SPAIN 2008
Trip Leaders: John Illig, Ben Crosky

If asked to choose two words to describe Squash & Beyond World – Spain 2008, mine would be: “Ensalada Tenisquash.” It’s the name of a salad offered at the Valencia squash club (Club Tenisquash: the club actually located in the neighboring town of Alzira). That club gave us the warmest and friendliest treatment of the three squash facilities in which we played, so I was greatly endeared to them. It didn’t hurt matters any that the salad was delicious! But mostly, it just made me laugh because I’ve never studied the Spanish language and yet I could look down on the menu and know that I was ordering the club’s House Salad.

Our meals were an enormous source of enjoyment throughout the trip. I can thank centuries of Spanish culture for that. We frequently ate outdoors in city squares late on warm breezy evenings with families and children running and playing around us. Our two trip leaders - - Ben and myself - - and our twelve “campers” ate every meal together, by choice, in communal settings every day. We frequently offered our campers the option of splitting up for meals and reconvening later, but that was always turned down and we’d end up eating together. I never like to sit still for very long - - and yet it felt thoroughly natural on this trip to linger at the table and chill as we ate. Meals were an eclectic mix of authentic Spanish (Paella; and Tapas), Chinese, Italian (pizza), Middle Eastern (Falafel), and anything else we could find. It was wonderful, and a chance for us all to practice our Spanish, and order our bottled water “con gas” or “sin gas.”

The genius of Squash & Beyond World is its unique combination of squash training and cultural enrichment. Communal meals were just one part of our cultural education. During the initial two-thirds of the trip (Madrid, Valencia, Tarragona), we trained squash in the mornings and then toured historic cities and museums in the afternoons. The final third of the trip was a flip-flop of our routine, in that we toured Barcelona in the mornings and trained squash in the afternoons.

Surf, sand and sun greeted us on Day Four, as we left our initial inland city of Madrid and took our show traveling eastward (road-trip) in one van and one car to the coast of Spain, to Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. From then on , we remained coastal, for days five through fourteen. From Valencia, it was northward up the coast to Tarragona (BEACH DAY), and then Seeches (brief), before continuing on to end our trip on an incredible high note in magnificent Barcelona. Our campers proved themselves to be expert travelers in that they quite impressively all avoided sunburn. We had a great time swimming in salt water on the several occasions that we visited the world-class beaches.

Six boys and six girls on the trip, ranging from high school sophomores to seniors, gave us a great mix. We had New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania represented. Most in our group had studied at least some Spanish in school, and one of the “campers” had taken our trip in part to help her decide whether to spend her junior year of high school in Spain instead of in America. The trip gave us all a great opportunity to practice our Spanish, pay with Euros, and experience a different culture. I don’t speak Spanish, and yet I had great fun attempting to pick up (and use) as many words and phrases as I could. I believe that it’s true that an enormous amount of human communication is non-verbal, and I spent lots of time successfully smiling and also pointing and gesturing with my hands.

Of course the initially-mentioned “Ensalada Tennissquash” was the House Salad at the Club Tenisquash, and thus particular to that club only. But with my very strange sense of humor, that didn’t at all stop me from spending the remainder of the trip pretending, to try to locate “Ensalada Tennissquash” on every menu in every subsequent restaurant for the remainder of the trip, as if it was a standard Spanish dish. It was my vain attempt to amuse others (whomever sat nearby me at every meal). That’s what our campers had to put up with!

THE TRIP:

A remarkable thing happened the week before the trip even began, when I met my trip assistant Ben Crosky for the first time, and we both quite instantly realized that we have an incredibly similar life philosophy. Both of us happen to be vegetarians (both for ethical reasons), and we were reading the same books (Kerouac, Hesse, Steinbeck), and were both into yoga, etc…, etc… We were just twenty years apart in our lives - - so for our campers he was the young guy (fun) and I was the old guy (prickly). But the quite unique thing was that we were on EXACTLY THE SAME PAGE. We both believe that the campers immediately picked up on the bond and great respect that Ben and I had for each other from day one, and that somehow contributed to a great rapport shared by the whole group. As made possible by the S&B-W trip plan of combining squash with culture, Ben and I both were able to spend lots of quality time with the players - - just walking, talking, taking it all in and philosophizing. The twelve “kids” in our group were amazing individuals who all contributed unique things to the whole. While we weren’t always apt to articulate this, we quite certainly felt very much like a TEAM right from the start.

