Squash Moves on to Chichester for Day Two of UK Tour

The Fordham squash team continued a unique experience on Monday, as the Rams continued their seven-day stay in the United Kingdom, where Fordham will play exhibition matches against a variety of club teams in the U.K.

Throughout their trip, the Rams will be giving their own updates on the trip.

On day two, Fordham played Chichester Squash Club at their home facility, falling by a 9-0 score.

Today, we hear from sophomore Peter Yuen as well as see some of his photos and photos from Matthew Crowe from the UK Tour.

"Today, we continued our tour east along the scenic southern coast of England.  Although our next stop was Chichester City, our coach turned tour guide provided us with a plethora of interesting factoids along our journey. 

We first passed by the town of Portsmouth, which had a rich history dating back to the reign of Henry VIII.  Along the highway we saw several fortifications, big thick red walls with giant artillery guns in front of them.  To the south of the road, our coach stopped to point out the famous harbor of Portsmouth.  He claimed that Henry VIII was responsible for making the naturally well fortified harbor the first naval base in history, and that to this day England continues to have a strong naval presence in the bay. 

We then stopped off in the town of Havant, a bustling and much more lively town than Lee containing far more shops and stores.  Coach/local historian Bryan Patterson later aptly described it as a "market town," and I instantly pictured medieval Englishmen traveling from local hamlets to Havant to sell and trade.  In Havant, we paid a visit to the Sea Court Racquet club.  I can personally say that may have been the most unique experience of our trip so far; for the first time my teammates and I were able to try out "rackets" and "court tennis."  These sports are so obscure, that you might be able to count all their existing courts in the world on two hands. 

After an experimental rackets match and a non-competitive court tennis game we hit the road again, finally reaching our destination of Chichester City.  While Chichester did not seem to be significantly bigger then any of the towns we had visited, coach explained that in England an area can only be deemed a city if it contains a cathedral.  Everyone on the team paid a visit to the Chichester cathedral.  We gazed in awe at the incredible structure, as it dawned on us that this building was at least two, maybe three times as old as our country.  The inside of Chichester cathedral was beautiful, from the intricate architecture to the stunning stained glass windows, it was truly a living, functioning work of art.

 

We did not do much more exploring, and shortly head back to the Chichester squash club for our evening match.  While I believe we played more confidently and energetically than against Lee (thanks to the jet lag), we fell to Chichester 9-0.  Alex LaVersa and Matthew Crowe both managed to push their matches to a fourth game, but in a puzzling turn of events they both lost the final games, 11-0.  As opposed to yesterday's match where I felt that each of us was totally out classed, the rest of the matches were tight matches.  Even though everyone else lost in three straight games, each match lasted much longer and contained much more competitive rallies then yesterday.  At the end of the day, when we were invited to dine with the Chichester players, I felt proud about our performance, and optimistic about our match tomorrow.
 
I'd just like to end my daily summary with a couple closing comments.  I have found that English squash players in general play a very disciplined and defensive style of squash.  Each member of the two teams we have come across strike the ball very cleanly, and they all seemed to have much better technique then our opponents back home.  After the match it is common to chat and hangout with your opponent, which seems to be missing from the squash culture in the United States.  I am greatly impressed with the squash clubs I have been to and I believe that adapting some aspects of English squash culture would help the sport grow in the United States.  Finally I'd like to thank our host families and clubs for their hospitality, you have all made this trip truly enjoyable."

Final Match scores:
1)         (Chich.) Miles Jenkens def. (Ford.) Kincade Webster 11-7, 11-3, 11-5
2)         Steve McLaughlin def. Peter Yuen 11-6, 11-8, 11-7
3)         Lewis Strudnick def. Will Pantle 11-5, 11-9, 11-7
4)         Julian Stanaish def. Alex LaVersa 11-1, 11-9, 8-11, 11-0
5)         Peter Berkley def. Jimmy Shinnick 11-4, 11-3, 11-8
6)         Jamie Allday def. John Lennon 11-6, 11-7, 11-6
7)         Danny Berkley def. Matthew Crowe 11-2, 11-6, 9-11, 11-0
8)         Ali Campbell def. James Potts 11-6, 11-5, 11-7
9)         Mike Phillips def. Robert Levis 12-10, 11-4, 11-7

Day three of the UK Tour will see Fordham match up with Winchester Squash Club in Hampshire, England.