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.”
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.”
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