The beauty of playing any sport in college is that it allows you to make connections with new people, keep yourself fit, discover a new passion you never knew that you had, and help you improve your grades by reducing your stress and teaching you to understand time management.  Squash, not to be confused with the vegetable that also bears its name, is a racquet-based sport that makes an excellent activity to pursue while you’re attending a university.  Here are a few benefits of playing squash in your college

Calorie burner

While squash is often (and unfairly) compared to other, more popular racquet sports like badminton or tennis, the squash court is bigger than the others, which requires that you actually run more than you would while playing badminton.  Fans of the sport claim that you can burn from eight hundred to a thousand calories during a game or while practicing.

Your body’s health

Playing squash requires that you make quick stops and change your direction all the time as you face off against an opponent who is competing with you for the front wall, which is the same target for both of you.  If you are going to engage in this practice, you will need to stretch properly before you play as well as purchase the proper equipment.  Understand how your body works so that you can make the kind of quick movements the game requires without tearing your cartilage or muscles.

Racquet types

The variety of racquet types available to squash players (heavier for beginners since they produce more force, while a lighter racquet helps old-hands increase their maneuverability) means that a wider variety of people can play, including those with arm or wrist injuries who may find that a tennis racquet is too heavy for their comfort.

Endurance

You can build your body’s endurance as you increase the difficulty of the game.  You can play rallies that last six seconds and then continue to expand them.  “Forbes” magazine recently listed squash as the healthiest sport you can play, considering such factors as cardio respiratory endurance, muscular strength, injury risk, and flexibility.

Good for everyone!

From beginners to experts, men and women, squash is an excellent sport for anyone to play.  Strength and size don’t play as important a role as they do in, say, football, so if you have a high level of endurance, are speedy, and demonstrate an incredible amount of agility, then squash is the sport for you.  Even if you’re nearing the end of your college days, squash is a sport you can consider as a way to relieve the stress you probably feel as the intensity of your classes has increased – it will keep you healthy mentally as well as physically!

If you’re an incoming freshman, prepare to work on your squash game while you pursue the top colleges for business administration. It’s also a great way to stay in shape if you take classes from one of the top colleges online.