It was always squash for senior Nick Spizzirri.
Well, it was tennis first. But squash was the first sport that clicked for an eight-year-old Spizzirri.
“Once you get good at something, you kind of want to stick with it,” Spizzirri said.
15 years later, the two-time national champion and three-time Ivy League champion has his sights set on a professional squash career — and the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
With his 6-foot-3 frame and unmistakable agility, Spizzirri might have been biologically predisposed to be athletically great. His environment only supported his potential: He grew up in Greenwich, Conn. surrounded by people excelling in their sports. His twin brother, Eliot Spizzirri, is a professional tennis player, and his childhood friend, Dana Santry, is also on Penn’s squash team.
By the time he was thinking about college, Spizzirri was No. 2 in the country for under-19 squash players. Yet, he looked to a university that had never won a national championship for the sport.
“The ultimate decision maker was [coach] Gilly’s persistence,” he said. “I only saw upward opportunity [at Penn].”
Spizzirri immediately brought a new determined energy to the group, quickly becoming a star member of Penn’s team. Within his first season competing post-COVID-19, Penn won their first Ivy League championship since 1974.
“We were just breaking into that national championship contention when he got here,” coach Gilly Lane said. “He was obviously young, full of that fight, that spirit, and that energy, but he also brought a winning mentality to the group.”
Spizzirri hit the ground running, racking up comeback victories in key matches and demonstrating his versatility in his first season. His career only continued to take off as he landed spots on the All-American first team for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
With a dominant senior season, Spizzirri helped lead Penn to its first-ever national championship — and described the experience as the “culmination” of everything his team had worked for. Lane called Spizzirri the “extra piece” Penn needed to finally achieve the highest victory.
It would have been easy to go out on a high note. But he wasn’t satisfied yet.
Spizzirri chose to take his fifth year of eligibility even before Penn had won their first championship, citing a drive to take advantage of every moment of college squash he could.
“This year, it was more about us and just playing for each other,” he said.
After a triumphant year as team captain, he was ready to follow his teammates’ direction, classifying himself as a “silent leader” during his fifth year.
Lane called Spizzirri the “ultimate team guy” — a role he has embraced, but not singularly. Spizzirri described his game and his goals as “bigger” than himself, drawing motivation from the support of his teammates.
“When I was feeling pretty fatigued in matches, I would just look back, and it would give me another jolt of energy,” he said.
“In an individual sport, to have someone that has the team’s best interest at heart all the time, that’s the best thing in the world,” Lane said. “Nick’s a guy that you’re going to pick for your team every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
He regarded Spizzirri as one of his “favorite” players that he’s ever coached and credited him with bringing the program out of its decadeslong slump. Whether through the pressure he puts on himself or how he always wants to show up for his teammates, Spizzirri wants to be one of the greats.
“His wanting to be the best helped push us forward,” Lane said. He noted Spizzirri’s “grit, tenacity, and passion” as reasons why his teammates look up to him and the qualities that have allowed him to grow over his career at Penn.
“I was immature and played somewhat like a junior player,” Spizzirri said of his earlier seasons. “I think [coach] Gilly and playing here has taught me a lot more about being a patient player and waiting for your opportunities, but, when you get those opportunities, to really take them and be all in.”
Spizzirri is carrying that mentality into the next years of his life. Originally intending to go into finance after graduation, he started seriously considering the option of playing squash professionally when it was announced that squash would be an Olympic sport for the first time in 2028.
Now, he’s ready to work toward his childhood dream: He stuck with it, and he’s going all in.
“I always wanted to be an Olympian,” he said. “And now we’re off to the races.”
As he prepares to try out for the Olympics, Spizzirri is set to continue his training around the country and abroad.
“Hopefully, I can go all in and make the rest of my teammates and my family proud,” he said.
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