Determination has enabled Drew Blacker ’09 to be an elite squash player. He was introduced to the sport by his dad when he was six years old and spent some “quality father-son time” just hitting around. However, his first squash tournament, at the age of 10, was not an indication of the success Blacker would have in the future. “I did terribly,” Blacker said of his first shot at competition. “I was so upset when I lost.”
Blacker persevered. He tried the tournament again the following year and beat three of the top-seeded boys in a row, before losing in the finals. “That was my arrival,” he said. “That was when I knew I could be good at [squash].”
With his dad coaching him through weekend tournaments, Blacker started competing in junior tournaments at the national level. From their hometown of Summit, N.J. the Blacker duo traveled to tournaments in Philadelphia, N.Y. and Greenwich, Conn. Blacker also participated in clinics and leagues at the Chatham Club in New Jersey.
“When I first started going to tournaments with my dad I would lose in the first or second round to the best kids,” Blacker recalled. But he never got discouraged. “My goal was to win the consolation round, then I would still get fifth place,” he said. “I was just happy to be in the consolation round and just clean that out.”
Eventually, Blacker’s determination to have a good showing in every tournament meant he spent less and less time in the consolation bracket. “I had to get to the semifinals or the finals to maintain my rank,” Blacker said. “I started to feel pressure to maintain my rank, and I was nervous of losing it.”
Instead of dropping in the rankings, Blacker became a consistent player. “I very rarely had random losses or an off day,” he said proudly. Competing in the junior tournaments, the current Amherst junior regularly finished at the top. He took fourth place in the national tournament as a 12-year-old and claimed third when he was 14. When Blacker turned 15, he was bumped up to the U-17 bracket and responded with a sixth-place finish in Nationals. He carried that over to the next year, when he placed third.
While Blacker was excelling as an individual on the national level, his peers at the Chatham Club and Pingry High School took notice. Pingry, known throughout New Jersey for its dominance in field hockey, did not have a squash team. But that did not discourage Blacker and his squash-playing friends. Their parents became interested in the prospect of forming a high school team. As incentive, Pingry’s archrival, Delbarton High School, had a squash team.
In Blacker’s sophomore year, Pingry introduced squash as a club sport, with the sixth-grade science teacher serving as the coach. The team turned varsity in his junior year. Some of the team members had learned to play squash at the Chatham Club, but Blacker described the squad as “good athletes who wanted to play.”
Though Blacker admitted that playing squash for Pingry was a lot of fun, the young team struggled in its inaugural year of varsity competition. “We had a pretty rough season,” he said. “We might have won half of our matches.”
With Blacker leading the way—he played in the number one spot every year—Pingry pressed on. During Blacker’s senior year, the team went undefeated in the regular season and finished 13th in the nation.
Since coming to Amherst, Blacker has continued his determination to be the best. He has played most of his college career in the number one spot. In the latest College Squash Association (CSA) polls, Blacker was ranked 50th in the nation as an individual, while Amherst held 16th place for teams. Two weekends ago, Blacker helped the Jeffs to a fifth-place finish in the NESCAC Tournament. Last weekend, he grabbed the Jeffs’ only victory over the Williams College Ephs.
As Blacker has moved through different squash circles, the sport has advanced in his family and high school. His 21-year-old sister, a senior at New York University named Chelsea, “doesn’t play, but would have been good,” according to Blacker. However, the youngest Blacker is an avid squash player. “My dad does with my baby sister what he used to do with me,” said Blacker of his 16-year-old sister Chloe. Namely, this new Blacker duo travels to tournaments and clinics together. Chloe is currently ranked one of the top-10 squash players in the country for her age group. Additionally, squash at Pingry has grown, and a new field house with squash courts is being built.
In the meantime, Blacker continues to persevere with his own game. When the Jeffs head to CSA Nationals in two weeks, he hopes that persistence will pay off—both for him personally, and for the team.