After four years of existence, SquashBusters was no longer able to meet the demand it had created. By the fall of 2000, 68 Timilty kids tried out for the 14 available slots on the SquashBusters team; Harrington School in Cambridge, the program’s other original flagship school, was also oversubscribed. Other city schools called frequently, wanting to bring SquashBusters to their students. And, perhaps most important, the program had graduates who did not want to leave the program – kids entering ninth grade who loved squash and SquashBusters and who wished to continue throughout high school. Because of limited capacity, the answer had always been no. SquashBusters was testing the limits of the facilities upon whose generosity the program had always depended. All this suggested that an important piece was missing: SquashBusters needed a home.

This vision is now a reality because of a unique arrangement with Northeastern University. Northeastern agreed to donate the land for a new building, grant SquashBusters a 50-year free lease, and assume all management responsibilities for the facility. In return, SquashBusters raised the funds necessary to support the construction of the building. Construction began in the spring of 2002; the facility opened in July 2003. The arrangement is beneficial for both parties: it brings squash to Northeastern for the first time and broadens in concrete ways their ties to the Boston community, and it continues the SquashBusters tradition of exposing its kids to the environment of higher education. Most importantly, SquashBusters – and every student in the program – will have a permanent place to call home.

This home enables SquashBusters to:

  • Serve over 175 students each year.
  • Enable participants to be affiliated with SquashBusters for seven years, up from only three years.
  • Introduce a summer camp to serve youth from both inside and outside of the Boston community.  In so doing, hundreds more young people are impacted by the program.

From this day forward, every graduate of the program has a home to return to, an important step to ensure that the lessons learned here will never be forgotten.