Minutes

NCSRA Board Adopts New League Rules

(May 2001) The NCSRA Board of Directors has approved revised rules for league play. At a May 23rd, 2001, meeting in the University Club, the Board unanimously adopted revised rules that had been circulated over the internet to a review committee established in April. The new rules take effect immediately, so they will govern play during the summer season that is scheduled to start the first week of June.

NCSRA President Calls for Board Elections

(April 2001) In a move to get more players involved in NCSRA activities, the organization's President, Howard Day, has called on all member clubs to elect representatives to the Board of Directors before June. The NCSRA By-Laws provide for each DC-area club (defined as "a physical facility wherein squash racquets may be played, containing court(s) of regulation size") to have one representative on the Board, and an alternate representative. In addition, an extra Board member may be elected by NCSRA women, specifically to represent their interests at Board meetings.

Both provisions have been largely ignored in recent years because most clubs and players showed little interest in NCSRA activities, but the resurgence of squash in the DC area – stimulated by a growth in local school teams and a boom in court construction – has focused more attention on what the NCSRA is doing to promote the sport. Since the organization is currently engaged in rewriting the rules for league play and has expanded its role in sponsoring local tournaments and junior clinics, Day says "the time is ripe to increase player participation in NCSRA decisions."

According to the by-laws, new officers are to be elected by the Board at the annual June meeting. (If a club representative is elected as an officer, that club's alternate becomes the official representative, because officers cannot also serve as club representatives.) Current officers are Howard Day, President, Kemp Prugh, Vice-President for Leagues, Hunt Richardson, Vice-President for Tournaments, Bill Smith, Secretary, Phil Ayliff, Treasurer, and Malcolm Jensen, District Director (who acts as NCSRA representative to the USSRA).  

Hot Squash at the NCSRA Board Meeting

(Dec. 2000) Trying to get a good turnout for its November board meeting, the NCSRA sponsored a special exhibition match on the University Club's new ASB court. England's Mark Allen took on Jeff Osborne of Adelaide, Australia, and won in three straight games, 15-11, 15-11 and 15-5, using his experience and superior court sense to take away the speed and reach advantage of the much younger Osborne.

Ben Harris, USSRA National Director of Officials, refereed the match, using American point-a-rally scoring. The ploy worked for the board meeting, producing the best turnout in recent memory.

Allen is the new Potomac School varsity squash coach. He has been coaching squash for over ten years and recently became the first coach in the U.K. to be selected for the new “Level IV Elite” status established by England's Squash Racquets Association. (The SRA intend to eventually certify up to 15 coaches at this level.)

Mark spent three seasons on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) world tour, achieving at one point a world ranking of 41, with a win in the 1992 Rochester Open and 2nd-place finishes in the 1992 Chicago Open and Minneapolis Open and the 1997 Swiss Open. He also finished 4th in the 1990 World Junior Championships and captained the English team that won the World Under-19 title that year.

Australian Jeff Osborne, the resident squash pro at Baltimore's Meadow Mill Squash Club, is only 20 years old, so he hasn't had much time to rack up impressive credentials. Nevertheless, he did reach the semi-finals of the Australian national championships in his age group last year, and he was the runner-up in the Maryland state championships this summer.

When he came to the U.S. a year ago, Jeff registered with the PSA, and has been steadily pushing his world ranking up. It now stands at 155, up from 186 in September thanks to a good finish at the Motor City Open.

NCSRA Rules Under Review

(Dec. 2000) At its November meeting, the NCSRA Board of Directors took another step toward revising its seriously outdated league rules – establishing an executive committee under Hunt Richardson to review proposed changes. Specific actions placed before the committee were a plan to require referees for all league matches beginning next summer (expanding a program launched in the D League last summer), and a proposal to require that all league players obtain an official skill level rating (SLR).

A survey of other SRAs that operate city leagues reveals that requiring ratings for league players is not at all unusual. In Rochester, N.Y., according to the November issue of Squash Magazine, “all players must have a USSRA Skill Level Rating, either estimated from the SquashRochester ladder or obtained from USSRA verifiers Mark Banford or Fred Weymuller.”

In Seattle. although official SLRs are not required, all players are ranked at the beginning of the season, and players are assigned to leagues according to their ranking. In Indianapolis, which has only one certified ratings verifier in the city, players are not required to have specific SLRs, but the one rater does assign a skill level (A, B or C) to every player at the start of the season. (There is no D League in Indianapolis.) In Boston, the league coordinators are responsible for ranking up to 15 players at the end of each season and designating specific players to move up to the next level for the next season.

Several questions remain about how to implement such a rule in the Washington area, where there are five officially certified verifiers. One specific question is how to deal with the small fee that a player normally pays to be rated by an official verifier.