Practice takes place year-round: after school on all full HISD school days, on weekends, and for a minimum of four weeks over summer.
Typically, up to 30 scholars will attend an after-school practice, all of whom will participate in both academics and squash programming. Our high school students arrive at practice in the Mission Squash Shuttle, and our middle school scholars simply walk down the corridor to get to our facility on the school campus.
After scholar t sign-in and team briefing, the group splits into two elements, one of which will start academics in the classroom, the other starting a warm-up for their squash practice. After one hour, the two elements will break for a healthy snack, and then switch activities for the remaining hour.
After a session de-brief including important notices and awarding/deduction of culture points (the internal currency we use for rewarding positive social-emotional behaviors), class is dismissed and scholars are picked up by parents or guardians.
During some periods workshops, academic intervention diagnostics, college access programming, field trips, community service, fitness testing, or other enrichment activities replace regular programming. All scholars, however, take part in a minimum of 100 hours of supervised academics and 100 hours of squash annually, which is tracked closely by staff.
Weekend practice time is for scholars requiring additional academic tutoring, college access programming such as application workshops and ACT/SAT preparation classes, for extra squash match practice, and for mentors who are busy during the week to catch up with their scholars.
Professional educators and squash coaching staff run the activities, supported by trained volunteers.