Catching up with former Penn squash standout Kristen Lange

Daily Pennsylvanian: Can you walk us through how your squash career has been since leaving Penn?

Kristen Lange: After leaving Penn, I returned to Seattle, where after a summer of training, I started to play the tour. It is a tough tour to break into. Not a lot of tournaments, which means good top-30 players have to play the smaller tournaments, ones I was playing in.

After a year in Seattle, my ranking was at 132 in the world or so. I then went to San Diego and worked for a nonprofit as a squash coach and continued to train. I had a few really good results, such as being a finalist in the Hashim Khan open and a semifinalist in a tournament in Guatemala.

I had a big break when I received the wild card for the U.S. Open last year. After that my ranking rose to 52 in the world. Unfortunately, shortly after the tournament, I injured my lower back.

It took me nine months, eight cortisone shots and one heck of a lot of personal training to get back into playing form. Since the injury, I have moved back to Seattle, am back with my original coach and am playing the best squash of my life. I have had some good showings against a couple top-25 players in the world this last month and am hoping to continue that trend this weekend.

DP: What have you found to be the most different in pro squash as opposed to collegiate squash?

KL: You are alone in pro squash. In collegiate squash, you always have your team to rely on, to get you through the bad days, the days you don’t want to train, the days you are so sore you think you cannot hit the ball, and you have your team to share in the best wins of your life and the funny experiences that happen when you travel. You have support.

When you are playing pro squash, there is me, myself and I. More often then not, you don’t have your coach with you, you don’t have friends with you and you have some friends on the tour but at the end of the day, you have to rely on yourself. It is a true test of mental strength and personal conviction. If, on the tour, you don’t believe you can win, there is no one beside you telling you that you are wrong. That is the biggest difference.

DP: What are a few of your favorite memories of playing at Penn?

KL: Without a doubt playing against Princeton my sophomore year, when we were down 4-0 and I had the flu, and then we just started winning. All of a sudden, it was down to Tara Chawla and myself. I was so sick that I asked for a trash can to be put outside the court. I somehow ended up winning, and then Tara did too — on her birthday! By far the best win.

There was a time too I silenced a packed stadium at Yale when I crushed their number one player. It was amazingly satisfying.

DP: How did your time at Penn help you to get to where you are today?

KL: Penn helped me learn how to balance it all. Playing on the tour is like taking classes. You have to “study” before every tournament, which is the “test”. If you only study you don’t feel fulfilled, when you study but also enjoy life outside of squash then you are having the time of your life and the experience is unbelievable. Obviously there are times that all you do is study or train, but when it is done, you can relax. Furthermore, Penn gave me so many different experiences that I now feel capable of relating and carrying on a conversation with anyone in the world, and I have done a bit of traveling at this point in time.

DP: What are your hopes for the upcoming tournament in Philadelphia?

KL: I hope to go out of the court and not be afraid to lose, or to play my game. If I play the best squash i can play, then I don’t care what the scoreline is. I just want to go out there and put on a show and give the squash world something to think about.

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