Girls Squash Co-Captain Christina Yen ’24, a self-proclaimed “squash nerd,” gives more than just technical advice to the team. Yen strives to foster a team of players who can rely on one another, balancing the individual and team aspects of the sport.
Yen’s love of the sport began when her brother, already a squash athlete, introduced her to the sport. Yen described how she was drawn not only to the facilities offered on campus but the supportive team environment.
“That drew me to come here, and that turned out to be a good choice because almost every single year, our team spirit has always been really strong and really great,” said Yen.
Having spent two years with strong upperclassman role models on the team, Yen takes inspiration from previous captains to be that role model for current Juniors and Lowers on the team.
“When I was a [Junior] and Lower, we had amazing Seniors, and once I became an Upper and a Senior, I learned to learn from the former upperclassmen that I looked up to. That was a wonderful experience overall,” said Yen.
Co-Captain Migyu Kim ’25 emphasized how Yen embodies what it means to be both a competitor and a captain. Kim highlighted Yen’s duality in playing her own matches and supporting teammates.
“She just devotes her attention to whatever is going on in front of her. So in the match, she dials in. But when she’s outside of it, or she’s out from injury or from illness, she still comes in and supports the team with whatever she does, going around to cheer for her teammates or coach them and provide them with a lot of tips for their matches,” said Kim.
According to Liz Zhao ’24, Yen’s strength and experience as a strong player have enabled her to support teammates by giving them pointers in matches. Zhao recalled Yen observing matches and offering feedback and tips to her teammates.
“Christina is obviously a really good player, and because of that, she’s really good at analyzing the other players. When we play matches, for example, and we come out in between games, then Christina will come. She’s been watching a match, so she’ll give us advice and she has so much match experience, just so much experience with the sport in general,” said Zhao.
Though squash is an individual sport, Yen actively works to build community within the team. Yen described her efforts to ensure that the team has discussions after matches and holds one another accountable.
“When we’re doing well, after our matches, we always come together, talk a little bit, and discuss with each other what we thought went well. In some ways, [although] it is an individual sport, we also rely on other people to help us serve as people who are accountable for us when we make mistakes on [the] court with what we wanna continue working on,” said Yen.
As a captain, Yen hopes to relay to her teammates how building mental strength will not only improve their playing but also how they conduct themselves in the future in areas beyond squash.
“A large part of squash is that there’s so much that can happen. It’s a very fast game. You can’t get caught up in your own emotions and things like that. Otherwise, you don’t play as well. So a lot of what I’m trying to encourage in other people is the mental game. The mental game is strong and is very applicable in other places in life. Building self-awareness through learning to let go of things and staying in the present, that’s sort of what I’ve been emphasizing as team captain. We’ll always take that skill into other areas of life,” said Yen.
