Community

In the US, the game of squash has been considered a sport of the Ivy Leagues, of the upper class, of white men looking to get an exercise in between financial trades. But in other parts of the world, the game is accessible to people of all walks of life. 10 years ago, Barrett Takesian saw the writing on the wall; for the sport to grow in the US, it needed to appeal to a much broader community by literally building community. So he went to work building Portland Community Squash, a new model that would sustain the program through increased membership while using the inherent structure of a club to integrate afterschool, family and support programs for all people from all socio-economic levels. US Squash, the governing body for the game in the US, took notice and went all in, adopting the PCS model nation-wide. Even The Brookings Institute took notice in the PCS model as a catalyst for change. This video is Barrett’s story, but also the story of the beginning of a broader movement to address educational inequality in the US through the sport of squash.