Like Lewis & Clarke who were co-leaders of their westward exploration to the Pacific Ocean and back, Ben and I functioned in the same light. No matter what situation came up, he and I both just pretty much instantly agreed on everything. My role was Squash Coach and Trip Leader. Ben’s role was Strength & Conditioning Coach, Yoga Instructor, Tour Guide, Fun Guy and Interpreter. Ben speaks fluent Spanish, and he had lived for a time in Barcelona, where he’d worked as a tour guide in the city. On Day Ten, the morning of our first full day in Barcelona, Ben gave us “his” tour of Barcelona - - which was fascinating and informative. Twelve out of Fourteen of us met at the airport, at JFK, and introduced ourselves to each other in a group on the afternoon of June 24. Three of our campers attended the same school in New Jersey, and thus already knew each other. The rest of us were strangers to each other. We all slept a bit on the flight to Europe, and in the morning touched down in Madrid and rode an airport shuttle to our hotel. Ben set the tone of the trip by providing for DAY ONE to be a day of simple acclimation and hydration. Everyone napped, then we walked through Madrid and experienced the temperature, the sun, and got a feel for the sights. We picked up our final two campers as they met us at our hotel, to make our group of fourteen complete.

The squash level in our group was excellent, and part of our daily three-hour squash training was spent incorporating the body-control and mental-control that we were learning through Ben’s yoga instruction. Another unique part of this trip was that we were just TRAINING. We weren’t competing. While I relish competition and have structured my life to be a college squash coach and have the opportunity to compete regularly, our training trip sans opponents also contributed to the very tight bond among our group. Our campers weren’t competing against one another for ladder spots or sizing each other up at tournaments, but were training TOGETHER. Full development of an athlete demands an element of competition - - but this was our chance to work on some things and relish and love our sport of squash.

The Madrid squash club (DAYS TWO through FIVE) was called Castellana Sports Club, and was within short walking distance of our hotel. The early morning walk to the courts took us through a food court, where we’d stop and eat breakfast and marvel at the fresh orange juice machines, chocolate croissants and café con leche. This was an upscale city club, very active, and with many offerings to its patrons including aerobics, spin classes, weights and a variety of others. We ate a couple lunches at the club after training. We frequently rode subways through the city from our hotel to historic sites. We toured the King’s Palace, the Armory, the Prado Museum, and two outdoor gardens. We also watched soccer on large-screen TV’s in Madrid’s central square the night that Spain defeated Russia in the European Cup semi-final game to earn the country’s first Euro-Cup final appearance in 29 years. Pandemonium ensued.

Outside Valencia, the Alzira Club Tenisquash (DAYS FIVE through NINE), had a small-town feel and was quite interested in providing a good experience for us. There were outdoor red clay tennis courts, European Padel Tennis courts (which we all had a great time watching and playing), and indoor squash. One afternoon a group of squash players from the club played informal matches against us, which was great practice. From our hotel, we had to jump in our van & car and drive a short ways across town to the club. In the afternoons, we would drive into Valencia to tour the city streets and visit its famous beach and boardwalk. We also got caught up in the post-European Cup finals victory celebration on the night of Sunday, July 29th, when Spain defeated Germany to win its first European Cup soccer title in 44 years. What ensued afterwards (the game concluded a little before midnight) was that the entire nation of Spain ran outside and spilled out onto the city streets in a once-in-a-lifetime display of national pride that those who were there to witness it will always remember.

Tarragona (DAYS NINE and TEN) is an amazingly beautiful small city on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and possessing incredible remnants left from the Romans. We took one BEACH DAY in Tarragona, and the next day practiced fitness-only, to let our bodies recover from the squash. To see the sites of Tarragona, we simply stepped out of our hotel and walked the streets. There was a world-class pedestrian terrace where we ate our evening meals (Spaniards eat LATE-NIGHT dinners). I greatly enjoyed leading a brief workshop for our campers, as to how the college search and recruiting process works.

Barcelona (DAYS TEN through FOURTEEN) was the highlight of the trip. The squash club was a subway ride away, and had a fine facility; but it was a return to the less-personal touch similar to what we’d had in Madrid. We had the courts to train on, and that was wonderful, as it was all that we needed. Our hotel this time wasn’t a hotel at all but a Hostel, filled with people from all over the world. Our hostel was on Place de Gracia, in the center of the city. We frequently took subway rides to get where we were going. We toured Las Ramblas, Gaudi’s Park Guell, Gaudi’s Cathedral, Barcelona’s beach, the Olympic hill, and took Ben’s historic, informative tour of Old Barcelona and all the history that formed that city.

MEMORIES:

Flying home was bittersweet. We had an amazing two-week trip. At the airport back America, we gathered in a circle and said a final good-bye. Now when I think back over the trip, I remember how our “girls” were on constant look-out for Starbucks - - and would peel away to buy ice coffee type-drinks whenever they found one in the cities. I fondly remember late-night Gelato after every dinner. I remember the subway rides and the pickpockets. I remember the food and the sites and the wonderful and warm people of Spain. I remember the INCREDIBLE climate and constant sun. I’ll remember “Ensalada Tenisquash!” But by far my favorite part of the entire experience was time spent with the incredible campers on this trip, and the fact that we fourteen were a TEAM.