Sharon Hospital surgeon heads to world squash championships

Dr. Marty Clark, right, practices squash with training partner Sandeep Ramachandran in The Hotchkiss School’s athletic center.
Copey Rollins
Dr. Marty Clark, right, practices squash with training partner Sandeep Ramachandran in The Hotchkiss School’s athletic center.
SHARON — On a warm Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Marty Clark, an orthopedic surgeon living in Sharon, moves thoughtfully and carefully as he hits a calculated forehand to win a rally.
Clark was playing a friendly yet competitive squash match against his friend and training partner, Sandeep Ramachandran, a professional squash player from India, when he caught up with The Lakeville Journal. Clark is preparing for his biggest squash match in almost 30 years: World Masters Championships in Amsterdam, where he hopes to place first in his age group (50 and up).
Clark has played squash since the age of nine. His mother was a squash player, and he fell in love with the sport early.
“I was the top junior player in the United States,” he said. “And when I went to Harvard I was always one of the top inter collegiate squash players.”
He got second place in the Intercollegiate Championships his senior year, and then, upon graduation, he decided to go pro.
Clark’s first pro season started off slowly; playing on the professional tour had a learning curve. By his second season he had won the National Championship. Realizing his potential to really climb the ranks as a pro squash player, Clark chose to defer from medical school for a year to continue the tour.
During medical school at Columbia, Clark continued to compete in many big tournaments like the Pan-American games and the USA National Championships — which he won three out of the four years he was in medical school.
At age 28, Clark decided to hang up his racket and focus on being a doctor, a job that he sees as service. “I stopped playing squash when I was still very good at squash,” he said. “I have always said to myself I can get top 20 in the world or top 30 but I wanted to be a doctor and serve people in my community.”
More than 20 years later Clark has a thriving practice at Sharon Hospital and four daughters, two of whom are very invested in squash. It was those girls, 14-year-old Pippa and 11-year-old Astrid, who inspired him to start training again.
Clark said, “I train a lot with them and something just told me that I had some unfinished business left on the court.”
Starting off his new squash career at the U.S. National Championships in Philadelphia this April, Clark realized that he was “tons slower,” so he has had to learn to “be much more strategic, tactical, and hit the ball into the front court in order to win rallies faster.” Nevertheless, he was able to place second after losing a tight final to an old colleague and competitor.
To help him with his training, Clark is being coached by many people whose experience he values. Alexia Clonda, a squash coach at Vassar and once a World Junior Squash Champion herself has helped Clark with the mental side of the sport along with some strategy. Bobby Burns and Sandeep Ramachandran from The Hotchkiss School’s squash program have both helped train him. Along with this extremely qualified group, his two daughters Astrid and Pippa have “flipped the script” and helped give their father coaching advice just as he gives them.
One of the driving forces behind his desire to compete in the world championship is Clark’s work as an orthopedic surgeon. Clark said that he often tells patients to try and be active, and he feels “more authentic now that I am doing more,” he said. He might tell patients, “I’m 52 and you are only 42, so I know you can do this. I know you can fight to be in shape and be a more healthy version of yourself.”
In the months following the national championship, Clark geared up for Amsterdam by competing in two big tournaments: one in New York City and one in Columbia, Maryland. He realized that exhaustion has played a big role in the results of those tournaments.
“It’s hard balancing four kids and operating on people, especially when I’m operating the night before a tournament.”
The Masters World Championships are held in Amsterdam every two years, and the age groups are divided at five year intervals. Clark will be competing from Aug. 15 to 22 in the 50-and-up age group and he will be seeded somewhere between 17th and 32nd.
For this tournament, his daughter Pippa will be taking on the coaching role. Clark is aiming to take home the trophy. “My goal is to win the tournament,” said Clark. “I wouldn’t have wanted to train without thinking that that was a possibility.”
On Saturday, Sept. 6, from 12 to 5 p.m., Rock Steady Farm in Millerton opens its fields once again for the third annual Farm Fall Block Party, a vibrant, heart-forward gathering of queer and BIPOC farmers, neighbors, families, artists, and allies from across the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Co-hosted with Catalyst Collaborative Farm, The Watershed Center, WILDSEED Community Farm & Healing Village, and Seasoned Delicious Foods, this year’s party promises its biggest celebration yet. Part harvest festival, part community reunion, the gathering is a reflection of the region’s rich agricultural and cultural ecosystem.
Rooted in justice and joy, the event will feature over 25 local vendors and organizations, live performances, healing workshops, family-friendly activities (yes, there’s a bouncy castle), and abundant local food. And while the festivities are certainly reason enough to show up, organizers remind us the purpose runs deeper.
