A part of U.S. Beat It history through the eyes of the founder Roos Verboog
When I started studying in Utrecht I was surprised to see that there was no squash club for students in Utrecht. I was playing competitive squash for several years and during my days as a student it seemed really awesome to play squash at a student squash club. I found myself regularly at Olympos: first only doing sports and later also as an employee and to top it off I joined the board of the Sportraad Utrecht. In my function at the Sportraad I organized ‘squash toss’ several times. Squash toss was an open night for squash enthusiasts, playing as many matches as possible for three hours and after going for drinks. This was the start of a success story!
A close group of 30 boys and girls emerged soon and all their roomies and study buddies were invited to join. I met Anja Cheriakova, Anouk van Loon, Sanne van Leeuwen, Mark Bakker and Wicher Minnaart via ‘squash tossen’. They encouraged me to found U.S. Beat It in cooperation with them!
At may 28th 2008 the notarial act was signed in Bunnik and U.S. Beat It was official. What awesome stuff we’ve been doing: a hitchhiking weekend to Leipzig, the Christmasmans and Christmaselfs tournament, squash battle of the cities, great parties and of course a lot of squashing!! These are the type of activities which are returning year after year!
I can still remember the fantastic and long brainstorm sessions and meetings, with Mark, Wicher and Anja, together with the bottles of wine and the Indonesian takeaway. Since founding an association is relatively easy, but then… Arranging training, including trainers, creating the squashladder, giving form to the club nights, plan parties, organize a hitchhiking weekend etc. That costs a lot of time and energy!
What I find so special about U.S. Beat It, is the ambiance that is always there: you’re feeling welcome and relaxed, you can do what you want, without obligations. This feeling is characteristic for our club! To all the Beat Iters and forthcoming Beat Iters: keep the spirit alive!
See you on the squash courts!
Roos Verboog