Fifteen Years Ago in Squash Magazine August-September 2001
Amy Boytz, the managing editor, penned a lengthy, deeply researched report on the current situation with eye protection in the American squash community, including interviews with players injured in the eye like Robert Graham and Will Carlin, along with a slew of doctors. “Eyeguards: For Your Eyes Only?” was a brilliant exposition on the resistance to goggles around the world. The cover featured Rochester doctor and avid masters player Taft Toribara, who had fashioned his own plastic eye and face guard. Toribara, a five-time U.S. national champion, died in December 2003.
Ten Years Ago in Squash Magazine July-August 2006
Colin McQuillan reported on the 2006 Super Series Finals (now called the PSA Dubai World Series Finals) in London, where Anthony Ricketts, invoking a little-used rule about switching balls, beat Lee Beachill in a four-game final. Ricketts, who reached world No. 3 and won a British Open and a Tournament of Champions title, retired in December 2007. He was the national coach for New Zealand in 2008-2010 and then coached at the Australian Institute of Sport in 2011- 2012. Moving into academia, Ricketts is now working towards his PhD in international relations at the Australian National University in Canberra; his focus is on American foreign policy from 1972 to present. He teaches and provides commentary to Sky News Australia, and also writes for Huffington Post.
Five Years Ago in Squash Magazine August-September 2011
Nour El Tayeb graced the cover after winning the 2011 Women’s World Juniors. El Tayeb had previously lost twice in the finals, but in Boston she came through to defeat Nour El Sherbini in four games. James Zug predicted that she’d be ranked in the top ten within a year; it actually took three years. In the past year, El Tayeb graduated from the American University in Cairo with a degree in economics, injured her shoulder during the 2015 Delaware Investments U.S. Open while reaching the final, had surgery, came back to win the Egyptian national title, and in late June, married Ali Farag.
