The United States Naval Academy squash team recently travelled to Ireland. Below is an article by John Richey, Navy’s captain, describing the trip.
Annapolis, MD — In light of Navy Football playing Notre Dame for the Emerald Classic, the 2012-2013 Navy squash team traveled with the football team to Dublin, Ireland. Leaving on August 29th, Wednesday night, the team touched down in Dublin on Thursday morning. Having only a few hours to spare, we got to our rooms downtown at Trinity College and dropped off our bags. Only having an hour of free time, we got a quick bite of pub food down the street to recharge before our match. Once we grabbed a bite, we dressed up in our Service Dress Blues and traveled by train to a small town about thirty minutes outside of Dublin called Sutton. On the DART Train, we were saluted by many fellow Irish, who were excited to see a bunch of Midshipmen. In Sutton, we were graciously welcomed by the Sutton Lawn and Tennis Club. With an American flag flying next to the Irish flag and a dozen young kids holding American flags at the doorway, we knew that we were in the right place.
Despite holding two great weeks of Captain’s practices to get the boys ready for Ireland, it turned out that not only was jet lag against us, but the Irish squash players were very talented. The Sutton Lawn and Tennis Club were very proud of their victory over the Navy boys. After the match, over eighty members came over to the club for a fun and delicious barbeque overlooking the lit-up tennis courts.
The next day we had the morning off before we played the Fitzwilliam Lawn and Tennis Club in Dublin. The morning off was great because it gave the boys time to catch up on sleep and go out and see some historic sites in Dublin. As the evening approached, we gathered once again to dress up in our uniforms and head over to the Fitzwilliam LTC by taxi cab. Arguably the nicest club in all of Ireland, the Fitzwilliam LTC hosted an awesome night for us. Fitzwilliam LTC had managed to beat us; however, this time we got a few wins under our belts. The dinner with the men of Fitzwilliam was great, and we had lots of great conversations with Irish club members. Besides the football team losing to Notre Dame, we experienced an incredible trip and we are forever thankful to the Sutton and Fitzwilliam LTCs for hosting us for two wonderful evenings.
