Agnes Irwin students and staff have been very fortunate to experience school pretty close to normal this year, with many students choosing to learn in-person for the majority of the year. But the year has indeed looked a little different, and one major change has been our ability to socialize with different people throughout the day.
Fabio Cechin, more often known to students as Coach Fabio, joined the Agnes Irwin community last summer as the new squash coach. While many of us know him from squash, and most of us have seen him during COVID-19 testing or throughout the halls, the majority of students have not gotten the chance to meet him. I asked him to tell me a little about himself, so more students could get to know him and his interesting backstory.
Coach Fabio was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, a coastal city close to Argentina and Uruguay. For Coach Fabio, “squash is his life,” and he became interested in the game at a young age. He started playing when he was about 11 years old, thanks to the encouragement of his uncle, a squash coach. For many years, Coach Fabio played at his uncle’s courts, where he enjoyed “playing with his friends and going to squash tournaments with friends.” When he was only 17 years old, Coach Fabio began coaching younger players in squash. At the same time, he won third place in the South American Squash Tournaments, to kick off his several-year professional career.
Finding that it was challenging to build a life and play squash professionally, Coach Fabio (and his now wife) moved to the U.S. when he got a call about a coaching position at the Merion Cricket Club in 2009. When I asked him why he stays with squash, he said “I like the game for so many reasons.” He appreciates “the way you discover yourself and your limits,” the strategy, and that “you don’t play against your opponent. You play against yourself,” which he said helps “you learn a lot about yourself.” He said that the most important thing about squash and sports, in general, is “the friends you make.” He believes you “will always have [the friends and] the memories (both good and bad). You keep them as a team and you carry them for life.”
Outside of squash, Coach Fabio really enjoys doing outdoor activities, like biking, soccer, and camping. He even enjoys surfing when he is on the beach. About a year ago, Coach Fabio and his wife had their first child, a little girl named Valentina. Coach Fabio has loved getting to spend time with his family during the past year.
Though Coach Fabio has been at Agnes Irwin for less than a year, he appreciates the sense of community and how welcoming it is, even during the pandemic. Like so much else, the pandemic has greatly impacted squash and Coach Fabio misses “working together and collaborating in everything, not just squash.” Looking ahead, Coach Fabio has goals for the future. He wants to “think about community,” and host more “service-based squash,” to work together, especially “in the world we live in now.” For the squash team, Coach Fabio wants “to take what he has and make it better” by promoting a hardworking and collaborative team, since “the only thing that can bring [the team] up is working hard.” For students thinking about playing squash, Coach Fabio recommends you “try squash even if you’ve never played because when you try it, you’ll like it.”
