At the fifty-ninth hosting of the Junior Nationals this spring, we honored Olivia Fiechter and Derek Hsue with the 2014 DeRoy Sportsmanship Award. Each year we present this award to a male and female senior who demonstrate exemplary behavior on and off the court and compete at a high level.

Olivia, a multi-time national champion and two-time U.S. Junior team and 2013 U.S. Women鈥檚 team member, will attend Princeton in the fall. Derek, the Pingry School team captain and U17 Champion last year, will head to Penn. Each young adult, only as old as the honor itself, personify qualities which have been closely associated with squash for more than a century. These include accountability, excellence, fairness, honesty, and courtesy.

We all know that squash requires players to be responsible for their own actions, and is one of those rare sports where winning and losing fairly is completely in the hands of the competitors. Aristotle said, 鈥淲e are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.鈥� Each time we step on the court, we have the opportunity to practice and develop these virtues of good performance and moral character by how we answer questions such as, Did I carry the ball, and did I call it on myself? Did I continue playing, even though I鈥檓 not certain I got that shot? Am I positive my serve was in? Did I offer a stroke to my opponent? Am I clearing as quickly and thoroughly as the rules require?

Embracing the fundamentals of good character makes playing squash more rewarding and a more enjoyable community. Why else is this important? If relationships are part of a foundation for success, and relationships are built on trust, trust comes from demonstrating character and integrity. Lessons learned and practiced in squash every day, ultimately help people succeed in life.

By Kevin D. Klipstein, President & Chief Executive Officer

It鈥檚 easy to get lost in all the titles. U.S. Championships are all around us now. It wasn鈥檛 always the case, as many in their 40s, 50s and 60s still often lament in refrains such as, 鈥淚 remember when there were 500 players at Nationals, with draws of 64 or more, everyone was there!鈥�

As with most things, we often look back with nostalgia on the hardball days in the 70s and 80s, when times were simpler, weekends longer (and uninterrupted by cell phones, email and text), and 鈥渆veryone鈥� in the squash community gathered for a few major national championships鈥擭ational Singles, National Doubles, National Juniors. Since 1984, the number of National Championships has increased from nine to twenty, and the number of participants in National Championships has soared 130% from just over 2,000 in 1984 to more than 5,000 this season, including the largest squash tournament in the world (U.S. High Schools), and the largest junior squash tournament in the world (U.S. Junior Open).

None of this should take away from how significant, and special, earning a National Championship title is, and how meaningful an experience it is for those who participate, their families, friends, schools and clubs. In the end, few of us ultimately win, however it鈥檚 the pursuit of excellence, the desire to compete, and the satisfaction we feel in having done our best and played fairly, that makes us appreciate our involvement in the sport.

Squash is now more accessible to more people in the U.S. than ever before, and we鈥檙e just getting started. Was 鈥渆veryone鈥� at Nationals? No, because there are so many nationals now. And thank goodness.

As the national governing body we generally believe that the more people play squash, the better. That said, moderation in all things is advised, and squash is no exception. An issue that has started to crop up as one in need of addressing is year-round play for juniors. We鈥檝e received some criticism recently that the junior season for squash appears more and more to be year-round.

At a glance, this does seem to be true: the points-based system implemented two years ago does in fact reward participation to some degree, though not as much as results on court. There are also more tournaments on the calendar, and certainly more through the spring and summer. This provides the opportunity for juniors to play tournaments year-round, particularly those attending private schools, or juniors simply playing on a scholastic team, preventing them from competing in tournaments during the traditional winter season.

It鈥檚 likely some biases are being brought into the criticism too, based on what is happening in other sports. Overall in the US, it seems that kids today are being encouraged to specialize in sports earlier and earlier. You don鈥檛 have to look too long before you hear about kids barely out of diapers on travel teams competing nearly every day of the week, nearly every season of the year. And this for many experts, including those involved in driving sports participation and performance in Canada, is a mistake.

Refreshingly, Canada鈥檚 centralized support for sports is rooted in a coaching and leadership initiative called the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). This program seeks to develop and enhance the capabilities of instructors, coaches, officials and volunteer leaders of all sports at the grassroots level. NCCP is the coach training and certification program for 65 different sports and is offered in both official languages across Canada, and is the recognized national standard for coach training and certification in Canada.

