The Brownells : The Apple doesn’t … fall away from the Tree.
As the US Open is starting, Fram chats with Chris Brownell, coach and mum to US number one, Timmy …
That speech …
2022. Tournament of Champions in NY. Timmy Brownell, a young American I never really paid any particular attention to, clinches a 12/10 victory in 89m against Egyptian Karim El Hammamy.
The Crowd is delighted, and the Ever Smiling Timmy says :
“My mum is one of the brightest squash minds on the planet and she doesn’t get the credit she deserves, so for me to come out here and do this is just one small thing to show what an incredible woman, coach, player, everything she is.”
From that moment, I wanted to meet that special lady. And I finally did, in Gouna, and chatted with her a bit later, in May.
And Chris smiled when I reminded her of that famous speech. “TOC, Mother’s Day or something, or it was like the weekend of Mother’s Day, I was getting on a train and somebody said, ‘boy, your son doesn’t need to get you flowers after that speech.’
The same way I tried to present you Manu the Dad behind Victor Crouin, here is Chris, The Mum behind Timmy Brownell, US No1.
Why Squash?
Chris Brownell did not grow up with a squash racquet in her hand. In fact, she was a multi-sport athlete—playing field hockey, basketball and tennis, and even switching to lacrosse in her senior year of high school simply because her coach switched. Athletics were always a part of her identity, but squash wasn’t even on her radar.
When she arrived at Dartmouth College, she joined the field hockey team and, that fall, went to a lacrosse practice. That day changed everything. The lacrosse coach, Aggie Kurtz, now 82 or 83, happened to be wearing two hats – she was also the squash coach. During a water break, Aggie approached her:
“You’re pretty athletic. Have you ever played squash?”
“No.”
Aggie invited her to try out for the squash team once field hockey season ended. Chris told her she was planning to play basketball instead, but Aggie kept insisting, listing all the reasons squash was such a great game. At first, Chris found her pushy and annoying – “crossing the line,” as she recalls. (Ironically, Aggie would later become the godmother of Chris’s oldest child!)
To get Aggie off her back, Chris finally made a deal: “I’ll come to one practice – just one -after field hockey ends.”
A friend even agreed to go with her for moral support. That one practice changed everything. “I was hooked” she recalls.
By the end of the session, Chris beat a player who had been playing for three years, and she was hooked. It was hardball squash, the ball was flying around the court, and Dartmouth’s courts – with white walls, white floors and green lines – felt like playing in a “crazy asylum”. It was chaotic, intense, fast… and she absolutely loved it.
“I said, I’m in. That’s it. I’m going to play this game.”
From there, her rise was rapid: Freshman year: worked her way up to #10 on the team; Sophomore year: #5; Junior year: #1; Senior year: All-American, #8 in the country
It was the perfect storm – a strong squash community in New Hampshire, high-level players relocating from New York, and most importantly, a brilliant coach in Aggie.
From College Star to the WISPA Pro Tour
After graduating as an All-American and one of the top players in the country, Chris Brownell didn’t take the traditional path. She was not only an athlete – she was also a strong student, earning a Fulbright scholarship. That opportunity took her to Freiburg, in Germany, where she taught English in high school, while simultaneously playing on the WISPA Tour.
Between 1987 and 1988, she competed internationally in France, Germany, and Switzerland, gaining exposure to the professional circuit and to European squash culture.
“I feel I was an ambassador for the sport. People loved watching my style of play. I was energetic, expressive, sometimes loud, and I knew how to engage a crowd”
She brought character and personality to the court – sometimes even getting a bit smarmy or cheeky on purpose – but it was always in the spirit of making the game more entertaining.
A New Direction: Education and Coaching
While in Germany, Chris applied to the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) – and got in. She returned to the U.S., began taking classes at Harvard, and at the same time volunteered as a squash coach there. Despite being on the coaching staff, her primary role was actually in languages – she was teaching German, French, and Italian.
She also worked at the Harvard Club, gaining further experience in coaching and community programs. And then, in a single day, her life changed again.
She received two job offers at once: a full-time position at the Harvard Club, and the Head Coach role at Dartmouth – coaching both the men’s and women’s teams
“There had never been a woman coaching both a men’s and women’s college squash program before.”
For Chris, the choice was obvious – not just because it was historic, but because college coaching was her dream.
“To me that was the ultimate kind of position.”
So she went back to Dartmouth – this time not as a player, but as a coach.
“I went up there and, hook, line and sinker, I loved it.”
It was challenging, but in the best way. It was fulfilling, exciting, and meaningful. And it was just the beginning.
