Alex Stait will be recognized as the 2018 United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee coach of the year on Thursday, October 10, during the 2019 FS Investments U.S Open Squash Championships.
Stait is Team USA’s junior men’s head coach. He served as the assistant coach from 2015 to 2017 before becoming the head coach. In 2018 at the Men’s World Junior Team Championships in Chennai, India, the team was seeded eight but reached the semis to finish third. It was just the second time in Team USA history that a men’s junior team medaled at the tournament.
Stait, who turns forty in November, has served in many regional and national capacities including as the head regional coach for Pennsylvania, as a tournament director and as an instructor for US Squash’s coaching certification program. Since 2013 he has been the head coach at Agnes Irwin School. In 2018 he led Irwins to their first league title since 1995 and in the last two seasons he has guided the Owls to second-place finishes at the High School Nationals.
From Gloucestershire, England, Stait reached world No. 53. In 2017 he captured the men’s 35+ division at the National Singles. Stait is also a prominent doubles player. The left-waller has partnered with Ed Garno with much recent success. They have taken the Philadelphia doubles title the past four years, the last three William White invitational titles and in 2018 they won the National Doubles. In 2017 he also reached the semis of the World Doubles, losing 15-14 in the fifth for a slot in the finals.
Since 1998, the USOPC National Coach of the Year has honored the best squash coaches at the highest levels of the game. Last year’s honoree was Mike Way of Harvard. Stait will be honored on the ASB Glasscourt on the evening of October 10. Purchase tickets here.