Their approach is based on the idea that varied skills building in the pre-teen and teenage years is more important than specialized sport skills, and suggests that too much specialization, too early, may be harmful to development. It emphasizes that mastery of a range of motor skills, combined with good overall physical fitness, is critical to the healthy development of a child, and form the basis of their athletic competence. The approach also suggests that a more general approach, taken early on, benefits the athlete when specialization in sports does occur in later teenage years. Even then, participation in at least one other sport is still considered integral to the development process.

Those in the US who argue that in order to achieve a high ranking in squash, or to truly compete at the elite level, requires year-round commitment just need to pay attention to the numerous examples of some of the most successful junior squash players who are multi-sport athletes, who hang up their racquets after Nationals to play on their high school lacrosse or baseball teams instead.

In the end, it鈥檚 a choice, and it comes down to what a player wants to get out of the experience. So much is gained from participation in playing competitive squash outside of a ranking. Everything from the basic values of good sportsmanship to learning the discipline required to improve one鈥檚 game. Interviewing recent college grads from schools with teams ranked in the teens and twenties, they mostly seem to talk about their commitment to the sport, and more remarkably, their intense dedication to their teammates. These are components of squash completely apart from any results or the competition entirely.

We want squash to be a sport that players enjoy. It鈥檚 rare that one looks back and regrets taking a long term perspective on just about anything (excluding the market!). We may want to take note of this in relation to our children鈥檚 involvement in sports. Providing opportunities to build skills and experiences in other sports could result in a child who plays even better, and a lifelong love of the sport.

President Obama has recently come under fire for managing the White House like a boys club, with talk of sports around the water cooler and frequent basketball games with only men. He made headlines the other week by finally including a woman in his golf foursome, the 25^th round that he鈥檚 played since becoming president. It鈥檚 hard to believe that there is really a gender bias in the White House, with women in such senior cabinet and advisory positions, and with President Obama going home every night to the most important people in his life, three females. But perceptions don鈥檛 always reflect reality.

Similarly, much has been written about the paucity of women squash players and the possible reasons for this trend, but this coverage does not necessarily tell the whole story. As recently as 2006, females made up only 14% of the membership, the percent is now 26%. We鈥檝e seen a 77% increase in the number of girls achieving a final season ranking since 2004, and more girls than boys qualified as U.S. SQUASH Scholar-Athletes this season. When the U.S. High School Championships launched in 2004, there were no girls鈥� teams. Earlier this year, 44 of the 102 teams were girls鈥� teams. Our Junior Women鈥檚 Team placed 4^th, a few points away from 2^nd, at the World Championships this summer. On the adult side, the Howe Cup has seen participation consistently exceed 200 players the last five years, and a women鈥檚 doubles tour started two years ago and continues to grow, founded by recent Women鈥檚 Sports Foundation (WSF) honoree Narelle Krizek. Also honored by the WSF at their recent annual dinner was World No. 3 and US No. 1 Natalie Grainger. Two women, Diana Dowling and Icy Frantz, were recently elected to serve on the U.S. SQUASH Board of Directors.

Once again though, these positive signs don鈥檛 necessarily paint the complete picture. While we believe that a rising tide lifts all ships, meaning as we increase participation in the sport, naturally the number of women, and the proportion of women in squash, will increase, we also understand that there are significant challenges keeping women engaged in squash.

This is something we are taking seriously at U.S. SQUASH. We have three strategic priorities at U.S. SQUASH: grow membership, build awareness and increase participation with the goal of strengthening the finances of the Association. Of the five major initiatives we are focused on to accomplish these objectives, two are targeted directly at increasing women鈥檚 participation: our PLAY SQUASH program and our support for the College Squash Association (CSA).

鈥淧LAY SQUASH鈥� is an initiative to encourage in-club squash play and participation. The program offers pros and coordinators the online tools needed to easily organize play at the club level, and offers players engaging ways to enjoy squash no matter their skill level including in-club Challenge Ladders and Box Leagues. These options offer opportunities to play with less of a time commitment than tournaments and team leagues.

