Squash is a varsity level sport dominated by the highly selective colleges in a universe where only a total of 34 colleges play men’s squash, and 32 colleges play women’s squash.

A total of 20 highly selective colleges offer men’s squash with a total of 308 players , and 21 of them offer women’s squash with a total of 289 players. This means about 59% of the colleges playing squash are from amongst the highly selective colleges and 66% of colleges playing women’s squash are from amongst the highly selective colleges.

The 10 highly selective colleges with men’s squash and the 11 highly selective colleges with women’s squash in Division 1 actively recruit squash players for their varsity teams, following similar timelines as the niche NCAA sports. The remaining 10 highly selective Division 3 colleges with men’s squash, and the 10 colleges with women’s squash in Division 3 “soft” recruit their squash players through the normal admissions cycles with strong letters of support from the college squash coach.

The average team size for men’s squash is about 16 players and the average team size for women’s squash is about 14 players. These team sizes imply that there are on average about 3 to 5 athlete recruits annually to each of the men’s teams, and about 3 to 4 athlete recruits annually to the women’s teams. Keep in mind that these are averages only, as the Division 3 colleges are more likely to complete their teams with “walk on” squash players rather than recruit every player on the team.

US Squash, the national squash governing body in the United States, maintains age group rankings with the BU19 ranking being the most relevant for knowing the number of competitive junior squash players in the country. The BU19 ranking for men currently lists 142 players, and the BU ranking for women lists 104 players, indicating the universe of competitive junior squash players for colleges to draw on is small.

Squash CSA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment

How do top colleges in Division 1 select their athlete recruits?

Athlete Recruitment to a Top NCAA Division 3 College

Watch out for:

How to get athlete recruited for squash to a top college

Squash team profiles at the highly selective colleges

List of Highly Selective Colleges that Play Squash

Data obtained from college athletic websites