For years, squash has been a sport on the outside looking in, lacking the popularity and appeal of sports like basketball, baseball or football.
However, the sport, which originated in England, will finally get its shot in the spotlight. Squash will be played in the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.
While the nation and world as a whole may be seeing a spike in squash play in the coming years, an organization in Santa Barbara has been utilizing the sport to provide a community for underserved children.
The Santa Barbara School of Squash, or SBSOS, has been around for 17 years, and has allowed students to learn the sport, further their education, and form a connection with other students and members of their community.
“There is a difference in my life because of SBSOS compared to my friends, because I’m more athletic,” Ivett Lazaro, a 7th grader in SBSOS, said. “SBSOS helps me get my homework done, and also get my grades up.
“SBSOS has helped me make new friends. They have also made me less shy and have helped me to talk to people without being as quiet as I used to be.”
What is SBSOS?
The organization, according to its website, is a year-round sports and education program serving committed Santa Barbara youth from fifth to 12th grade who qualify for the National School Lunch program.
In 2006, the Santa Barbara Athletic Club was approached by Mike Lewis, then a freshman at Santa Barbara High, with the idea for SBOS because the Athletic Club was the only place in town with squash courts.
Robert Graham, now the executive director of SBOS, took on the project at the time mainly because he was a professional squash player. However, it soon developed into much more than a way to bring squash to the community.
In the first year, the program was made up of six 6th graders from Monroe School. Now, there are 30 students at almost all times and the program runs every day of the week.
“We’ve grown every year since [2006], either in number of students, number of hours served or the depth of our program,” Graham said.
While the name indicates that this is a program centered around squash, that isn’t quite the truth, according to Graham.
“Particularly over the last few years with the chaos that was created by the pandemic, I would say that we’re really a mentoring program, followed by an educational academic program and then squash comes in as the hook to get them to want to come with us,” Graham said.
So, while squash is in the name, the program is mainly based on mentoring and educating underserved children in the Santa Barbara community.
Every day of the week, the 30 children in the program are picked up from their respective schools by volunteers and taken to be tutored, do community service and learn the game of squash.
The primary goal of the organization, according to Graham, is to give these children the education that they need. As a result, one of their motivating factors is to see them eventually move on to college.
“To simplify what we want to do, we want to make sure that our students graduate high school and either go off to college or have a good alternative plan,” Graham said. “We recognize that not everyone is college material, so we find a path for them in life that they could still be successful in.”
Over the years, they have been successful in this goal, with 18 alumni currently attending college while five alumni have graduated from college.
Before the college level, SBSOS has built strong relationships with the local private schools, such as Laguna Blanca, Crane and Cate. Since the program began, it has earned 23 students full scholarships into local private high schools.
“Our mandate is that we maintain a support network for our college students and all of the students through the age of 25,” Graham said. “We keep in touch with all the college students and the graduates, and they like keeping in touch with us.”
The Impact of SBSOS
While education is the top goal of the program, it isn’t the lone takeaway for the students.
On average, the students remain in SBSOS for 5 ½ years, attending the program for three days per week all throughout the year. That time spent helps develop crucial relationships for students.
“I think it’s unbelievably important for [the students] for us to be there for them,” Graham said. “That’s lacking in a lot of kids’ lives.”
In fact, one of Graham’s proudest aspects of the organization is that they have formed a special family-like community between the 30 students and the volunteer workers.
“Some of the most valuable times I’ve had with kids is driving for two hours to LA to squash tournaments, talking about whatever we want,” Graham said.
The students concur.
“I like to think of SBSOS as my second family,” Yari Gonzalez, a 6th grader in SBOS, said. “It has changed my life. Not many people are as lucky as me and get to do what I do.”
Along with the community created amongst the entire organization, the students have the opportunity to learn, practice and compete in the sport of squash. SBSOS has its own travel team, which plays in tournaments nationwide.
Squash, given its relatively low popularity on the West Coast of the United States, isn’t a very well-known sport by the students of the program before they join, according to Graham.
However, the skill or talent level of the students isn’t necessarily what Graham and the other program directors are looking for.
“When we take them on the squash court, it’s not to see if they’re going to be a world champion squash player,” Graham said. “We want to see how they respond to coaching and feedback.
“We want to see good effort, good attitude and good communication.”
The unique sport, which is played with racquets on indoor courts, not only gives the students opportunities to showcase communication and effort but also the opportunity to partake in exercise at least three times a week.
“It gives them healthy, physical exercise that they’re probably not getting at school,” Graham said. “They get to play a sport that their friends and peers aren’t playing.”
While the success of the students in squash isn’t the primary reason for its role in the program, there have been plenty of successful athletes to compete at SBSOS.
In 2013, Miguel Nava and Sebastian Paredes were urban national champion squash players. Nava was also voted an All-American in 2013. David Quintero joined Nava and Paredes as top 100 players in the country from 2013-2017.
In his high school years, Paredes was a three-time SoCal High School Champion and the 2018 BU19 Urban National Champion.
Plans for the Future
While the organization has found plenty of success since its inception in 2006, Graham and the rest of the board have big goals for the coming years.
In 2022, the Santa Barbara Athletic Club converted their squash courts to group fitness workout areas, leaving SBSOS to turn to other sports and activities.
Since then, SBSOS has worked with the YMCA to convert their racquetball courts into squash courts. While that is a temporary remedy, Graham has something bigger in mind.
The organization has begun an $8-million campaign that is dedicated to building a brand new facility that will be known as a “true community center,” according to Graham.
“We don’t just want to put in squash courts and that’s it,” Graham said. “I want to create somewhere where teenagers can go and do a healthy sport, do their homework or just hang out with their friends.”
The proposed 6,800-square-foot facility would contain four to six squash courts, modern locker rooms, two to three student classrooms, an office space, a general workout area, a communal lounge/library space and possibly a cafe.
With this community center at the forefront, Graham and the rest of the Santa Barbara School of Squash will continue to offer a valuable place and experience for underserved students in the local community for years to come.
