In July, 88 middle and high school students from 20 U.S. member programs participated in SEA’s Summer Academy at Kent School. The camp featured a 14-day session for members of SEA’s High Performance Team (HPT) and two five-day sessions, offering top-level squash training and academic enrichment classes. Students traveled from locations as nearby as Hartford and as distant as San Diego and Oakland to join the experience. They stayed in dorms, ate in the dining hall, and had the opportunity to build relationships with SEA peers from across the country.

32 spots for the camp’s 14-day session were reserved for members of SEA’s High Performance Team. These players came from San Diego, Hartford, Cincinnati, New York, Wilmington, Detroit, Portland, Providence, Oakland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, and were coached by longtime former Dartmouth Coach and SEA’s HPT Head Coach Hansi Wiens, HPT Assistant Coach and CitySquash alumnus Edgardo Gonzalez, Columbia University’s Assistant Coach Chris Fernandez, and former Trinity College player Sarahi Lopez. In addition to squash training, students participated in academic classes, taught by Kent teacher Toni Presti, with a focus on writing and poetry. The annual College Showcase also took place during this session with visiting coaches from Bowdoin, Columbia, Colby, St. Lawrence, Navy, Vassar, Bard, and Hobart and William Smith. 

“SEA students showed up to Summer Academy at Kent with great attitudes,ready to soak up all the squash experience from our excellent coaches,” said SEA Summer Academy’s Director, Brendan McClintick. “I can’t imagine a better place, better people, or better students, that what we had this summer.”

The first five-day session brought thirty-one players from Buffalo, San Diego, Hartford, New York, Wilmington, Charleston, Portland, Oakland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh who trained with St. Lawrence’s Head Coach David Morrish, Bard’s Head Coach Jack Smith, and Dexter Southfields School’s Coach Colin Ye.

The second five-day session had twenty-five students from Hartford, Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Lawrence, Providence, New Haven, and New York, and were coached by Bowdoin’s former Head Coach Theo Woodward, Hobart and William Smith’s Head Coach Whitney Stewart, Squash Coordinator at Chicago’s MetroSquash Gabriel Johnson, and Squash Coordinator at Lawrence’s SquashBusters Johsuar Moya.  

“SEA Summer Academy was a great experience,” said Capitol Squash student Melanie. “Everyone was friendly, polite, and welcoming. My older peers were such great role models for me and the staff and coaches were always helping you out if you were struggling on court. They were supportive and I would love to be with them again next year.”