Alex Reiner ’18
& Liv Ronca ’18

Heading into her senior season, Julia Pines ’18 will rep a C on her squash jersey. However, the road leading to her captainship was not pretty.

Prior to her initial season, she had never picked up a squash racket before. She began playing the sport when her friend, former Staples student and squash captain, Mia Krishnamurthy, who is now a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall, convinced her to play during the team’s inaugural season. Pines was a tennis player and felt the skills she had acquired in that sport would translate, but originally they didn’t.

Her inexperience showed, Pines admitted, during her first ever match when she was a sophomore. She described the match as “terrible.” Pines had difficulty making solid contact and even hitting the ball back to her opponent.

“I lost so badly. I was so overwhelmed and the girls were so intense. It was overall a mess,” Pines said.

Pines has come a long way since her embarrassing first match. She is now one of Staples’ top players, according to co-captain, Alex Gold ’18. “I think she’ll perform well,” Gold said. “Right now she’s in the top three and will have some good matches.”

Coach Whitney Stewart also had nothing but praise for Pines as both a player and a captain. “Julia is dedicated,” she said. “She showed up to nearly everything possible during the season and without prompting was there early and always present mentally. You can’t teach that.”

Her teammates echoed this praise and believe she can live up to her potential. “I know that Julia has been practicing year round so she will definitely be high on the ladder and be a tough competitor to beat this year,” Leigha Dear ’19 said.

Her success is no coincidence. “Julia is a determined and committed squash athlete,” Gold said. “She’s been playing a lot recently and improving her technique and strategy.”

All of this hard work and dedication to the sport will hopefully pay off for Pines with a successful senior season, for both her and the team. “We look good. We have a lot of new people and a lot of new freshmen who are really athletic who are already picking up the game,” Pines said.

Pines said the team had a successful season last year, and said Greens Farms Academy (GFA) was their most exciting match. In their beginning years, the Wreckers were unable to beat GFA; however, the Wreckers were able to put an end to this tradition last season.

When asked which match the team and herself were looking forward to playing most this season, Pines said the date circled on their calendars is Rye High School. “[They] are our biggest rival because we’ve played them every year and everyone’s had really close matches against them,” she said.

All of the hard work, dedication and leadership will be put to the test when Pines and the rest of the varsity squad take on Rye High School for their first match of the season on Nov. 29.