Breck Bailey '06 is the captain of the men's squash team. Despite being hampered by a knee injury for most of the season, he was awarded collegiate squash's highest honor, the Skillman Award, at last week's national championships. He was the first ever Brown squash player to garner such honors.
Herald: Squash is not a typical sport. When you say you play squash, how many people think you're talking about the vegetable?
Bailey: When I say I play squash, I hope to God people don't think I'm talking about the vegetable. People in New England usually know, so I don't have to explain ... Yeah, I don't even like squash (the vegetable).
Clearly you weren't drawn to the sport for its nutritional benefits. How did you get involved with it? Were you involved with it in high school?
Actually, my dad got me involved when I was about 10. I started playing on a team in middle school and played mostly with high school kids in middle school. There weren't many kids my age playing; it was still pretty new. It's grown a lot since then.
Why do you think it's grown?
Well ... the game has changed from hardball to softball, which makes it more appealing. It's always been big internationally, but it's just taken off in the United States. Our rec facilities here (at the Smith Swim Center) are always packed.
What is the recruiting process like for squash?
Coaches go by junior rankings and I'd been ranked since sixth grade. The rankings are based on national tournaments sponsored by the National Squash Association. There are no regional tournaments.
What is the most demanding aspect of squash?
As you get better, matches last longer, so endurance-wise it demands greater stamina and patience and emotional willpower. In a lot of ways it's like chess, if you were to ever make chess into some kind of athletic sport.
Who's the toughest team you've faced?
Toughest team we've faced this year was Trinity (College). They do an awesome job recruiting. They don't have any American kids on their top ten. They're eight-time national champions.
You recently won what people are calling the "Heisman Trophy" of the squash world.
Well, that depends on who you ask. It's called the Skillman Award, and I wouldn't go as far as calling it the Heisman trophy of squash. It combines a lot of things - leadership, your record.
That sounds like a lot of the same criteria as the Heisman.
Well, yeah. Okay, right. Maybe.
How did it feel to win something as prestigious as the Skillman Award?
It was great, really exciting. This year it was me and Yasser el-Halaby at Princeton. He's incredible.
How did your teammates feel about the award?
They were really happy for me. My coaches were thrilled. No one from Brown had won it. I had been playing (this season), but I have been injured all year so I haven't been able to practice as much as I would like.
Have you ever played racquetball?
No, I refuse.
How about jai-alai?
No. No way. Maybe when I'm 80.
Jai-alai's a dangerous sport. People die in jai-alai - it's pretty intense. When you're 80, how about tennis?
Tennis is tough. But golf - the end of my squash career will be the rebirth of my golf career.
Arlen Specter (the Republican senator from Pennsylvania) plays squash daily and is known for having some game even though he's 75 years old. Do you think you could handle him? Since you think you can take up jai-alai at 80, I think you could take Specter.
I think I could take him, but if he had a good shot at one of my knees it could go either way. How do people even know he plays squash anyway?
The last match of your college career is coming up this weekend. Have you reflected on that at all?
Well, it's not my last match if I go to individual nationals. But yeah, I've thought about it a lot. I mean, obviously it's not worth going and doing permanent damage to my knee, and not being able to play other sports or not being able to walk, but we'll see how it goes.
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