Rye City School Districts houses one of the best and largest girls squash programs in the entire United States. While there is no official data to support this, Varsity Head Coach Anthony Campbell believes “most people in the squash community would attest to the fact that this makes us the largest female squash program at any educational institution.”
Throughout all age groups and levels, Rye will support a record 76 girls playing squash in the winter of 2026. The top ten of these athletes will serve as Campbell’s varsity 1 team, which is coming off an 11-3 showing in 2025.
“The remarkable commitment of Rye girls to try this new lifelong sport is what drives our program,” the head coach told MyRye.com before the season. “The top 10 players that make up our Rye 1 team is especially deep and young this year, with a group of seven girls who play US Squash tournaments and work on their games year round.”
One of those seven is third-year varsity talent Sam Coyne. Coyne will serve as the lone varsity 1 captain in 2026 after refining her leadership skills across the prior two seasons.
She will lead the Garnets throughout a challenging yet fun schedule. The slate of games includes two weekend trips, one to Blair Academy and one to Hopkins. “The trip to Blair Academy is a fun one, but this year we have added a trip to Hopkins in New Haven and will play a round robin with Hopkins, Miss Porters School and Berkshire Academy,” Campbell told MyRye.com. “Rivalries within the league are nice, but its always fun to have new schools to play.”
While the varsity team will serve as the main attraction, more than half of Rye’s girls squash players will compete amongest themselves in a new intramural league on Fridays called the Rye Girls ‘Clash of Colors’. “Those players will be split into 6 teams of 8 girls divided up with seprate colored uniforms… the teams will be captained by upperclassmen,” Campbell explained. ” On Fridays, League Day, their will be hourly matches between those teams.”
With such a high quantity and quality of players in the system, there is plenty to be excited about regarding the Rye Squash program in 2026. The season begins later today at Greenwich and culminates with league playoffs and a potential trip to Nationals in late February and early March.