You know, my two favourite sports at later on became squash and golf, two sports at the time totally dominated by men, and I always play with my brother and his friends, I hung out with boys a lot.
I’ve always felt comfortable with men and, you know, athletically playing against them, training with them, being with them, just hanging out with them. And so I didn’t see that I would have an issue coaching men.
Earning Respect the Right Way
Chris has strong feelings about how young athletes often judge coaches.
“One of the things I think is very poor,” she says, “is that a lot of immature athletes look at a coach and think: How good were they?”
In her case, she had the résumé to impress anyone – All-American, top 10 in the country, WISPA tour experience across Europe. She had nothing to prove. But her transition from player to coach wasn’t about showing off.
When she eventually stepped away from the professional tour, it wasn’t because she wasn’t competitive – it was because of the physical demands.
“When I stopped the WISPA tour, I didn’t really stop it, it was too much for my body to be doing two practices a day, being on court for four hours a day at least with practices, and then I’d have to train.
Then I would drive down to Boston to play tournament, you know, and some English brat would smack me in the face or something with a follow through. And I just was like, I’m not doing this anymore.
When she arrived as head coach at Dartmouth, some of the players were skeptical. “Who’s this woman taking over our team?” they wondered.
What they didn’t know was that she could beat all of them – easily. But she made a conscious choice not to.
“I had no intention of demonstrating my skill that way,” she explains. I didn’t want to create that relationship where I’m the stronger player.
“I just remember sort of telling them I said, ‘hey, guys I said, you might not like what I’m going to say to you in like the next half year. You might not appreciate all the things I’m going to do for now and you might actually not quite sort of enjoy me for a little bit. But I bet I’m going to go to a lot of your weddings.’
She was right. Years later, she still keeps in touch with many of those players.
“Honestly, I have many of my former players from that team that I still keep in touch with, I went to their weddings, I hear about their babies and their children and I’ve been working with some of their kids, so that’s amazing for me.
“What a great squash experience I’ve had,” she reflects.
Not a woman coach, just a coach
“I had a really interesting professor at Dartmouth who came into my office one day and went, ‘a good friend of mine writes for Sports Illustrated and we’d like to do something on you’ Chris explains.
“I said, well, it’s not necessary. I I’m not trying to stand out as a woman doing this job. I’m trying to be a great squash coach, not a great female squash coach. And that always sort of been where I’ve stood.
It’s not what you do as a woman, but just… what you do!
“I want to be remembered as like a coach, you know, a great person, a great coach, somebody who made a difference, a leader, the first word shouldn’t be female.”
And then, Newton Squash…
After having two children, Chris and her husband (both coaches) moved back to the Boston area to be closer to home. She left Dartmouth after five successful years – just as she had planned – and returned to Harvard as assistant, then associate head coach, working with both men and women. S
She later took over the Wellesley College program, but left when the job proved unfriendly to parents, especially while expecting her third child. Eventually, she was introduced to Newton Squash & Tennis, a small club with a dying squash program – where the board welcomed her and gave her freedom to rebuild it.
I had a fabulous time, my kids grew up there and they got to be court rats, it’s one of their nicknames, they were play king of the courts on one court, I would be coaching on the other, we only had two courts, and my kids just wanted to keep on playing.
I was there for over 20 years. I stepped back last year, because it was too much time on the court, at the time, I was 58 and I’m like ‘Oh my God, my body’.
I’ve stayed really involved, but now in different ways…
How the coaching of Timmy started
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything changed for Chris and her son, Timmy Brownell.
He was in his senior spring at Harvard, ready to step onto the pro tour, when the world shut down.
“It was really like a pandemic situation… everything shut down.”
So Timmy moved back home. Their local club was closed like everywhere else – but Chris managed to get it running faster than most places. Together, they created their own training environment.
“He would use the club for weights, I’d get on court, feed him balls, we’d talk about his swing… I was just there for him.”
When a few tournaments finally appeared—in places like Texas and Georgia (“the states that didn’t believe in COVID,” she jokes) – they travelled together. It was a strange time, but also a gift: mother and son on tour, side by side.
“I started with him for a little bit, but then he was like, ‘mom, I, I got to do this myself because I don’t need you’. You know, the guys were like, what, ‘what’s your mother doing on the tour with you? ‘
“He didn’t really say that, but I felt it and told him I want you to have your freedom, You should be doing what you want to do and don’t I, I don’t want to interfere.
“So he did his own thing for a few few tournaments for sure, book his own flights, his own rooms, do his thing, and I was happy to watch. I still felt like his confidante, you know, we would go over things.
“And at one point he went, you want to get back on with me, just sort of said something like very nonchalantly. And of course, I leapt through the goal posts!”
