SquashSmarts combines academic tutoring, squash instruction and mentoring of under-served, urban youth in order to develop self-esteem and discipline through academic, athletic and personal achievement. Our goals are simple:

· Provide focused, structured attention for middle school students in order to support them in their academic and personal growth.
· Promote growth and diversity in the squash community by reaching a population who would otherwise have little access to the game of squash.
· Present leadership and community outreach opportunities to college students and adult and student volunteers since SquashSmarts relies heavily on the spirit of volunteerism.

We aim to foster self esteem and discipline by providing individual support to kids who endure classroom ratios of 1:30 on average. In order to fulfill our objective of 30 hours per month of focused attention for each team member, SquashSmarts relies heavily on volunteers from the community in addition to its staff. These consistent, structured relationships create an environment in which students develop self-esteem, discipline and character.

Description:
Each participant meets twice during the week and once on Saturday. During weekday sessions they split their time between academic tutoring and instruction/competition in the sport of squash. Each team member also pairs with a mentor for more individual attention.

History:
SquashSmarts is a developing program, only established since the spring of 2001. It is the third major urban youth enrichment program combining the game of squash with academic tutoring and mentoring of middle school youth. Both Boston and New York City have developed successful programs that served as models. Philadelphia, with an extensive squash community, was a natural site.

Greg Zaff, creator and founder of SquashBusters of Boston, developed the idea for this program while pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard University. The program's success was immediate, and only six years later, SquashBusters inspired enough enthusiasm from supporters to fund the construction of its own facility on Northeastern University's campus. Zaff's vision and passion for such a program spread quickly, begetting New York City's StreetSquash, which now boasts a high school program, a literacy project and summer camps. SquashSmarts of Philadelphia, having continued the wave, garnered rave reviews during our pilot program to warrant its continued offering.

In Philadelphia, we sought the expertise and support of the United States Squash Racquets Association (USSRA), the national governing organization for squash in the U.S., which is based in Philadelphia and actively involved in the creation of grass roots programs. But our partner, Drexel University, had made such significant commitments to the West Philadelphia community that they saw our program as a way to meet part of that commitment, and that has served as a critical link to SquashSmarts' development. Recently SquashSmarts has expanded and opened up a new site in North Philadelphia at the Lenfest Center

SquashBusters and StreetSquash continue to serve as models for us in Philadelphia as we expand to our full capacity of 24 team members. We have relied on both programs' experience to steer our growth, learning from their mistakes and adopting strategies that they proved successful. For example, both programs emphasized the importance of thorough recruiting since our team members will commit three years to the program. We opted to use a recruiting process that spans over three months, followed by family meetings with a SquashSmarts staff member to review the program requirements and sign a three-year participation contract.

Our mentor programs have different schedules. SquashBusters serves two separate groups in separate semesters while StreetSquash serves one group for the entire academic year. Since StreetSquash participants have shown more academic growth as a result of this year-long contact, we have modeled our schedule similarly. Collaborating with SquashBusters and StreetSquash has served us well and will only enhance future development.

CitySquash of the Bronx and KidzSquash in Poughkeepsie, NY are the latest additions to the family of enrichment programs. This evolution of the first urban squash program - SquashBusters of Boston - into six such youth enrichment programs continues to thrive with the advent of the First Annual Urban Squash National Tournament hosted by Groton School in Massachusetts on June 20-22, 2003. With over 150 new players in the sport of squash and five programs that share the vision of providing broadening opportunities for under-served students, this event marked an historical development in the urban squash movement.

Contact people:

Tariem Burroughs, Academic Director (N), (phone), (email) Steve Gregg, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (215) 221-6866

Address:

SquashSmarts - West Philadelphia C/o Drexel Athletics, 3141 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.squashsmarts.org

Directions:

SquashSmarts-West Philadelphia is located within the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 33rd & Market Streets.   Nearest Bus Stop: 30, 1 minute walk For maps or information, please see http://www.septa.com/

Miscellaneous Information

Are court referrals welcomed?
	No