Kelly building on past success as lone men's squash senior

Let's make one thing clear: Senior Peter Kelly doesn't like Yale.

"I just think that they suck as people," the senior men's squash captain said. "I don't have any deep-seeded hatred for them, though."

This aggressive attitude is the same one Kelly takes into his matches. With a 40-8 career record, he has played in the top four spots for his entire career at Princeton.

But he is not done talking about the Yale team.

"I've never lost to Yale," he said. "So I'd like to not lose to them for my whole four years. I mean, it's nice to think that they cry [after losing to us].

"Their coach throws a sacrificial lamb at me because I think he knows that I don't like them," Kelly continued. "I'll do anything not to lose to them, so I think he just throws somebody out there who will probably lose to me."

What about Harvard?

"I hate Harvard," he said. "I probably hate Yale a lot more than I hate Harvard, just because I have a few friends on the Harvard team."

It is probably safe to say that Kelly takes winning very seriously - a trait he might have gotten from his father Dennis, who played squash at Amherst. Kelly has been a happy man this year, owning a 4-0 record going into the weekend's Five Man Team Championship. Kelly has yet to lose a game this year, including a 9-5, 9-1, 9-3 victory over Brown's Rishal Sawhney last Saturday.

Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., Kelly did not have access to local parks like many young kids do. He couldn't walk across the street and play a pickup game of soccer or basketball.

Kelly's family did belong to a tennis club, however. After dabbling in the sport for a few years, he decided it just wasn't the game for him. So, as he says, "I changed over to squash."

The transition was not a problem. During his high-school years at Packet Collegiate, Kelly traveled to play in places like Egypt, Holland and France.

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"Playing with the U.S National Team in Egypt when I was 16 is probably the coolest thing I've ever done," he said.

"But it's not just about the playing. You see new things and meet new people. It gives you a good perspective on life. Kids from England are very different than kids from the Netherlands and kids from America. You experience some things that you can't experience here."

Kelly's world-caliber experience didn't stop there. In 1998, he competed for the U.S. Junior National Team at the World Championships.

"It was fun, but at the same time it was miserable," Kelly said. "I didn't play very well, but it was a good experience."

As one of just three seniors on this year's team and the only senior starter, Kelly has been able to see the team evolve to where it is now.

"My freshman year, I played in the top four and there was a definite split in the team (in terms of ability)," he said. "We had four players who were better than the next five. In that sense, I always felt I had to win, because if I lost, we weren't going to win."

Now, he sees a much better balance throughout the lineup and doesn't feel quite so pressured to win. You can be sure he still beats himself up over a loss, though.

The three-time All-America gets more out of squash than just the matches. Kelly says that team chemistry and bonding is just as important as the actual playing.

This can be attributed to the fact that five of this year's players have been in the top six since Kelly's sophomore year. Juniors David Yik, Danny Rutherford, Will Evans and Eric Pearson again join Kelly.

Like most things, Kelly isn't shy when talking about one of the main reasons he came to Princeton.

"When I was a senior in high school, the captain of the [Princeton] team lived about two blocks from me at home," Kelly recalled. "The Princeton team was playing in New York and my sister played for the women's team. We had both teams over for dinner at my house.

"After dinner, I went with the guys' team out to a bar. I'm not really sure how I got in, but I did and ended up getting a 24-year-old's phone number. The guys were proud of me. I had a lot of fun that night."

Kelly, who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 1999 after compiling an 11-2 record and has been a member of the All-Ivy team all three years, says squash is a much more exciting sport than most people think.

"It's so much of a one-on-one battle, and I don't think it's rivaled by any other sport," he said. "I think squash, on the individual level and the way it's played in the college ranks, is physically and mentally brutal."

Most matches take 45 minutes to complete, but Kelly has played in a two hour, 15-minute match and has also played in two one-and-a-half-hour matches last year. He says it is a true test of stamina, ability and heart.

Another factor in squash that cannot be matched by any other sport is the proximity of the spectators to the players.

"You're so close to the players that you can see the agony on their faces," he said. "Here, everyone is right on top of the court and there's a whole lot of emotion that flows around the crowd."

Kelly is majoring in politics. Although beating Harvard and Yale are extremely important to him, he says, "I need a job, so that's priority number one right now."