Tyler Smith joined the Colby College Squash coaching staff to start the 2023-24 season.
Smith started playing squash at the age of nine years old and quickly became the number one player in the country at age 10 in the U11 division going undefeated that year. Following that season he always retained a top five ranking on top of winning the U13 and U17 National Championships. Smith then played on the USA Squash Team for Battle of the Border and the USA National Training Squad until he stopped playing in 2008 and went on to play Division 1 lacrosse for Hobart College.
After college, Smith started coaching squash at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey where he worked with nationally ranked juniors coaching middle school and highschool teams. Smith then moved to Pretty Brook Tennis Club in Princeton and became the Director of Squash drawing the top ranked juniors in the area. He trained them and traveled with them to JCT tournaments where the team supported one another like a family. Smith helped facilitate his athletes college squash dreams at Princeton, Bowdoin and MIT while one is still in the juniors but has always been top five in his age group. Smith was called the pied piper at Pretty Brook being a jack of all trades from teaching swim lessons, running summer camps and running the paddle program.
Leaving Pretty Brook in 2021, Smith brought his talent to South Pasadena in Los Angeles California becoming the Director of Squash at the Arroyo Seco Rackets Club. There he teached a wide range of junior players from juniors learning to play the sport to helping juniors with the college recruiting process. Unfortunately Los Angeles was short-lived due to the club closing due to the COVID pandemic six months into the job. Smith then migrated to San Diego and worked for an urban squash program called Access Youth Academy and later became the pro at San Diego Squash. After two years of enjoying the beautiful weather of San Diego, Smith missed the intensity of east coast squash and decided to take a job at Squash on Fire in Washington DC giving more lessons than he thought was possible. After a year of grinding he decided to give the college squash scene a try and Colby came on the radar.
"I am extremely excited to work with Coach Abplanalp as well as both the men's and women's teams," stated Smith. "Colby has given me such a warm welcome and I'm grateful and excited to improve Colby's team and bring them to the top of the NESCAC division!"
Being a college squash coach has always been a part of Smith's dream and he could not be more grateful to start this exciting chapter with Colby's wholesome and motivated student athletes. "The journey thus far has been all I have hoped for and more!"
