![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/Images\/Bates_Magazine\/fall06\/weisskopf8439C.jpg\")
<\/p>\nInside a converted FedEx warehouse just off the Maine Turnpike, on a court measuring 32 feet by 21 feet, two-time All-America squash player Walter Ricardo \u201cRicky\u201d Weisskopf \u201908 delivers a star-making performance nearly every day. Scenes from the show might include Weisskopf, also a top player on his El Salvador national team, running through a \u201cstar drill,\u201d darting from center court to spots around the perimeter with footwork so exquisite that the \u201cmere act of witnessing it helps you get better,\u201d says head coach John Illig.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the normal stuff. The feats that get people out of their chairs (or up from one of the comfy secondhand couches scattered about) are what Illig calls \u201cRicky moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Like when Weisskopf was practicing his rail shots \u2014 a stroke similar to a tennis shot down the alley. Over and over, just inches from the side wall, Weisskopf whistled the ball toward the front wall. The ball would rebound, carom off the back glass wall, then drop lazily in front of Weisskopf, who with a flick of the racquet would send it screaming toward the front wall again.<\/p>\n
After 40 or so flawless repetitions, with Weisskopf not straying an inch from his spot, the ball landed several inches behind him. So the resident wunderkind reached back with one foot, flicked the ball around his body, hacky style, and resumed hitting with the same rhythm. \u201cWe just fell back in our chairs,\u201d said Illig. Like all great athletes, the coach says, \u201cRicky sees the ball in slow motion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weisskopf finished 25-4 in individual play in 2005\u201306. Three losses came against players from Trinity (U.S. champion eight years running), the other against Yale\u2019s now-professional Julian Illingworth. \u201cHe is far and away the best player that I\u2019ve had in 15 years of college coaching,\u201d says Illig. \u201cWhen we participate in round-robins at Yale, Trinity, or Harvard, players from other teams seek him out just to watch him play. It\u2019s a new phenomenon for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summertime means more squash for Weisskopf. In July he competed in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia, bowing out in the quarterfinals to second-year pro Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia. \u201cI kept up with him really well for a while, but if you\u2019re not used to that pace, even though you\u2019re in great shape, you get mentally and physically tired,\u201d said Weisskopf. \u201cHe\u2019s going to get to every ball you hit, so your shots have to be perfect. You have that in your mind throughout the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weisskopf then coached the El Salvador junior team at a Honduran tournament, finding that keeping tabs on teenagers is stressful yet perhaps decent preparation for his duties this year as a junior adviser \u2014 a friend, mentor, and ally to fellow Bates students in Milliken House.<\/p>\n
And in September, Weisskopf flew back to Colombia to play in the Pan Am Federation Cup. The El Salvador team finished seventh, qualifying for the sport\u2019s biggest spectacle in this hemisphere, the 2007 Pan American Games. Weisskopf again drew Rodriguez and fell in straight games, 9-2, 9-0, 9-5.<\/p>\n
At his elite level, Weisskopf must seek out the best competition if he wants to improve. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get to that level because you have to play with them constantly,\u201d he says. But despite his international focus, he is devoted to the Bates program, present and future. \u201cWhen he competes in South and Central America, he spreads the word about Bates,\u201d Illig notes. \u201cHe is ambitious about the future of the team and he cares a lot about our ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n
And whether he\u2019s thumping Bowdoin\u2019s No. 1 (or Navy\u2019s or Brown\u2019s) or losing to a pro from Colombia, \u201che is such a gracious competitor. He shows perfect respect to every one of his opponents,\u201d Illig says. Plus, Weisskopf likes the college atmosphere. \u201cThe age difference is minimal, so we\u2019re all going through the same things. It\u2019s easier to relate to each other.\u201d Though English is his third language after Spanish and German \u2014 he attended a German-speaking high school in San Salvador, and his paternal grandfather is Swiss \u2014 Weisskopf has plunged into his studies as an economics and physics double major. \u201cAt first, he had to think through Spanish and German in order to finish assignments at Bates,\u201d Illig says.<\/p>\n
Weisskopf has told the folks back home in San Salvador that no, it isn\u2019t as cold as people think, and yes, he really likes the famous lobsters. But whether at Bates or back home, he feels most comfortable on a squash court. At Bates, he almost compulsively visits the Bates squash facility during any free chunk of time, bumming rides from his coach and teammates for the 3.7-mile trip. Besides Weisskopf\u2019s physical gifts \u2014 Illig notes his quick feet and hands and \u201cthe lungs of Lance Armstrong\u201d \u2014 the quality most admired by coach and parents is his focus.<\/p>\n
At 16, he realized he had the chance to play and study at a U.S. college. (Weisskopf would make the first contact with Bates, recalls Illig. \u201cHis background told me he was talented and smart \u2014 attending a German-speaking high school \u2014 so I sent him an e-mail response in German, and we hit it off.\u201d) \u201cWhen he found this possibility, it was always in his mind, [and] he started to move in that direction until he achieved his goal,\u201d says his father, Ricardo Sr. \u201cWe were very conscious about the difficulties that had to be solved by a person dedicated to sports and school [but] Ricky always solved that part in an optimal way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Illig has his own spin on Ricky\u2019s powers of concentration. \u201cHis nature is preternaturally calm, almost phlegmatic,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s the ice man.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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