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!

Tournament of Champions

On ESPN3 with Molly (notice distance from the back glass)

What an evening in New York City. I've wanted to attend the Tournament of Champions, a squash tournament held in Grand Central Station, since I learned about the venue as a freshman, but I never bought tickets because the schedule conflicted with Choate. Even while on my gap year, I delayed the purchase of tickets, because leaving in the middle of the week while employed is not particularly convenient. Two weeks prior to the tournament, I thought to myself, "when will there ever be a good time to see this tournament," and mustered up enough confidence to splurge on the tickets. To my surprise, seats were still available, but as the images below show, in the absolutely worst section. By pure coincidence, my friend Molly also happened upon two equally bad tickets and we were sitting next to each other. Before the final started, two JP Morgan associates volunteered their box seats to Molly, and graciously she invited me to sit with her. I don't mean to brag, but money can literally not buy these tickets. We were sitting in a JP Morgan (tournament chief sponsor) box 3 rows directly behind the back glass. Frank Stella -- you might have heard of him -- was sitting in a box adjacent to ours. The squash itself was exceptional. Nick Mathew bested James Willstrop in 4 games to reclaim his number one ranking.

TOC, Before and After

The seats I payed for ...

The box seats I moved to

RhodySquash Fundraising

In the past, I've written about the administration of RhodySquash and the challenges (and triumphs) of delivering our program. But as I like to say, when I'm not working with the RhodySquashers or coordinating with volunteers, I think of ways to raise money. As of writing this post, we've raised $47,425 dollars (the specificity is consistent with the transparency that all nonprofits require). We have two classes of donors, both equally important. "Large" donors consist of those who give $1000+, and "small" donors are those who give less. Our first line of fundraising is the board (it is no coincidence I'm working on expanding from 7 to 12 members), and from there we network, constantly seeking ways to expand our reach. Often my contact with an individual will begin over lunch, and blossom with contributions and new individuals they introduce me to as our rapport grows. A less grandiose way to describe my job ... I Schmooz. The rest of the winter, spring, and summer promises the introduction of a capital campaign, actual fundraisers, more lunches, and nonfat lattes during the many impromptu coffee breaks.

Because press is a huge component of our program, I promise to post the articles in which we've been featured thus far. Indeed, as of today (the night Newt takes South Carolina), we look forward to a visit from both the Providence Journal and ABC 6.

In other news ... "Midnight in Paris" is my new favorite movie!

An impromptu dinner

In line with staying hungry and foolish, I made an impromptu trip to Cotuit on Tuesday night to see Teddy, Will, Maddox, Ethan, Zander, and Bandar (from left to right). As the last to arrive, I was greeted by a bunch of Choate friends who I haven't seen in over half a year. Mrs. Maddox was there too to cook a delicious multi-course meal. Up until now, the group with whom I've kept in touch has been limited, so it was really nice to see a new and additional group of alums. Per usual, we reminisced into the late hour of the night, periodically checking into to see the speeches from the New Hampshire Primary. Suffice it say, I failed on all counts to maintain my diet.

Resolutions for 2012

I though it would be fitting to jot down some resolutions for the public record. Some things below I don't do, and some I do well but could always be reminded to continue. With that said, next year, I resolve to:

- maintain my new diet, and once and for all, have a flat stomach, eat more color, and quit drinking diet sodas
- survive the Mayan apocalypse
- be less neurotic and anxious and instead make the conscious effort to live in the present
- travel beyond the confines of the northeast more
- be less plugged in to my phone, email, facebook, twitter, etc.
- stay connected with friends now all over the world
- appreciate my family, friends, and all the amazing positivity that exists in my life
- stay hungry and foolish

And to finish off, an article from one of my favorite columnists:

Days of Auld Lang What?

The origin of the New Year's anthem—and what it means to us.

• By PEGGY NOONAN

"You know exactly when you'll hear it, and you probably won't hear it again for a year. The big clock will hit 11:59:50, the countdown will begin—10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4—and the sounds will rise: the party horns, fireworks and shouts of "Happy New Year!"
And then they'll play that song: "Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and days of auld lang syne?"
It is a poem in Scots dialect, set to a Scots folk tune, and an unscientific survey says that a lot of us don't think much about the words, or even know them. The great film director Mike Nichols came to America from Germany as a child, when his family fled Hitler. He had to learn a lot of English quickly and never got around to "Auld Lang Syne": "I was too busy with words like 'emergency exit' on the school bus," he told me. "As a result, I find myself weeping at gibberish on New Year's Eve. I enjoy that."
The screen and television writer Aaron Sorkin, who this year, with "The Social Network," gives Paddy Chayefsky a run for his money, says that every year he means to learn the words. "Then someone tells me that's not a good enough New Year's resolution and I really need to quit smoking."
"Auld Lang Syne"—the phrase can be translated as "long, long ago," or "old long since," but I like "old times past"—is a song that asks a question, a tender little question that has to do with the nature of being alive, of being a person on a journey in the world. It not only asks, it gives an answer.