Coaching Style
“I think it’s important when a coach is talking to a player, they’re not staring at them hard in the face. Some people like to do that. I’ve never done that and I won’t and I, and I wouldn’t do that. That’s not my style, and I don’t think that’s a great way for somebody to listen to you. And your own child is the exact same way. The only way I would really look at him hard in the face is if there was something dangerous.
My mother was a good example that way. She would just raise her eyebrow and we would just do whatever she needed us to do. And anytime I’ve yelled at my kids, it’s only been out of a safety concern, I tried to restrain myself that way. So there I there have been a probably five times in my life that I’ve told Timmy what to do, because his life was in danger.
Finding a way through the forest
As a coach and a parent, the challenging moments are when you try to keep calm, knowing there’s no way your son could be calm.
“It is tough to see your kid struggle, and yet you have to see that your way through the forest and try to direct him through it, but still let him hold on to the reins. I can’t take them from him and I don’t, I, I wouldn’t, profess to think that I could, but I shouldn’t.
Don’t tell them what to do
In the coaching box, Chris does have to tell him what to do, but she is not forceful.
You have to be there mostly to let them say what they want to say, I remember being in that situation, learning about how to give kids advice and I try to take that with my son, which is ‘don’t tell him what to do!’ Let him tell you what he wants to do.
New Phase: The Arlen Center
For Chris, the most rewarding part of coaching her son was seeing him embrace their relationship as something positive – not a burden or obligation, but a partnership.
“I was happy because I think he saw this was a positive relationship. I fully endorsed him going to Philadelphia… I wanted him in the best possible environment.”
And it was the right move. At the Specter Center, Chris found true allies in his development, like she did when Timmy worked with Mike Way in Harvard: “it was his journey, not mine”, she smiles.
She had a great coaching relationship with Ong Beng Hee, and she was blown away by Brigey Roemer, the fitness trainer.
“Brigey was amazing with Timmy – she transformed his body and fitness level to be able to take the hard knocks.”
Chris felt something special happening. This wasn’t just her and Timmy anymore—it was a team, and a high-functioning one.
“We were a really good team. We communicated well. Everything connected: coaching, fitness, mindset, trust. It was just an amazing start to his career.”
Timmy, one of a kind
“I would say Timmy is really good at a lot of things, he’s just a very interesting kid. I think somebody called him quirky and I thought, what does he mean by that? Because I don’t see Timmy as a quirky guy, but I guess he is, you know, he, he’s really good with the guitar. He loves to play poker. He invests in the stock market, and he came up with this NSL thing, with his friends.
I know he wants to be as good as he can be, but I also think it’s really admirable that he’s trying to to help the game.
And he came up along with two other guys – that are bright and fun and fun loving – about a way to make the game better for everybody, not only for watching it, but also for the players to actually enjoy the experience and still give them more experience, so they’re even better when they’re at tournaments, maybe become a little more light hearted out there on court.”
Giving back before retirement!
He’s helping to change the game, and I to me that is so impressive that he’s feeling that at the age of 20 something, that he already giving back, and not like a lot of people, who want to give back when they’re in their 50s and 60s.
They’re like, oh, now I’m going to take this kid under my wing or now I’m going to help this organisation. My son is doing it right in the middle of his own career, and that to me is like, I think that’s really special.
He is being a great friend to 150 male squash players and now, 150 female squash players. Good for him. I’m very happy with that.
Best memory?
I would say personally, as a mom and as a coach, Probably the one that overwhelmed me was when Timmy won the US Junior Open U19 at 16 years old. And that just seemed like this momentous moment, that was an amazing feeling there.
My husband and I raised a family of kids who wanted not only to excel, but to take a whole group with them; they were all captains of their high school teams. Then both Becky and Jesse really played at a high level in college and all three kids were elected captains to their college team as well.
To me just I just felt like perfection.
They were those kinds of kids. And to me, that meant the world to me as a parent, of course, you know, it’s hard for me to negate seeing, you know, on the Pro tour, you know, when Timmy won the SL Green national championships, it was an enormous moment, also, getting to the quarterfinals of the British Open.
And I’m just really enjoying my time with him right now because I, I would say so many people, they look at their kids over the years and they go, oh, I love that stage where that was the best, wasn’t it great when he was seven or something? Every stage has been wonderful for me, it’s like I can’t remember pain.
I really have enjoyed watching him and being part of the development of my three of my kids over the years. This morning I sent texts to my girls because I don’t see them as much. I don’t have to do it to Timmy because I’m in his life a lot. And I love that. I absolutely love it.
But the challenge is not to be too much in his life. You have to let him tell you things…
