Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve been supervising a group of 12 students in my co-ed intramural squash class. Most of the students have had some prior squash experience, having taken the “Beginning Squash,” class in the fall. As such the approach is on game-based learning (ie. conditioned games, round robins, tournaments etc.). Balancing competition with fun, below is a moment from our last day of class.
When working with a broad spectrum of collegiate and junior squash players, sometimes the coach or parent, may lose sight of why intramurals are important. At Concord Academy, the athletics program is designed to be developmental allowing young high school student-athletes to progress to the next playing level. We’ve had students go from “Beginning Squash” to being co-captains on varsity CA squash teams. Some have even gone on to play in college and in one case even go on to be a captain for their college squash team.
I hope this trend continues in the future. If we help build a foundation for high school squash players to be able to play at the collegiate level (as we have done in the past) or remain active playing squash or other sports then we must be doing something right.
Explorations in Sport for Development and Peace 