Christina Schutz Brownell '87, the nation's second ranked women's squash professional, will coach the Big Green's men's and women's squash teams starting this fall.
While at Dartmouth, Brownell was a two-time All-Ivy squash player, a three year letter winner and team captain her senior year, but never played before coming to the College.
"I learned how to play here," Brownell said. She said she started out playing field hockey, basketball and lacrosse but during her first Fall term was asked to try out for the squash team by the junior varsity lacrosse coach, who also coached squash.
During the last few years, Brownell has coached a variety of sports teams, and most recently served as assistant squash coach at Harvard University and helped coach at the Harvard Club. She also competed in the pro-circuit.
"I wanted to be head coach somewhere," Brownell said, explaining that she thought she was doing too many different activities and that the opportunity at Dartmouth would let her focus on one in particular.
Brownell said having coached at Harvard, one of the College's competitors in squash, will help her with next year's plan of attack.
"They say to be able to beat your enemy you have to know them," she said.
Though the men's and women's teams compete separately, this is the second year the two will mingle during practices and off the courts, Brownell said. Unlike when she played squash here and the teams operated under different coaches, Brownell said she will occasionally ask some members of each team to join the other's practice.
"They can learn a lot from each other," Brownell said. "Generally, the top women players are a little craftier and the guys might be quicker and stronger. It will be good to match them up."
Because Brownell will coach both teams, she will not be able to attend every match. She said Assistant Coach Lex Myron '93 will fill in as coach for one of the teams when she travels with the other.
Brownell applied for the position in mid-May and was appointed in July. Although Brownell was at the College yesterday to organize her work, she will not move here permanently until around Labor Day, she said.
She said she has known of similar openings at the College in the past, but that the timing finally fell into place this time. Brownell's husband will be a student in the Master of Arts and Liberal Sciences program.
From 1989 to 1990, she coached middle school soccer, basketball and tennis in Haverhill, Mass. Since then, Brownell has coached girls' varsity field hockey and boys' varsity tennis at Buckingham, Browne and Nichols in Cambridge, Mass. and was a tennis director at Tamarack Tennis Camp in Franconia, N.H.
