Squash Victory!

What a difference a year makes! Sweet victory!

Last Sunday, Job returned from his second trip to the U.S. High School Squash Nationals at Yale University with a huge smile on his face...actually, it was more like a collective huge smile from the whole team.

Last year Job's varsity squash team returned from the Nationals quite dejected. The team had made a Herculean effort that year even to travel to the competition on the immediate heels of a huge Blatimore blizzard. Once there, they were eliminated in the first round of competition, on the first day!

This year, they made it all the way through round after round after round to earn a coveted spot in their division FINALS, on the last day of competition, in the last match-up!

They played hard, but were untimately defeated by the other team. So, even though they just missed bringing back the title of U.S. Nationals Champions, they made the journey back to Baltimore in high spirits, reveling in their success as the U.S. High School Squash Nationals Division III Finalist! (Kudos, Coach Weiner!)

We are so proud of and excited for this young team (they've only been a Varsity Team for the past four years!). The enjoyment of the 4-day trip itself, with no agenda but to hang out with good friends and play the sport you love, and the level of success the team achieved, had Job on a natural high for a few days.

At home, we'd followed the tournament bracket results online as they rolled in that Friday through Sunday, and were high-fiving each other as they progressed round after round until they were one of the last two teams standing in their divisional bracket. We were waiting with baited breath for the results of the Finals, hoping and praying while the game was being played. We were so dissapointed for the team when the final results posted showing the opposing team had won, but we were overjoyed as well, knowing they were all still so delighted with their success. Job was playing in a tough third spot on the seven-member team, and every player he competed against was ranked higher than him. He persevered, suffering through more than his fair share of losses, but playing hard to help the team bring back that beautiful Finalist standing! We are so proud of him, even more for his awesome attitude than for the team's squash victory.

Job loves squash and gets to the courts as often as his busy schedule allows.

He rallies for every point!

Squash is an international sport our family had pretty much never heard of until Job was introduced to it at school and started playing in 7th grade (or was it 8th?). I must admit (and am a bit ashamed to say) I used to call it "glorified raquetball" until I learned more about it. Now, you might think our family invented the sport, as much as we enjoy being involved with it. Job tried out about ten different sports before finding his passion in squash. He enjoys the sport so much, it even has been a primary factor in his decisions on where to apply for college. Several very good schools fell off his list because they lacked on-campus or near-by squash facilities. 

He has even volunteered for a local squash nonprofit organization that teaches the sport to inner-city middle school students (his hope with that effort is that he eventually will begin to see more diversity on the courts!). Job also took the initiative this year to secure a part-time position at his favorite gym, in exchange for membership...

...so he can play as much as he wants throughout the year...

Squash is a winter sport, and unfortunately for Job, heats up at the exact time his FIRST Robotics Team is at its most intense build period. So in January and February, Job goes directly from school to the squash courts for practice and/or a game, and then heads immediately back to the school's robotics lab to work with the team on the robot. He usually gets home near 10 p.m., and then still has his homework to do before getting up the next morning, heading out around 7:30 a.m. -- at least that's the morning goal time anyway  ;-) -- and doing it all over again. We love his commitment, but it goes without saying that we are very glad when this dual-sport season (yes, we consider robotics a brain sport that takes more time and effort than the vast majority of high school varsity athletic sports!) finally reaches its conclusion...later this week...yeah!!

It will be nice to see Job again...in the daylight!  ;o)

Take care. Much love.