Squash: No. 4 Wong seeing all the angles

And then there are the movements: Senior tri-captain Kimlee Wong seems obliviously engaged in a ritual he has performed thousands of times. Each lunge produces two sharp cracks, a hiss or a little dink. The match mixes the lazy and the frenetic, the decisive and the improvised. The squash flows along. And then someone stumbles.

Between points, the cleanliness is broken. The black welts on the wall stick out. No longer focused on the ball, the players focus internally for a few moments. Wong, the No. 4 ranked collegiate squash player in the nation, stands out here. His eyes calculate the situation, and his body begins the process of execution.

“I am definitely conscious of the score. I don’t want to show too much emotion,” Wong said. “I don’t want to give [my opponent] information, telling him I am tired, upset, hurting. I am not going to let him know if I am going to play a drop shot or a post, up or back.”

In these in-between times, the court remains enveloped in deception, the players mimicking each other’s movements. Again, the cleanliness is broken.

When play resumes, though, squash looks so instinctive, so clean. The simple, unclean moments — a player stumbles, the ball bounces bizarrely — define the match. A struggle against imperfection reigns.

“I always feel the need to work on something,” Wong said. “If I am doing some things awkwardly, like my movement to the front, I have to have a thought to approach it.”

Wong, a three-time All-Ivy honoree, tinkers and improves by taping his matches and comparing his strokes to those of top professional players. Looking over head coach Bob Callahan ’77’s shoulder, Wong watches his own matches to find that thought that helps eliminate the awkwardness.

With efficiency so clearly at the forefront of his squash game, it is no surprise that Wong is an operations research and financial engineering concentrator doing his senior thesis on clean energy. Wong is analyzing the feasibility and inherent unpredictability of wind turbines.

“Basically, the wind does not blow consistently from day to day. If it does not blow one day, then the wind power company must purchase the energy from another company to fulfill their contract. Also, there is no way to store excess wind energy that occurs on days when it blows more than the amount the energy company needs it to blow,” Wong said. “It is a fun to be working on a current problem that could change so quickly with technology.”

Eliminating risk becomes essential in Wong’s thesis, so it is ironic that he describes coming to Princeton as if it happened by chance. But, Callahan said, Wong’s success on the squash court was expected before he even got to the University.

“I knew he would be great, the moment I met him in Sheffield, England, after he had played in the British Open Junior Championships his senior year in high school,” Callahan explained. “He was personable, smart, and very determined. He played the top young player in the world and gave him all he could handle.”

As coldly efficient as Wong seems on the court, off the court, he nonchalantly washes away the coldness he displays while playing. When talking about his teammates, Wong keeps mentioning the “timing” of this year.

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“Everyone is a squash fanatic, and we just enjoy hanging out together, which makes it such a good team dynamic to be a part of,” Wong said. “We are stronger than last year, and more experienced. If Trinity wants to win this year, they are going to have to pull something special.”

And if the calculating and humble Mr. Wong is willing to admit that, then this year may be something special. The No. 2-ranked Tigers begin their season this Sunday against Cornell in Jadwin Gymnasium.