“This isn’t just a party. It’s a place to build the kind of relationships that keep our food system alive,” said Maggie Cheney, Rock Steady’s co-founder and worker-owner. “We’re creating space where farmers, growers, families, and community organizers can connect, celebrate, and support one another.”
Proceeds from the event support Rock Steady’s POLLINATE program for queer and trans BIPOC beginning farmers, as well as Catalyst Collaborative Farm’s food justice initiatives. With sliding-scale tickets from $5 to $250, the organizers aim to make the event accessible to all, including free entry for children under 12 and volunteer options for those who want to pitch in.
For those who’ve attended before, it’s a welcome return. For newcomers, it may just feel like coming home.
More info and tickets: rocksteadyfarm.com/farm-block-party
Waterlily (8”x12”) made by Marilyn Hock
It takes a lot of courage to share your art for the first time and Marilyn Hock is taking that leap with her debut exhibition at Sharon Town Hall on Sept. 12. A realist painter with a deep love for wildlife, florals, and landscapes, Hock has spent the past few years immersed in watercolor, teaching herself, failing forward, and returning again and again to the page. This 18-piece collection is a testament to courage, practice and a genuine love for the craft.
“I always start with the eyes,” said Hock of her animal portraits. “That’s where the soul lives.” This attentiveness runs through her work, each piece rendered with care, clarity, and a respect for the subtle variations of color and light in the natural world.
After painting in oils earlier in life, Hock returned to art when she retired from working as a paralegal with a goal: to learn watercolor. It wasn’t easy.
“Oils and watercolor are opposites,” she explained. “With oils, you build your darks first. In watercolor, if you do that, you’re in trouble.” She studied online, finding instructors whose approach clicked, and adapted to the delicacy of the medium.
“When I’m working, everything else falls away,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in life. While I’m painting, time disappears.”
Her studio, formerly a home office, is now her sanctuary and the pieces in this exhibition are the result of three years of that devoted studio work. While this is her first full public show, Hock previously tested the waters at a small fundraiser at Noble Horizons, where one of her pieces sold. That experience — and the consistent encouragement from her family, especially her husband — pushed her to pursue a full exhibition. With gentle encouragement from her husband and family, Hock reached out to the Town Hall’s curator, Zelina Blagden. “My husband kept saying, ‘You’re as good as all those other people out there, why not show your work?’” And so, here it is.
All paintings in the show are for sale, though Hock admits a few are priced high — not because of their size or complexity — but because she’s not quite ready to let them go. “There are a couple I’ve priced high because I’m not sure I want to part with them. But we’ll see,” she laughed. “It would be nice to support the habit a little bit.”
As for aspiring artists or anyone hesitating to begin something creative, Hock’s advice is simple: “Go for it. If it fails, toss it in the basket and start over.”
The exhibit will be on view at Sharon Town Hall through Oct. 31 with an opening reception on Sept. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Carissa Unite, general manager of Oblong Books in Millerton.
Carissa Unite of Millerton, began working at Oblong Books 16 years ago as a high schooler. She recently celebrated her eight-year anniversary as the general manager.
Unite’s journey at Oblong began even before she applied for her first position.An avid reader from a young age, she was a frequent customer at the store. During those years, Unite bonded with a former employee who encouraged her to apply for a position after connecting over their shared love of reading.
As a teenager, Unite enjoyed reading Ellen Hopkins, John Green and Ann Brashares. With the busyness of adulthood, she now favors the convenience of audio books. In the past year, however, she has made it a point to read more physical books.
With a preference for contemporary fiction, she raved about “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story, set in the 1980s, follows two women who become astronauts at a time when women were not widely accepted in the field. A beautiful love story emerges between the two characters. Unite described the writing as sensational and commended Reid’s ability to tackle complex themes without them being muddied.
Unite has developed a deep appreciated for classic literature. Her two favorites are “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. She was amazed by the philosophical nature of both words and the way their dialogue challenged her perspective.
In an effort to read beyond her preferred genre, she recommends the following:
“Some Desperate Glory,” by Emily Tesh, “Midnight Rooms,” by Donyae Coles and “Clear” by Carys Davies.
For Unite, the beauty of reading lies in its power to develop perspective, empathy, and compassion. Through books, readers learn that everyone is fighting different battles and no two stories are the same. She encourages people to choose kindness because you never know what someone else is facing.
Above all, reading brings Unite peace. If offers transcendence to another world, a pause from outside noise, and for Unite, it is where she feels most at home.
For anyone hesitant to being reading, Unite suggests: just do it! Read 10 pages a day and find the book that speaks to you. Any Oblong staff member would be happy to offer recommendations.
Oblong is located at 26 Main St., in Millerton and 6422 Montgomery St. in Rhinebeck.