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BETH: I’M AN
‘AGENT OF CHANGE’
 One of the great things about working as a journalist, is that you come to
meet some fascinating people.
The players, of course. Their parents, their coaches. But also the people
that support them, the organisers, referees, promoters, and … press
officers…
Beth Rasin.
There are people that are like icebergs. What you see is only a minuscule
part of who they are. And I thought naively that the Press Officer for
this event was a professional PR that goes from sport to sport, and that,
this week, was working on squash.
Wrong again, woman…
Listening to her explaining the basics of her activities, I stopped her at
some point and asked “Is there ANYTHING you haven’t done??? That would
make my portrait easier you know…”
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 Beth is what you could call a “driven lady”. She likes sports, that’s for
sure, she likes organising, she like dedicating her time, effort and
knowledge for the good of the community she belongs to (wherever she
happens to be at the time, Washington DC, Boston, New York…). She loves
structuring the non structured, mending what is broken and systemising
chaos. She loves being involved in the Local Communities, and she’s been
involved
most of her life in some way with Non Profit Organisations.
No wonder she got involved in squash…
Originally a Corporate Lawyer for 12 years, she worked for Law Firms,
handling gigantic contracts, working on huge projects. But her passion has
always been sport.
She started in University with Tennis. Realising that there was a lot of
competition to get on the teams, she discovered Hardball (the ancestor of
squash in the US, I’m told, that she describes as “As usual, we American
took a sport, and made it faster and more spectacular”), and very quickly,
became competitive, to the point she actually won the National B
Championship in 1985. |
 At 24, the manager of Sue Cogswell asked her if she would like to organise
the first ever Women’s Hard Ball tour. And she did. Out of nothing, she
pulled off a 13 city tour… Why not.
When she moved to New York, she got involved in the Metropolitan Squash
Racquets Association (the New York City Association), and became the first
woman President ever. She was also member of the Board of the National US
Association.
Between 1990 and 99, she became the US Women's team captain, and it’s
during that period (in 96 more precisely) that the team got their best
result ever, 8th at the World Team event.
“When I arrived, there was no system, no selection committee, no structure
to detect new players or organised training for the players spread over
the whole of the country. So, I organised fund raising for the sport,
which needed money badly, and created a whole structure that was later
adopted by the men’s team, which I’m rather proud of.. |
Among other things, she was the Director of Marketing of the Giants
Stadium which seated 79,000 people during the Women’s World Cup Soccer in
'99, and held the Opening Ceremony.
“We sold out”, she says proudly. “Nobody thought we could. Even the people
who hired me didn’t think it was possible. But we did it. And I still have
goose bumps every time I talk about that first night, where 79,000
thousand people saw their favourite football team on the pitch… The noise
was just incredible…”.
Later, she’ll be the Press Officer for the US Olympic committee during the
PamAm games.
But initially, do you know why she was contacted by the John Nimick
organisation? To get some income out of the Programme Brochure of the TOC
(years ago, when the event was much smaller).
Then John asked her if she could send the results of the event to Howard
Harding (Press officer for the whole world of squash. And of course, she
didn’t just sent the results. To the delight of Howard, she sent some
reports as well. |
 And of course, she likes to organise the best environment for the people
that come to the event, and the players in particular.
“Here in New York, we love the players. We want them to feel that they are
the most important element of the tournament for us.”
And the players love to come to New York, that’s for sure.
Today, thanks to her, the TOC has been promoted and talked about on 70
websites, famous newspapers all over the word, in different languages
(Wall Street Journal, London Times, Toronto Global Mail…. And even a South
Korean newspaper). She has helped to raise the visibility of the event,
she is part of the people who make the TOC special.
Like I told you in the beginning, you do meet fascinating people in New
York… |
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