THE MIAA ADOPTS SQUASH AS ITS 17TH VARSITY SPORT

Already one of the few athletic associations in the country to sanction water polo and rugby as varsity sports, the MIAA has announced that squash will become an official varsity sport starting in the 2007-2008 winter sports season.

The full roster of participating schools is not known yet, but already Boys' Latin, St. Paul's and Gilman have committed to moving their club teams to the varsity level.  Several other MIAA schools have club teams and are considering the transition.

Team matches will consist of seven individual matches, played to a best three of five games.  Each individual match is to nine points and a victory will count as one team point.  The school with the most team points wins the match.  For the coming year, all matches will be played at Meadow Mill Athletic Club in Baltimore.

The competition will be governed by the rules of the World Squash Federation and in a unique move, the MIAA will require all participating student athletes to be referee certified and they will referee their own matches.  For
Squash becomes the 17th sanctioned varsity sport in the MIAA.  Play begins during the 2007-2008 winter sports season.
instance, in a given match, a student from the home team may officiate individual matches 1-3-5-7, while a visiting student may referee matches 2-4-6.

Matches will have no time limits, but there will be a strict adherence to the rule allowing just 90-seconds between games..  Coaches are allowed to coach between games, but never during competition.

Squash is a racket sport played in an enclosed court, approximately 32 feet long by 21 feet wide and approximately 18.5 feet high.  It originated in 12th century France, when young children, eager to play the original version of tennis, slapped balls off shop walls and door openings in narrow alleys.  Soon the game moved to monasteries where it became a favorite with monks.

As its popularity grew, the game spread throughout Europe and continued to evolve.  The British were the first to build covered courts so they could continue to play indoors and this practice spread to the colonies.

The original ball was a patch of leather with dog hair sewn inside.  First, players adopted gloves to strike the ball and then numerous items, such as tree branches, stumpy sticks and shepherd's crooks were used to extend the hand and strike the ball.  Of course, these items evolved into the the introduction of rackets, which eventually inspired a name change of the game, from tennis to rackets.

The name squash originated at the Harrow School in London, in the 1850's, where rackets enthusiasts had to adapt the game to a narrow open-air court, filled with obstacles including a hanging water pipe.  There, they adopted a softer, rubber ball and sawed off the butts of their rackets to play slower, easier game in their confined space.

The style caught on and game has continued to grow ever since.