<p>How popular is squash at boarding school?</p>
<p>Tell me about the facilities and team at your schools.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>exeter has like a million squash courts, and i heard they're planning to build more.</p>
<p>Squash is a pretty popular sport at most of the top schools. Andover and Exeter have nice courts. I think Deerfield just recently renovated/added to its squash courts. St. Pauls has beautiful squash facilities. So does Choate.</p>
<p>Squash is a good sport to take, particularly if you've previously played tennis, because most kids coming in as freshmen haven't played it before, so it's not a big deal if you're a new player.</p>
<p>We visited 12 schools last fall and almost all of them had newly built or expanded squash courts. So I'd say it's pretty popular.</p>
<p>The boys team at SPS was excellent last year. I believe they won New Englands and were 4th in the nation.</p>
<p>Yes, Exeter has lots of squash courts. And they keep building more, despite the fact that our theatre is falling apart and we need budgeting and focus on the arts instead of another million sports games.</p>
<p>What, me, bitter?</p>
<p>dude, chill. my only complaint is that the theater may be a little small; but its in great condition. would u rather renovate something u already have, or create something u don't?</p>
<p>great condition?
I take it you've never been to a performance that was drowned out by the sound of rain ricocheting off the tin roof. Or been forced to chase a squirrel out of the building during rehearsal. Or tripped over one of the infinite pieces of furniture that lack proper storage. Or tried to perform in a play in the black box when there's a column in front of the stage!</p>
<p>Granted, it's better once we renovated to keep it not in violation of fire codes two summers ago, but still...I am indeed a very bitter alum.</p>
<p>squash is huge at a lot of boarding schools. those that come to mind are groton, sps, exeter, brunswick, lawrenceville, and milton. these are the teams that have consistently been at the top.</p>
<p>as far as courts go, exeter has 10 or more (they hosted new england's 2 years ago). groton has 12 courts and a program that's known for turning kids who haven't played into very good players (i came in having never played and am now playing varsity at a top 15 academic and squash school). sps and milton don't have as great court setups but they do have good programs.</p>
<p>Sport has grown across the board in NE. Of the recent new setups I've seen Westminster, St. George's and Avon stand out. Salisbury is including 8 courts in its new athletic facility.</p>
<p>Artsmart-
I agree with ajadedidealist. As you grow into your Exeter experience you will find the laundry list if things wrong with the physical plant of the Fisher theatre grows exponentially. If you spend any time in there at all (not just a "how to Harkness" presentation) it will become painfully clear just what ajidea has dealt with during her time at Exeter - including squirrels. It is absolutely not in great condition - there is no proper costume shop, the building was built without offices for faculty and staff, the scene shop is woefully inadequate, the traffic patterns are a nightmare, is conforms to the letter but not the spirit of the Americans With Disabilities Act (trying to get a person in a wheelchair in that building is a nightmare), up until a year ago icicles over two feet in length would regularly threaten to impale the Technical Director as he opened the scene shop in the morning and closed it at night. Now there are spiffy awnings. Now he gets impaled well before he reaches the door. Much better.
The only thing right with the theatre is the outstanding, dedicated and brilliant faculty and staff that work within its walls. Any student at Exeter that has the opportunity to explore theatre - either to take Stagecraft or beginning acting for their Arts distribution credit - will be rewarded. Many get bitten by the bug and decide to participate in both the mainstage shows or Dramat presentations.</p>
<p>ok- maybe we don't need more squash courts. i get that. i don't even play squash. but there are tons of things that need to be done at exeter. it's over 200 years old for gosh's sake! what about some of the dorms that are falling apart and ancient? i think where we live should take a higher priority. yes the theater needs work. i get that. but so does other stuff!</p>
<p>Mercersburg has a wonderful new (2004) squash center.</p>
<p>Davenport</a> Squash Center</p>
<p>Exeter has a one BILLION dollar endowment. (even with the recent "dip" in the market, it is still huge) Is the theater really not on the list of projects included in the recent campaign to reach that amount?<br>
Are facilities ther really falling apart in large numbers?
It seems hard to beleive that they would spend a lot of time putting together a plan to grow their endowment to a record number, to be able to fully fund financial aid, yet have their facilities falling apart with nothing in that capital plan to address them.</p>
<p>Back to squash, yes Westminister and Avon's are beautiful as are Deerfield's new courts.</p>
<p>Blair's new athletic and activities center which should open within the month, has added 4 more squash courts. Squash there is developmental, so you can join a team even if you have never played squash.</p>