Research Report #1
Anderson Good
PCA 336 9/25/14
Community: Intramural St. Lawrence University squash players
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Community Definition
o Community: The community I will be analyzing is the community of
intramural squash players at St. Lawrence University.
o Who makes up this community? The members of this community are the
current SLU students who enjoy coming down to the squash courts in their
free time to play squash for leisure and or exercise.
o Traits of this community: The vast majority of intramural squash players
at SLU are male, but there are occasional females who come down to play.
 The females that generally come down to the courts to play are
generally athletes who have been instructed to play squash for the
extreme cardiovascular workout it provides.
 Most of the males who come down on a consistent basis are former
athletes who either chose not to pursue the commitment of college
athletics or were cut from a team on campus they tried out for.
 The reason the majority of the intramural players are former
athletes is because of the extreme physical commitment playing
squash requires, and former athletes are most likely to seek that
commitment.
 Some of the conflicts that arise in this community are a lack of
knowledge of the rules of the game and sufficient and convenient
court time.
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Defining the Issue
o Definition of issue: The issue I would like to tackle with this research
report is the lack of professional teaching and teaching of the rules of the
game, as well as an exposure to an organized squash tournament
atmosphere.
o Quotes backing up these issues:
o Expanding on these issues, when talking with intramural player Ryder
Thompson ’16, he said “a lot of guys just go down to the courts and just
whack the ball around for an hour and leave, we don’t have the ability to
improve because we don’t know how to.”
o To move continue illustrating these issues, when talking with intramural
player Trip Farren ’15, he said “most of the guys who play this game
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intend to play it for life, for not only its benefits in the professional world
but for love of the game.”
 Farren went on to say “you might as well devote a little time to
learning a game you want to play for life, kind of like golf, it’s a
socially driven sport when it isn’t organized, and you don’t want to
be that new guy making the rest of the guys you’re trying to enjoy
playing with feel awkward because they are beating you so badly.”
o These issues affect the local SLU intramural squash community in several
ways, the first and most important one being physically.
 Improper footwork and technique can lead to serious health risks
over time.
 I have even seen this in my own game, over time of slightly
improper lunging technique and years of stress on my lower back;
I now have a partially herniated disk.
 These health risks are real and can be very serious, they need to be
eradicated as early in the learning process as possible.
o Professional coaching can improve somebody’s game that has never had
professional coaching in one day.
 Showing these inexperienced players things like proper footwork
and the correct way to grip the racquet will immediately improve
the quality of their game.
 That’s why I find the issue of a lack of professional coaching for
intramural players an easy one to tackle; noticeable improvements
can be made from a day’s worth of coaching.
o This issue doesn’t necessarily affect the local community, but rather, the
local St. Lawrence University community, a necessary distinction moving
forward in this research report.
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Causes of Issue and Contributing Factors that Continue to Make it a
Concern
o The cause of these of issues for intramural squash players here at SLU in a
nutshell is simple, access.
 The intramural players don’t have access to professional coaching.
 They don’t have access to the professional teaching of the rules of
the game.
 And they don’t have the access to an organized entity to plan and
provide equipment for a squash tournament.
o These issues could result into a bigger issue of players beginning to lose
their initial love for the game because of their lack of improvement or
exposure to a real squash atmosphere, such as a squash tournament
experience.
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o Quotes to backup the causes of this issue: In talking with intramural player
Alec Cote ’15 he said “if [intramural players] had access to teaching from
you players or anyone with knowledge of the game really, I think all of the
guys who go down to the courts and play for fun would enjoy it more.”
o Trip Farren ’15 says “we see all of you varsity players having so much fun
and have such intensity at practice and in your matches, if we had
anything similar to that we’d be so pumped.”
o Contributing factors to this issue: The lack of convenient court time for the
intramural players is an issue as well.
 They have to shape their schedules around varsity practices, which
generally end around dinnertime and start around 4:30.
 The intramural players can’t play when most of them have open
time in their schedules, which generally results in them not playing
at all, as opposed to coming down during the school day.
 If there is no court time that a majority of the players can attend,
how can they have the opportunity to learn about the game?

