A ceremony during the 2016 U.S. Junior Squash Championships at Harvard University Saturday evening announced the 2016 DeRoy Sportsmanship Award recipients, Eleonore Evans and Spencer Lovejoy, and the 2016 William T. Ketcham, Jr. Most Improved Player Awards.
The DeRoy Sportsmanship Award is awarded to one female and one male high school senior who displays exemplary on and off court behavior while competing at a high level of squash.
Evans, a senior at McDonogh School, represented Team USA in the World Junior Championships and Battle of the Border. She will attend Harvard next year.
“I’ve seen some of the best players win and lose, and at the end of the day, what really sticks with me is how they behave on court, ” Evans said. I always try to model that. And I don’t want to have a defeat or a win, but not feel like I earned it without acting properly on court.”
Lovejoy, a senior at Hopkins School, represented Team USA at the World Junior Championships, Pan American Juniors, British Junior Open and Battle of the Border. He will attend Yale next year.
“I think that sportsmanship is important because there’s no point in getting caught up in negative things on the court.” Lovejoy said. “There’s no point in arguing. There’s no point putting in a bad show because it’s just going to make you play worse in the long run. With a lot of people watching, you want to set the example for the younger players.”
Lovejoy and Evans were teammates at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Holland and 2014 Battle of the Border.
“When you have USA on your back, you’re playing for your country not yourself, ” Lovejoy said. “You have to reflect the values of everyone who is behind you.”
“Being on the world stage really puts a lot of eyes on you, ” Evans said. “When you get to that level it’s not just you that you’re representing, it’s your country. On the national team, you don’t want to cast the United States in bad light, or myself, or my team. I just try to act the right way so at the end of the day I’m proud of myself.”