Trinity Women's Squash Captain's Blog by Kate Wymard'12: Entry #2
TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More
As classes commence, we now have other responsibilities other than squash. When practice finally arrives during a busy day, we are reminded that no matter what we are thinking about, all of our energy needs to be directed to squash. Once we are on the court, we can’t do anything about our schoolwork or boy problems. Thus, squash has become a perfect outlet for stress and a way to take any frustration we have out on the ball.
Kelly Clarkson’s song states that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Our team has recently taken this line to heart. Wee Nee Low demonstrated tremendous courage and determination this past week. For those of you who do not know Wee Nee, a sophomore who plays the No. 2 spot for us and came to Trinity all the way from Penang, Malaysia, it is your loss. Behind her quiet face is a squash game unlike any others. She has a simple, smart approach that simplifies the game making it very frustrating for her opponents to play her. Unfortunately, Wee Nee suffered a head injury during her Yale match last Wednesday night and was unable to play Harvard on Saturday- everyone except Catalina Pelaez had to move up a spot. However, during her Yale match Wee Nee was an energizer bunny who never stopped running. She fought through the entire five-game match and didn’t even mention the injury until way after the match finished. If that isn’t inspiration for us to push through tough matches I don’t know what is. Another sophomore is Jenn Pelletier who was cool as a cucumber during her Harvard match, like every match she plays, as she battled to a win in the No. 5 match. I admire and envy her for hr ability to play with such calm.
Twice this week people asked me what it feels like to be a captain and not play top nine. I responded with a laugh and followed by saying that it honestly does not matter to me especially since the team has respect for me as a leader. We have been focusing on the team aspect this entire season and I feel that we have been one of the most united groups of girls I have played with while at Trinity. Coach Wendy Bartlett’s slogan is: (TEAM) Together Everyone Achieves More. Everyone has earned her spot, so for someone to question my feeling on where I play on this team is out of the line. Since I first came to Trinity in 2008 it has been an ongoing learning experience for me. A lot of people will tell you that most of what you learn during college occurs outside of the classroom and I agree. Playing squash in college prepares us for life by making us learn how to stay organized when classes start and how to handle high pressure situations like those we face during matches.
Although we had two tough losses this past week, we are not discouraged. We learned from them and know what we need to work on going forward. Everyone is fired up for practices and ready to take on Penn and Dartmouth this weekend. Five weeks until Howe Cup.