Though the new Aquatics Bubble is temporarily filling the Smith Swim Center's role for swimmers, squash players who once used the center's six squash courts find themselves without a substitute facility, leading to a crunch on playing space.
Stuart LeGassick, head coach of the men's and women's squash teams, said the courts closed in the spring because of the swim center's structural problems. There are five courts in the Pizzitola Center.
"There is excessive demand on the squash courts at Pizzitola at present," LeGassick said.
Minoo Fadaifard '08, co-captain of the women's team, said the men's and women's teams can no longer practice at the same time because of the shortage of courts. She also said the women have "nowhere to warm up before matches" - the men's team holds its matches before the women's.
The shortage affects recreational squash players as well. They cannot use the courts while the varsity teams train from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., which LeGassick called the "peak time for potential recreational use."
"It's not that bad, but it's kind of limiting," said Larry Livornese '11, who goes once or twice a week to play squash at Pizzitola.
"We're actually going to play tonight at 7, but we'd really rather go during the day," Livornese said Friday.
Steven Sloman, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and a recreational squash player, said he knew many people who had purchased memberships to use the University's athletic facilities in order to play squash but who were displeased by the lack of courts. Sloman called the squash courts "an important recruiting tool for students and faculty" and "important community-builders."
Yousaf Ali, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Alpert Medical School who plays squash with Sloman, said, "It's pretty much a big disgrace."
He pointed out that Portsmouth Abbey School, a boarding and day school in Portsmouth, has eight state-of-the-art squash courts. "They're really amazing," he said, expressing his surprise that a high school has "better facilities than a college, especially an Ivy League."
Fadaifard said Brown's squash facilities suffered in comparison to its rivals'. "Most schools (that we play) have 10 to 15 courts," she said.
The court shortage also cripples Brown's squash community in other ways. LeGassick said the intercollegiate individual championships require a minimum of 10 courts - as a result, Brown is now ineligible to hold them.
Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger said the issue would be "one of the main agenda items" when the President's Advisory Council on Athletics meets on April 25. Goldberger said an investigation of possible solutions would take place within the athletics department in the meantime and that no specific plans have been made yet.
Goldberger said money was clearly a concern in considering building new squash courts. LeGassick said alumni donors provided about 90 percent of the $1.1 million needed to build the squash courts in the Smith Swim Center. He said there were individual donations of $100,000, and at least one or two alums contributed even more.
Goldberger said the overall needs of the University would be taken into account - for example, six recreational tennis courts on Lloyd Avenue were paved over to become a parking lot and the field hockey field currently is not regulation size.
LeGassick also acknowledged the athletic department's other concerns, like the difference in the situations of the squash and swim teams.
"There was absolutely no way to swim on campus," he said. But LeGassick said he hoped for 10 additional courts to give recreational squash enthusiasts more playing time.
Because the Smith Swim Center was not open all the time, Goldberger estimated that the current availability of the Pizzitola's courts for recreational use is actually "equivalent to what it was previously in Smith."
But he said "a stand-alone squash facility would be ideal" and even called it "feasible."
Luiz Valente, associate professor of Portuguese and Brazilian studies, started playing squash in graduate school and has been playing for more than 30 years. He called squash "a big recreational sport."
"They all try to make the facilities available to everyone," Valente said, "but if they have bad facilities, then there's nothing they can do."