It was written, or written down, by Robert Burns, lyric poet and Bard of Scotland. In 1788 he sent a copy of the poem to the Scots Musical Museum, with the words: "The following song, an old song, of the olden times, has never been in print." Burns was interested in the culture of Scotland, and collected old folk tales and poems. He said he got this one "from an old man"—no one knows who—and wrote it down. Being a writer, Burns revised and compressed. He found the phrase auld lang syne "exceedingly expressive" and thought whoever first wrote the poem "heaven inspired." The song spread throughout Scotland, where it was sung to mark the end of the old year, and soon to the English-speaking world, where it's sung to mark the new.
The question it asks is clear: Should those we knew and loved be forgotten and never thought of? Should old times past be forgotten? No, says the song, they shouldn't be. We'll remember those times and those people, we'll toast them now and always, we'll keep them close. "We'll take a cup of kindness yet."
"The phrase old acquaintance is important," says my friend John Whitehead, fabled figure of the old Goldman Sachs, the Reagan State Department, and D-Day. "It's not only your close friends and people you love, it's people you knew even casually, and you think of them and it brings tears to my eyes." For him, acquaintance includes, "your heroes, my heroes—the Winston Churchills of life, the ones you admire. They're old acquaintances too."
But "the interesting, more serious message in the song is that the past is important, we mustn't forget it, the old has something for us."
So does the present, as the last stanza makes clear. The song is not only about those who were in your life, but those who are in your life. "And there's a hand, my trusty friend, and give a hand of thine, We'll take a right good-will draught for auld lang syne."
To Tom Coburn, a U.S. senator from Oklahoma, the song is about friendship: "I think it's a description of the things we lose in our hurry to do things. We forget to be a friend. We have to take the time to make friends and be friends, to sit and tell stories and listen to those of others."
Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana said he always experienced the song as celebratory and joyful until something happened in 2004. Mr. Daniels was running for office, and it became a new bonding experience for him and his father, who followed the campaign closely: "He loved my stories from the road." The elder Daniels died unexpectedly in August, "50 days short of my election as governor." At a New Year's party, the governor-elect heard the song in a new way. Ever since, "I hear its wistfulness."
Lesley Stahl of "60 Minutes," enjoying one of the great careers in the history of broadcast news, thinks of childhood when she thinks of "Auld Lang Syne": "I see New Year's Eve parties going way back, all the way back to when we were little kids and you had to kiss someone at midnight and you had to sing that song." She interviewed Mark Zuckerberg recently. "Maybe in the age of Facebook you don't lose old friends," she says. "Maybe it's obsolete." Maybe "they'll have to change the song."
For the journalist and author Marie Brenner, the song didn't come alive until she moved from her native Texas to New York City, in the 1970s. That first New Year's in town, "Auld Lang Syne was a revelation to me. . . . I thought, this is beautiful and maybe written by a Broadway composer, by Rodgers and Hammerstein." She saw people singing it "on the street, and at a party in a bar downtown." There was "this gorgeous moment when everyone seemed to know the words, and people looked teary and, yes, drunk." They played the song back in San Antonio, "but it took me coming to New York to really hear it."
The song is a staple in movies, but when I asked people to think of the greatest "Auld Lang Syne scene," every one of them had the same answer. Not "When Harry Met Sally," not "Out of Africa," not, for film buffs, Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush." The great "Auld Lang Syne" scene in cinematic history is from "It's a Wonderful Life," which Mr. Sorkin puckishly describes as "Frank Capra's classic tale of an angel who takes up the cause of a progressive in order to defeat a heartless conservative. It's possible I'm misinterpreting the movie, but the song still works."
The scene comes at the end of the film. Friends surround George Bailey, recently rescued by an angel. Someone bumps against the Christmas tree and a bell ornament makes a sound. George's daughter says, "Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings," and George looks up and winks. "Thanks, Clarence," he says, as the music swells. God bless the baby boomers who discovered that film on TV after their elders dismissed it as Capra-corn.
Tonight I'll be at Suzie and Joe's, with whom I worked at CBS News in auld lang syne. I'll think of some who won't be entering the new year with us—big, sweet-hearted dynamo Richard Holbrooke, and Ted Sorensen, counselor to presidents, whose pen was a terrible swift sword. I'll take a cup of kindness yet for them, for all the old acquaintances in this piece, and for the readers, for 10 years now, of this column. We mark an anniversary. Thank you for being in my life. Happy New Year"