Women Helping Men

 

A few weeks ago, I attended the wedding of a woman friend of mine. We got to know each other when we were young because her parents and mine were friends. In fact, our parents were part of a community group of friends that regularly got together for holidays. In this group, there were about 20-25 children that are within about ten years of each other. Of these children, I am the last to be unmarried.

               I mention this so that you have some context with which to understand why, at the wedding reception, no fewer than 12 people came up to me with some variation of, “So, Will, isn’t it about time for us to be attending your wedding?” (I started telling people their number after the first six: “Thank you for your concern; you are the seventh person to express it since the end of the ceremony.” I’m not sure they were all amused – I think number eleven wanted to slug me.)

               First of all, let me say that I like women. But I have standards, and chief among them is that I meet my beloved before we get married. This has proven to be a problem. You see, I spend most of my waking life in two places: my office and squash clubs. Which brings me to my point: where are all the women squash players?

               Before I make all the current women squash players mad at me, let me quickly say that I certainly don’t mean to disparage any of you (in fact, I want to marry many of you), it’s just that nine seems like a small number to me.

               Because recently we have had such a strong group of women at the top of US squash, many people may not realize that over the last ten years very few women college squash players have continued to play after graduating. This is a problem not only for potential suitors like me, but also for the game itself.

               In an age where many women’s sports are attracting more marketing dollars, fan interest and news coverage than their male counterparts (think I’m kidding? think figure skating, soccer, and tennis), it could be a slow death knell for squash if the conversion rate of college women players to post-graduate women players keeps decreasing. One particularly distressing thing is that no one seems sure why this is happening.

               I’ve heard a number of explanations, but most seem unlikely to me. Certainly, the concept that squash is too strenuous for women to play seriously has no merit. In fact, one of my all-time favorite squash stories disproves this point quickly. About fifteen years ago in Washington DC, an all-women’s team entered the Men’s B League. The team, led by Wendy Lawrence, was scheduled to play an away match at the Pentagon, when grumbling from their future opponents started.

               The Pentagonians, apparently, were none-too-thrilled about having to play women in a league match. It seems they felt that they weren’t going to get the exercise they had come to expect. It turns out that their worries may have had substance; a few of them were beaten before they knew what had happened, and the women won the match.

               About the only explanation for the low numbers of women players that makes some sense is a circular argument that goes something like this: women players who want to play squash can’t find other women with whom to play, so they don’t play at all.

               On the chance that this may have some veracity, let me plead with those of you who do play: seek out new players, encourage them, get them to join a league. We need women players.

               Before you think this is a selfish plea so that I can meet young women college grads (not a bad scheme, I admit), you should know that my second criteria for a mate is that my angel actually like me, and as one of my friends knowingly said, “Ah, there’s the rub.” So, I’m out.

               But since I know that there are other male squash players like me (at least as far as the office and squash court thing goes), we should start thinking about them. An entire generation of future squash players may hang in the balance.