by Nick Pattison ’14

Ryan Tyree, the new boys Varsity Squash coach, not only instructs his players, he learns from them. His story of learning to play squash shows that if one sets their mind to something and works hard at it, then they will succeed.

Before coming to Williston, Mr. Tyree taught at The Eaglebrook School where he studied and coached the game of squash. The school needed a new coach for its squash team, and even though he had never played squash before, Mr. Tyree seemed to be the right fit.

In order to learn squash so that he could become a better coach, Mr. Tyree “learned from two kids on the Eaglebrook team,” he recalls. “The person who showed me and taught me how to play was the person that was the number two [seeded player on the team]. He’d been playing since birth and his strokes were flawless.” He gave Mr. Tyree a more firm understanding of the basics of the game.

After learning the foundations of squash, Mr. Tyree began to play with a Jamaican student who was new to squash as well. Mr. Tyree remembered that they would, “stay after practice every single day until dinner. Practice would end at around 4:30, and we would stay until six.” Since they were both new squash players, they could learn from each other and progress together as players. This gave him more practice and made him a better squash player.

Looking back on his process of learning squash, Mr. Tyree says that he “learned from the kids and with the kids.” There’s no better way to relate to your players than when you have learned the game the same way they did.

A new squash coach came in and helped him improve his game while Mr. Tyree was coaching at Eaglebrook. The new squash coach was, according to Mr. Tyree, “somebody else to work with who was going to get me to my next level.”

To further improve his talents, Mr. Tyree worked with the Trinity College coaches and competed with their players. He got the opportunity to “coach camps with Paul [Assaiante]”, the Trinity squash coach. “I knew that if I got to work with Paul and all his players and his other coaches, I could only get better. I’m always trying to pick up as much stuff as I can from those guys and pour it down into our players.”

All of Mr. Tyree’s efforts to get better at squash are not for self-gain; they are so that he can be a better coach for his players. Mr. Tyree expressed, “I think it’s very important for me to continue to try to learn, and that way I can always be fresh and always be trying to bring what the kids need to know or what will help them. By continually adding to my base of knowledge, I hope to offer ways for my players to improve their own game, not simply telling them what I would do in that situation, [but] play to their personal strengths, which may be different from my own.”

By exposing his players to more diverse drills and giving them some of his knowledge about squash, he hopes the Williston program will “take all that success and pride in what they have already achieved here and start adding more dimensions, more layers, more excitement, and more presence at the school.”

A few weeks into the season, it seems that the boys’ varsity squash team is taking off under the new leadership. They have had a terrific start to the season with a few good accomplishments. The first time they competed this season, the team placed fifth out of eight schools in the Hopkins tournament. In their second match of the season they battled for a close win against St. Marks, with a score of 4-3. With the team’s early victories and a now experienced coach, it seems that the boys’ varsity squash team is headed for success this season and future years.