Crowley spent a several schooldays going around to classrooms and lunch tables explaining the ins and outs of the program, and how it could lead to scholarship opportunities. “Some students didn’t know what scholarships were, so I had to explain that it basically means money, and that a school will pay for your education if you attend.” He went on to tell students that a program like RhodySquash could give them a leg-up on the competition, saying, “we’re very lucky in this town that we have squash courts available, when most towns in the country do not.”

Crowley went on to tell interested students, “If we can get you going early and you can learn this sport and do well academically, then you might be a hot commodity once you get to the high school level.”

Because no public schools in the area offer squash as an athletic program, Friedman-Mendel pointed out that almost all students coming in to RhodySquash have no prior experience with the sport, and that is OK.

“None of our kids know what squash is at first and you don’t have to be an amazing player from the start, nor do they have to become the next great squash recruit,” he says.  “But we want to show them that being commitment to the program and to academics, and being serious on the court … all the benefits will come to them in the end.”

RhodySquash match with SquashBusters

Last Saturday (2/28) was a day of “firsts:” Our first competitive match (against our sister program SquashBusters), our first trip to Boston, and of course, Lairab’s first “Awful Awful.” Sporting our team’s red and white uniform, the RhodySquashers arrived at SquashBusters, and quickly began warm ups. Shortly thereafter, two RhodySquashers, Mitch and Nijah, volunteered to do introductions in front of the overflowing SquashBusters crowd. All the RhodySquashers played formidable opponents, with many matches extending to five games. A few RhodySquashers at the top of the ladder even claimed comeback 3-2 victories. The day ended with a team dinner at the Newport Creamery. Just two years ago, RhodySquash was an impossible dream, having now manifested into a working and successful program. In addition to confirming our progress to the nation's most established urban squash program, we've also scheduled more matches, including a clinic with the St. George's varsity team and a match with our sister program in New Haven, Squash Haven. Look forward to an article in the Providence Journal tomorrow!