Advantages/Benefits of Addressing Issue
o The advantages of addressing these issues are an increased intramural
squash community at SLU.
 This would ideally create a larger fan base for the varsity program.
 Think about it, if you are really into a sport, the natural thing to do
is to watch people who are good at it.
 So creating an atmosphere at the squash courts conducive to
improving the inexperienced players, wouldn’t they reciprocate
this atmosphere by attending varsity squash matches?
o Another advantage of addressing these issues is the relationship between
the SLU varsity squash program and the school’s administration.
 SLU recently published an article in the school’s magazine and on
the front page of the school’s website on our rise to being one of
the top teams in the country.
 In the article they say, “the rise of St. Lawrence University’s men’s
squash program among those competing in the Collegiate Squash
Association cannot quite be described as meteoric, but the Saints
have certainly caught the eye of the squash world.”
 This shows the school wants to promote us, and wants our program
to have a well-respected image on campus.
 They know we are a talented team with a lot of potential and a
team that can boost the notoriety of the school in America and
abroad.
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o Improving notoriety of the program and thus the relationship between our
varsity squash program and the school can help varsity and intramural
players alike.
 However unlikely, if SLU squash were to rise to level of notoriety
that the hockey program currently possesses, the school may fund
professional coaching clinics, or even fund a club squash program.
 If the school realized the school’s fan base was to the size of the
hockey programs, they would be forced to begin to aid to that fan
base.
 That way, the intramural community would get they wanted, and
the varsity program would get a bigger fan base, a win-win
situation for both communities.
o The varsity players helping out the intramural players would be a positive
image for the program.
 If us varsity players began interacting with the intramural players
and teaching them things we have spent over a decade learning, it
would be a great image to promote to show what our program is all
about to prospective students and the SLU community as a whole.

Harms
o The main harms these issues could have on the SLU Intramural squash
community is to hurt their drive to keep playing because of the lack of
professional teaching and thus minimal to no improvement in their games.
 In talking with a teammate of mine, Sebastian Riedelsheimer ’15,
he says “squash is a very frustrating game in general, and playing
it without knowing the rules or proper technique could make it that
much more frustrating.”
o Another harm my issue could present is if the drive for the intramural
squash players to keep playing dwindles, that could translate to a decrease
in the fan base for the varsity program.
 A decrease to the varsity program’s fan base would be a huge blow
to school and our program as a whole.
 The school wants us to succeed, our athletic department wants us
to succeed, but if we succeed with a depleted on campus fan base,
what does the success really mean in regards to school spirit?

Significance of Harms
o The significance of these harms go way deeper than just impacting the
intramural squash program here at SLU.
 A lack of professional coaching and teaching as well as a lack of a
squash tournament experience for these intramural players could
negatively impact the varsity program.
 When I talked to my coach, Chris Abplanalp, he said he
wants our squash program to be viewed as a “positive
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group of guys who boost the notoriety of our school on a
national level and on campus.”
How could this view of our program take place on campus,
let alone on a national level, if we don’t have a positive
reputation and following on campus?
Intramural players make up a strong majority of the people
that show up to our home matches.
o If these players stop playing and consequently stop
coming to our matches, this could seriously affect
the vision my coach has for our program because of
how non-varsity players view our program.
Barrierso There are several barriers that make this issue tough to solve.
 For one, the first obvious issue is time.
 Varsity squash is an enormous time commitment, and
finding time during our season to devote to teaching
inexperienced players the basics of the game would be
difficult.
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Second, the organization necessary to plan a squash
tournament, including finding ample amounts of referees
and equipment.
o When talking to another one of my teammates,
Chris Fernandez ’15, he talks about the logistics of
a squash tournament, “they are extremely tough to
plan, they can’t be planned over night, if they are
planned overnight, it’d be a disaster.”

The third barrier to solving this issue is the barrier of
convenience.
o Everyone has different schedules, so the schedule of
a varsity squash player may not match up with an
intramural player, and vice versa.
o This may seem like a small issue, but if there can’t
be a time that works for everyone, then nothing will
be able to be accomplished!
Urgency
o The urgency surrounding this issue is more surrounding the amount of
time the SLU intramural players have left at SLU.
 In talking with intramural player Trip Farren ’15, he said “we
didn’t want a tournament like this before because we were all new
to the sport and the [varsity program] wasn’t that big on campus.”
 Farren went on to say “now that we are seniors, and this will most
likely be the last time I have access to squash courts on a daily
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basis, I want to be able to see what its like to play an organized
squash tournament, atleast once.”
 Most of the players that come down to the courts to play for
fun are seniors and juniors, so their time to be able to
participate in an organized squash tournament here at SLU
is limited.
o I talked to my coach, Chris Abplanalp, about the concept of an organized
tournament for intramural players, he said “there was one about 5 years
and it went pretty well.”
 The fact this happen is very key, because had it gone poorly, I
doubt my coach would support having a tournament for the
intramural players again.
 Without support from my coach, the tournament and teaching of
the game to the intramural players would most likely not be able to
occur.
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