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 A city that's known for its snow is now getting respect for in the game of squash. The U of R's men team is ranked sixth in the nation and they take on number-one ranked Trinity tomorrow.
Hameed Ahmed has been playing squash since he was a little kid in Finland. His father operated a squash club in Helsinki. He says, “I've been playing since I was a kid it's always been a part of my life.”
He is one of the top ten squash players in the country, top five in Finland and he chose to play for the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. He said, “It would have been easy to go to a winning team and continuing to play there.”
The U of R team has had a rich tradition with this game but not much national success until three years ago.
Scotsman Martin Heath, ranked as one of the best to ever play the game, came to Rochester to build an international team, recruiting talent from all over the world. The team is now ranked 6th going up against some of the best Ivy League teams in the nation. He said, “I didn't want to make it totally international. I wanted American representation we've got people from 12 different countries.”
These great student athletes are from Japan, Israel, England the Ukraine and even Honeoye-Falls freshman Paul Rubery. He says, “Squash is a game where you can get a lot of exercise and it's a thinking game that's what I like about it.”
Tomorrow the team faces perennial number one Trinity with 195 consecutive wins, the longest winning streak in sports history, it’s a long shot for these not so local guys. But they say their shot at becoming number one is not so far off.
Ahmed says, "This team wasn't so great a few years ago we've been building this program and we're trying to beat those big schools that brought me here as well."
Heath adds, "I'm a Scotsman so I've got the under dog status. I like ruffling feathers. Trinity did that 10 years ago they beat all the Ivy League schools our job is to try and replace them."
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