The new Bates Squash Center will be unveiled at an opening ceremony on Jan. 30 featuring the women’s and men’s squash matches vs. Dartmouth College.

The Bates women’s team takes on Dartmouth at 5:30 p.m., followed by a brief ceremony. The Bobcat men face Dartmouth at approximately 8 p.m. The event is open to the public.

The facility, located at 56 Alfred Plourde Parkway, features five international-sized courts. Both the men’s and women’s squash teams will use the facility for daily practices and matches.

“The feeling of this building is fantastic,” says Bates men’s and women’s squash coach John Illig. “I love the amount of open space, and the sound in here is tremendous.”

The new courts are 21 feet wide, standard width for all college squash matches. The converted racquetball courts that the team had been practicing on at Merrill Gymnasium were all at least one foot narrower.

“Squash is a game of repetition, angles and shot patterns,” says Illig. “You can’t program yourself on one sized court and then compete on another. It would be like a basketball team practicing on a lower hoop.”

Despite the competitive disadvantage of practicing on a smaller court, both Bates squash programs have achieved success. In 2003, the Bobcat women and men finished the season 10th and 15th, respectively, in the nation.

The Bobcats have already made good use of the center, as both teams defeated Colby in the first match played at the facility on Jan. 21.

“In their time at Bates and throughout their careers, Paul and John have each had remarkable success coaching both tennis and squash,” said Bates Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey. “We felt that they can be even more effective coaches if they are able to focus exclusively on one sport. All four programs will benefit from this arrangement.”

Gastonguay was an All-American tennis player as a senior at Bates. He went on to play on the professional tour, serving for three years as a practice partner for International Tennis Federation Hall-of-Famer Ivan Lendl. In six years coaching the Bobcat men’s tennis program, Gastonguay has posted a 29-27 dual match record.

Over the past two seasons, he has led Bates to consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament and a pair of top-three finishes in the prestigious New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Gastonguay was named 2001 NESCAC Coach of the Year after leading the Bobcats to a third-place finish despite losing three of six starters from his 2000 team.

Illig has coached at Bates since 1996, posting four winning records in five women’s squash seasons, including a 17-9 record in 1997 that established a school record for wins in a season. He led the Bobcats to consecutive 13th-place finishes in the Women’s Intercollegiate Squash Association (WISA) rankings in 2000 and 2001, their highest ever.

In 2000, Illig was named by the United States Olympic Committee as the Developmental Squash Coach of the Year. In his 11 years of coaching squash, he has coached two All-Americans and two winners of WISA’s Anne Wetzel Award, presented each year to a top player who began playing the sport in college. Illig is the 2001-03 president of WISA’s executive board.