Thurgood Marshall Academy’s all-Black team will mark a first for high school squash in the U.S. as the sport pushes to diversify
The boys from Thurgood Marshall Academy were quiet as the weight of their coach’s words landed. It was the first year Thurgood Marshall, a public school in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, had even formed a varsity team for squash.
In 2021, around 1.2 million people in the U.S. played the sport, according to a 2022 study by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. It estimated about 57 percent of players were White and about 8 percent were Black. Nearly 40 percent had an annual salary topping $100,000.If some students at Thurgood Marshall had heard of the sport, they didn’t think it was for them, assistant principal John Johnson said.
“I never even knew there was a sport called squash,” she said. “I grew up in Harlem. Just knew the traditional sports. But when anyone comes in the door and offers something different, I have to listen.” Muhwati saw the opportunity in September and asked his players from Thurgood Marshall to stay behind after practice.
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