Drexel is very much in the squash news these days. 

The Dragons, who along with the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs have the coolest nickname in collegiate sports, have hosted SquashSmarts, the urban youth enrichment program, since it was founded ten years ago. They even sacrificed one of their old hardball courts to make SquashSmarts’ original office. (See: http://www.squashsmarts.org/)

Both of the Drexel teams are club rather than varsity, but not for long. They have two new softball courts to go along with their four old hardball ones. Drexel’s president, John Fry, is an avid squash player who was very supportive of the program when he was president of F&M. The teams, like many club teams, make a huge effort to train and get better, even without the help of a full-time coach. Two weeks ago the men flew to Atlanta to play in a six-team round robin. (See: http://collegesquashassociation.com/2011/02/01/fourth-annual-jesters-southeas…

And last week, we hosted the men and women teams at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia, for a squash match and a chance to get out on the court tennis court. (See: http://collegesquashassociation.com/2011/01/28/jim-zug-hosts-the-drexel-squas…

But the biggest news was the United States Open is coming to Drexel in October. This will be just the second time in history that Philadelphia has held a glass-court squash tournament. The first was in 1986 when Penn plopped a small pro tournament on its hockey rink (the court was near the blue line). Now a quarter century later, Penn’s neighbor is hosting a $175,000 tournament, with both the men and women pros competing. It will surely be a huge boost for squash in Philadelphia and for Drexel. (See: http://www.ussquash.com/news/content.aspx?id=5678).