outsidetheglass

Steve Line is The Man in Black. The first and only full-time professional squash photographer, the Englishman has been sitting behind the front wall, camera in hand, for almost thirty-six years. He now takes 48,000 photos at each event. But it wasn’t always that way: Line tells of turning from geology to photography, his wedding photo mishaps and how he developed film in a coal bunker.

Mike Lewis is the Walter Mitty of squash—except his day dreams became a reality. In his mid-twenties, he quit his job to become a touring squash pro. In the next eighteen months, he played in forty-seven countries, reaching world No.112. Here are tales from his life on the road, including the art of sleeping at squash clubs and discovering squash fans in places like Andorra, Morocco, New Caledonia...

Outside The Glass got a special, behind-the-scenes look at Aspire Academy in Doha, Qatar. Geoff Hunt, Stewart Boswell and Jonathon Kemp took us on a tour of the world’s only squash boarding school. We learned about kabaddi, saw fencing and table tennis practice and spent time at the squash facility from where future world champions will probably emerge.

What is it like to be a Dreamer, to be brought to the U.S. as a young child and grow up without documents? Reyna Pacheco is a Mexican-American who graduated from Columbia last year and is now a professional squash player. She is ranked world No.72. Pacheco tells her inspiring story to OTG. “Dream big, work bigger—work as big as you dream."

Jazz trumpeter, data cruncher, media guru, Howard Harding is the man behind the story. He has researched, written and issued over 8,600 squash press releases in the past thirty years. He’s also the founder and director of SquashInfo.com, the Bible of squash. And he’s hung out with Lou Reed.

One of the giants of North American squash, Clive Caldwell has been a top pro player, director of the pro hardball tour and owner of major squash clubs in Canada. OTG sits down with him to talk about the original oversized racquet, the infamous Bunny Suit, the creation of the WPSA logo and how squash can evolve: "Every change is a nightmare,” he says. "Nobody wants change. If you don’t change, you...

It is a lodestar for your life: the very first time you stepped on a squash court. Sometimes it was a magical moment; other times an ordinary moment, just something you did. Looking back, though, it is when your life changed. Guests include Ted Price, Demer Holleran, Larry Sconzo, Jack Bickel, Rich Wade, Bart McGuire, Matt McAndrew, Kat Grant, Leo Pierce, Nick & Tom Post, Sam Howe, Jim Dawson, Jef...

In the fourth of our series on best wins and worst losses, OTG jumps into possibly the most excruciating and exciting arena: team matches. We hear about the greatest Team USA squad that no one knows about—the gold-medal winning American girls at the 1980 Women’s World Juniors—and other tales of redemption and recidivism. Guests include Freddy Hernandez, Kat Grant, Rich Wade, Ted Price and Adam Ham...

In our third episode in our series that looks at best wins and worst losses, OTG dwells on something squash players vividly remember: match points. Miraculous comebacks, stunning collapses, whether in a national championship, a club tournament or a C league match, these are moments they've never forgotten. And neither will you. Guests include Andres Vargas, Bart McGuire, Preston Quick, Jim Dawson,...

Squash is a family game: we compete with our parents, our children, our siblings, our cousins. As we continue our series about memories of your best win, your worst loss, OTG presents a half dozen stories about the poignant joys, irritations and sorrows of playing in a squash family. Guests include Leo Pierce, Molly Pierce, Sam Howe, Nick Post, Tom Post and Demer Holleran.

Earlier this month, Amanda Sobhy, the world No.6 player, suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the semifinals of a tournament in Colombia; she was at match point against fellow American Olivia Blatchford. Sobhy talks with Outside The Glass about the lead-up to the injury, her harrowing journey to the hospital that night and her plan for the long road back.

It is March, so it is time again for the Cheltenham Festival, the annual horse jumping meeting in England. Malcolm Willstrop, a former horse racing journalist, takes Outside The Glass into a betting shop in Pontefract to put a wager down before spinning a few tales from his early days in squash. The dean of international squash coaches, Willstrop has been mentoring players for a half century, incl...

OTG is starting a new series of interviews about memories of your best win, your worst loss and the first time you played squash. Olivia Blatchford, a longtime Team USA member and currently world No.27, inaugurates the series with an insightful look back at victories in Mexico and Ireland, defeats in New York and the perfect roll corner. How do you incorporate the “I don’t lose, I learn” mentality...

Nour El Tayeb and Ali Farag are newlyweds, having gotten married last summer. They are also two of the most exciting and exceptional young players on tour. They talk with Outside the Glass about honeymooning in Vegas, cattle farming, how they coach each other between games, the brilliance of Harvard coach Mike Way, playing in front of the Great Pyramids and what El Tayeb’s grandmother always says...

The elder stateswoman of collegiate squash, Wendy Bartlett is in the midst of her thirty-third season as head coach of the Trinity College women’s squash team. Outside the Glass sat down with her to talk about everything from squash in Pittsburgh in the 1970s to nail biting 5-4 matches to the precipitous decline in the number of female coaches today.

What do Eric Heiden, Big Bend National Park, Seattle’s Bumpershoot Festival and MLB.com have to do with each other? They are all part of the fascinating, roundabout squash journey of US Squash President & CEO Kevin Klipstein. Listen here to a penetrating and revealing conversation about parenting, sportsmanship and the first time he learned the importance of the T.

What is it like the very first time you hear about squash? Outside the Glass goes to Wilmington, Del., as a new urban after-school program—with the help of some alumni from the Philadelphia program—introduces the game to a group of middle schoolers.

The world’s most obscure racquet sport is sticke. Invented in the 1870s, sticke was all the rage in Victorian England and about fifty courts were built around the world. Three survive today. We visited one in Wiltshire, England to try our hand.

Get to know the best American squash players of the future as they get set to go to the World Junior Championships in Poland.

It is one of the great secrets in the game. In a few days, another Jarvis & Kaplan Cup starts. Founded in 1960, the Jarvis is a week-long inter-provincial team tournament in South Africa. Paul Atkinson and Mark Reid, two Jarvis veterans, explain to James Zug the traditions and hijinks of the Jarvis.

Paul Selby is opinionated, controversial and always an iconoclast. The longtime English coach and father of three ranked professionals, including Daryl Selby, sat down with James Zug and Chris McClintick at the U.S. Open last fall. Selby told of his highly unusual introduction to the game, how he raised his children and his provocative thoughts on developing the game.

Jenny Irving started playing squash in Melbourne in the late 1950s and went on to become the second best player in the world. She reached the finals of the British Open in 1971. Forty-five years later, she came back to the British Open and talked about her regimen of training at 11pm, her daughter Liz Irving and her rivalry with fellow-Australian Heather McKay.

What is it like to grow up with a world champion as a father? Joey Barrington, the SquashTV commentator and former world No.24, speaks about his dad, the legendary champion Jonah Barrington. He talks about ghosting on a South African beach, the uses of an intimidating tan and the moment he told Jonah he was turning pro.

In the 1950s Dick Cooley was ranked in the top ten in the country, a former Yale star and a member of a national championship team from the Pacific Coast. He was playing squash left-handed, although he had grown up a righty; during the Second World War Cooley had lost his right arm when his fighter plane crashed in France, and he learned to play squash left-handed. “Someone believes in you, you ca...

For twenty years after-school youth-enrichment programs have been a huge part of the U.S. squash community, but a new program in Israel has a different take on how to change lives and expand opportunities. Outside the Glass went to Raanana, outside of Tel Aviv, to take a look at SquashBond Israel—Sport & Beyond.