A complete squash illiterate thinks they know everything about squash.

This past weekend, January 27 through 28, #12 Columbia Women’s Squash (2-7 0-3 Ivy) and #7 Columbia Men’s Squash (4-5 0-3 Ivy) teams faced off against Yale’s #7 Women’s (5-2, 3-1 Ivy) and #5 Men’s (7-1, 4-1 Ivy) teams. They also challenged Trinity’s Women’s (8-0, 0-0 NESCAC) and Men’s (11-0, 0-0 NESCAC) Squash teams.

As a disclaimer, for readers looking for the actual rules of squash, this is not the place. I have inferred all rules and terms based on my previous knowledge and through observation. 

Before these games, I had only ever heard of squash. I knew it was played in a box, with tennis-like rackets and a rapidly moving ball. It was THE Ivy League sport, second only to rowing or some other arcane athletic endeavor. My first exposure to squash beyond whispers through the grapevines was peeking through a small door somewhere in the depths of Dodge Gym searching for my P.E. class, thinking it was an emergency exit or something. Instead, I was surprised to find a room entirely covered in lacquered wood panels, like one of those padded asylum rooms but infinitely less comfy. 

For this particular article, I chose to not read up on the rules of squash, challenging myself to resort to keen observation and context clues to figure out the ways of the game as it progressed and test the limits of my ball sports knowledge. 

Upon opening the live stream for the Columbia v. Yale games, I noticed that multiple simultaneous games were going on simultaneously in a row of squash courts. Being only one measly person, I will focus primarily on one men’s and one women’s match. 

First up was the men’s game between Franklyn Smith (CC ’26) and Siow Yee Xian (Yale ‘24). Previously, I was under the impression that squash was played in an entirely translucent room, except the floor, permitting spectators to watch the game, like an aquarium display, which is about half correct. To set the scene for those of us who have no idea what an actual squash court looks like, this broadcast allowed viewers to watch through the ceiling of the room, with a translucent wall containing a door on one end for live audiences and three solid opaque walls making up the other three sides.

The two active players are inside, each wearing a protective face mask and wielding a teardrop-shaped racket used to hit a small rubber ball against the room’s walls. It appears that one player, who is serving the ball, is permitted to hit the ball a certain number of times in the “front” half of the room, and after the final hit, the second player is permitted to infiltrate the front half of the room and respond with their own set of hits against the wall. The players then volley back and forth as the ball bounces off the walls and floor that compose the room. A little bit of geometry for you.  

Back to the game, Smith scored first in one of five sets, scoring three points before Xian scored his first. However, within the first set, Xian quickly caught up to Smith, winning the set 11-9. 

Speaking of scores, the scoreboard was set up similarly to tennis, where rather than a cumulative score earned throughout the game like, say, basketball, after each “set,” the players move on to the next set where points reset, and whoever wins the majority of the five sets first is declared the winner. And whoever earns eleven points first wins the set. 

By the second set, I discovered how one could earn points in squash. It seems that if you let the ball bounce on the same wall, the ceiling, or the floor more than once, your opponent earns a point. So then the most effective way to earn points would be to wildly vary the intensity of your hits. 

In the third set of the men’s match, Smith managed to stay close to Xian after losing the first two sets, resulting in a deuce point. Xian scored twice, with a final score in the third set of 13-11, giving Yale’s men’s team their first team point. 

Then came the women’s match, between Sin Yuk (Simmi) Chan (CC ‘25) and Elisabeth Ross (Yale ‘24). In the second set, Chan reached 11 points first, with Ross trailing by one with 10 points. One would assume that the set would end here, but this situation produced something similar to a deuce point in tennis, where if the trailing player is losing by only one point when their opponent reaches 11 points, the game continues until one player pulls ahead by two points. In the third set, Chan continued to outplay Ross, scoring 8 points before Ross scored her first. Chan won the third and final set 11-3, bringing Columbia even with Yale’s overall team score, now 1-1. The day ended with losses by both Lions teams, the women’s team losing 3-6 and the men’s team 4-5. 

