Renovation of Penn squash facilities to start in August

Hardware from Reeham Sedky's national championship win won't be the only new part of Penn squash's facilities this coming year.

In fact, every part of the facility will be new. Penn officially announced the long-awaited renovation of the Ringe Squash Center, which will commence in a little over a month and will involve a full overhaul of the building and the squash facility within.

The renovation will include an increase in the number of courts, enlargement of and improvements to spectator spaces, upgrades to heating, cooling, coaching space, and video technology, and numerous improvements to the space in general.

With all this and more to accomplish, the University has staked out a timeline of about a year to complete the renovation, which begins Aug. 1 and is projected to finish before the fall 2019 semester. It is unclear at this point where the team will practice and hold matches in the coming 2018-19 season.

The architect for the project, EwingCole, has a proven track record, having worked on both Meiklejohn Stadium and the Tse Center for Penn, as well as a variety of projects for Temple, Delaware, and Bucknell. Likewise, the construction manager has a history with Penn — the same firm is currently working on the new patient pavilion at HUP.

Both of Penn's squash teams are historically strong, and competed among the top teams in the nation this season. The men finished 11-7 on the season and lost to no. 3 Harvard in the first round of the Potter Cup. 

The women finished 8-8, although the disappointment of a down year (the team was 13-2 the year before) was lessened somewhat when then-junior Reeham Sedky completed a perfect season with an individual national championship. Sedky, who had already cemented herself as a Penn squash legend, finally added a laurel that eluded her in previous years.

Such a dominant athletic program demands a facility to match, and it looks like by 2019, that's exactly what Penn squash will finally have.