Through our partnership with the CSA, we are working to increase the number of women鈥檚 club and varsity squash programs across the country. Women鈥檚 squash has the opportunity to become recognized by the NCAA as more than an emerging sport if the number of varsity programs exceeds 40. There are currently 30 women鈥檚 varsity programs. We are also extending college player memberships until age 25 to maintain the connection between the sport and these players as the graduates adapt to post-college reality and with the goal of keeping squash an integral part of their daily lives.

In addition to these initiatives, the Women鈥檚 Committee, headed by former U.S. SQUASH Board Chair Jeannie Blasberg, continues to push hard on several initiatives, including driving tournament participation among women by encouraging strong draws at a 鈥渢our鈥� of events throughout the season, while also encouraging Districts to host more casual, social play during evenings hosted by women, for women.

The story of women鈥檚 squash is more complex than a simple headline, though one that we鈥檙e aiming to see soon goes something like this, 鈥淕ROWTH IN THE WOMEN鈥橲 GAME DRIVES U.S. SQUASH MEMBERSHIP TO NEW HIGHS.鈥�

翱蹿听the several dozen pieces I鈥檝e written for this space, one that seems to have struck a chord was the recent 鈥淧reserving the Essence of Squash.鈥� In it I concluded that 鈥減erfect behavior on court is not the goal, and it never will be. Rather, it is our goal to encourage everyone in the game to be courteous, respectful and responsible for his or her own behavior. This, I believe, is critical to preserving the essence of the game.鈥�

One interesting observation is the number of parents of junior players who thanked me for writing it. In an age of, let鈥檚 call it overly 鈥渆nmeshed鈥� parenting, it seems that many parents are looking for help in setting the guard rails for appropriate behavior for their children on and off the court. In fact, any effort we make to highlight the importance of sportsmanship appears to be welcomed and appreciated by parents and coaches alike.

So you may be able to imagine my reaction last week when I came across the following exchange in Dan Patrick鈥檚 Sports Illustrated piece, 鈥淭he Interview,鈥� with Danica Patrick, a 27-year-old Indy Racing League driver:

Dan: If you could take a performance-enhancing drug and not get caught, would you do it if it allowed you to win Indy?
Danica: Well, then it鈥檚 not cheating, is it? If nobody finds out?

Dan: So you would do it?
Danica: Yeah, it would be like finding a gray area. In motorsports we work in the gray areas a lot. You鈥檙e trying to find where the holes are in the rule book.

I had to re-read that exchange a few times to make sure I was reading it correctly. Was Danica Patrick really saying that she did not believe it would be cheating if she didn鈥檛 get caught?

Several things troubled me about this possibility. Ms. Patrick is considered a role model for girls around the world, a young woman who has achieved success in an archetypical male sport. Motorsports is renowned for drivers and their teams looking for an advantage, or as Ms. Patrick put it, 鈥渉oles in the rule book.鈥� However, there are rules and breaking them is cheating, whether you get caught or not. The idea that a paid professional in any sport may not understand this fundamental concept disturbed me.

More disturbing, though, was the realization of just how accepted this belief is in sports these days. In pro cycling it鈥檚 so accepted that the athletes themselves truly do not think they are cheating since everyone is doing it. Baseball鈥檚 use of performance enhancing drugs was tolerated, not only among the players, but also by the sport鈥檚 governing body itself.

So do kids really have a chance to develop a sense for true sportsmanship when some of sports鈥� biggest figures flout the rules or make their own? While it may be more of a struggle than in past generations, due to our culture鈥檚 habit to worship sports celebrities and their ubiquity in the media, practice makes perfect, which is why squash offers some of the best training in sportsmanship.

With so many opportunities to create 鈥済ray areas鈥� while playing squash, from subtly causing interference while clearing, to calling questionable lets, under the best of circumstances officiating squash is a challenge. This means that fair play is really within the control of each player on every point. Play enough squash, with parents and coaches sending and reinforcing consistent messages about sportsmanship, and there may be reason to hope we will nurture a generation as critical of Danica Patrick鈥檚 nonchalant treatment of the rules as I appear to be.