Despite the loss, as a former athlete (any track or field hockey people out there), I have a deep appreciation and admiration for anyone who can play a sport at any level of skill. The amount of lunging, reaching, and quick maneuvering required to get to the ball, weaving in between and around each other, anticipating the ball’s movements. Hoping their knees don’t break from stress and that their physical therapy team is well stocked into the far future. 

The next day, Sunday, January 28, equipped with my newfound squash knowledge, I approached the Columbia vs. Trinity game with a bit more practice and confidence. I was basically a seasoned squash reporter at this point. The commentary of each match came much more easily and was not broken up by puzzling over a rule. In this particular game, Columbia faced a tough opponent, Trinity ranking number 1 in the NCAA Division I for both their varsity teams. 

First up in the women’s game was Nourin Khalifa (BC ‘26) and Kara Lincou (Trinity ‘26). Lincou started strong, pulling ahead of Khalifa, who was able to even out the score at 7. Though Lincou continued to score, Khalifa was able to keep up with her opponent. Cheers could be heard coming from teammates watching on the sidelines. However, Lincou was able to keep her lead, winning the first set 11-8. In the second set, Khalifa gained an early lead, pulling away and winning the set 11-4. Khalifa once again pulled ahead at the beginning of the third set, but Lincou was able to catch up, winning 11-7. With only one set left to win, Lincou trailed behind Khalifa and saw a glimmer of hope after tying 11-11. Her teammates cheered her on, and encouragement could be heard from the sideline. However, after Lincou pulled ahead by one, Khalifa’s racket hit the wall mid-swing, allowing Lincou to earn the winning point, ending the match 13-11. This would be the Trinity women’s team’s second win of the day, with Columbia having only won one match. 

Players, especially when the game became tense or stressful, would wipe their hands on the wall, probably to get rid of sweat. Not to psychoanalyze, but it’s also a coping mechanism. As I continued to watch, now knowing the general rules, I could see players’ strategic maneuvers, such as blocking their opponent by “accidentally” bumping into them or standing in their path to get the ball. Players could hit the ball extra hard to bounce it off two opposing walls instead of one, forcing their opponent to rapidly switch directions. By observing their opponent’s position on the court, a player could softly hit or smash the ball across the court, forcing them into awkward positions to get to the ball in time. 

Moving on to the men’s matches, next up was Shaurya Bawa (CC ‘27) and Joachin Chuah (Trinity ‘26). After a lengthy volley, Chuah scored the first point of the game, which carried on throughout the set, with Chuah winning 7-11. The second set was much more even, as Bawa and Chuah remained at similar scores throughout, with Bawa finally prevailing with a final score of 11-8. The third set played out similarly as each player tried to pull ahead. This time the score rose far beyond the normal 11. After a drawn-out set, Chuah pulled ahead with a final score of 16-14. In the third set, Bawa gained an early lead which he maintained, scraping by and winning 9-11. In the fifth and final set, Bawa easily dominated, winning the set 11-5. This would be the Columbia men’s team’s second win of the day, pulling them ahead of Trinity. 

Unfortunately, both Trinity’s men’s and women’s teams won a majority of the matches, 5-4 and 8-1 respectively. 

All the while, a couple of questions began to circle. Where was the referee in squash? Were there fouls? Any specific physical contact or hits that weren’t allowed? If multiple simultaneous matches were going on, was a ref needed for each one? Were there boundaries in squash, especially if the whole game is contained to a literal room? Just a few questions I had lingering in the back of my mind while watching. 

This learn-as-you-go experience with squash made me appreciate the game for what it was. I could even feel myself getting more and more invested as the games went on, knowing what it took to score and some of the strategies used. Squash still feels like a half-made-up sport, in the sense that it’s played in a box and that those practice rooms in Dodge feel like the inside of a box and have developed within me a fear of getting locked inside with no lights. 

No longer will I see the word squash and think of some dystopic plexiglass box. Instead, I will recall the deep care and investment that Columbia’s squash team (and teams all over the country) dedicate to this little-known sport. 

Squash via CUAthletics