By Suryaansh Jain
At LSE, it’s quite natural to feel stressed, tired and overworked. One might even have the rare urge to slam something against the wall in a fit of pent-up rage and frustration (perhaps rare is an understatement here). And if you want to meet a group of people who take this quite literally, engaging in adrenaline-fueled catharsis on a weekly basis, look no further – I present to you the LSE Squash Club.
At the competitive level, the LSE Squash Club has 4 teams – 3 men’s (in a hierarchical order) and 1 women’s – which compete against other London universities (the LUSL league) as well as against other universities in the country (the BUCS league). Much like football, BUCS squash consists of a league table, and allows movement between different tiers via promotion and relegation.
Historically, LSE’s squash teams have been among our better performing teams and are among the top 5 contributors to LSE’s overall BUCS points tally (the accumulation of BUCS points determines a university’s overall ranking nationally). Focusing on the LSE men’s first team (of which I can proudly claim to be a member), their peak came in the 2013-14 season, when they came top in the second tier and secured promotion. The following season, they recorded their highest-ever finish and came runners-up in the first tier, marginally missing out on first place by a point. However, after a disappointing 2015-16 season, the team was relegated to the second tier, where they have remained ever since.
But with a new season comes a new start, and fresh faces to reignite their promotion hopes. And it seems this hope isn’t misplaced. In the BUCS season opener against the Imperial men’s second team, the LSE team kickstarted its campaign with a decisive 4-1 victory, successfully defending the honour of social scientists in the battle of the sciences. Continuing this momentum, the team romped to an emphatic 5-0 victory over the Imperial Medics Men’s 1s (I doubt they’ll be able to recover from that). Although the squad narrowly missed out on victory against City College London in a hard-fought 2-3 loss, the LSE men’s first team currently stands at the top of the table, with promotion on the cards.
Captain Dominic Long said, “Our team’s depth and talent has been boosted by the arrival of many new faces this term, from first years to General Course and Master’s students. It’s been really encouraging to see this team pull off impressive victories in our first two matches, and I’m confident we can produce this same quality against other top universities this year!”
Can this team replicate the success of the 2013-14 season and win the league again? Stay tuned to find out!
