Ten Questions Columnist Katie Schubauer caught up with senior Nick Sachvie to talk about everything from squash at Cornell to his cross-dressing habits, his recent run for Ivy Man of the year and his exotic dance moves.
1) Nick, you are a senior on the men’s squash team. What has Cornell Squash meant to you over the course of your college career?
It’s been awesome. Coming to Cornell as a transfer, my brother had been on the team, my sister was still on the team when I got here so I knew a lot of people already, especially my boys [senior teammates] Arjun [Gupta] and Owen [Butler]. They’re both from Toronto. I was an hour away growing up, and I’ve probably known them since I was about eight or nine. So coming in I already felt like I was at home on the team.
Who is your favorite teammate?
My favorite? I’d have to say it’d be a tie right now between Arjun and Owen because we do everything together. We live together. I’d say me and Owen do more stuff together because Arjun is always napping like all day. But other than that, it’s both of them. I can’t choose. I don’t want to make them mad or anything, you know?
While you have two, maybe three, guy friends total, would you describe yourself as a “gal-pal”?
Yeah, I could be a gal pal for sure. I like talking to girls and stuff. I’m just trying to find my future wife to take care of me.
2) Do you suffer from any on-court anger management issues?
Yes. I used to be worse. Now I’m not as bad but sometimes I just have weird outbursts and will say random stuff. I am still known as the kid who broke a racquet over his head four years ago. I lost a big match and decided to smash my racquet on my forehead in front of probably 100 people at a tournament once. I still get comments on it from people all over like when I see them at tournaments or at home sometimes it comes up. And ever since then, I sort of consider myself the Happy Gilmore of squash. The fans love to watch him and he’s badass. I guess I consider myself a bad boy, but more of a goon.
3) You recently appeared in Cornell’s Ivy Man Competition. Can you describe that experience?
I was really nervous and at first I wasn’t really sure I wanted to do it, but as soon as I met all the other guys and we started practicing right before the show, I started getting into it. It was a lot of fun and a good experience and it put my name out there with the ladies, which is good.
How did you prepare for that experience?
Well, we were assigned two coaches but I actually did most of it myself. Like my talent—I made the mix and practiced in my room. I would practice for my roommates and do my dance for them so that was pretty funny.
Why do you think you did not come in first place?
Well, my dance routine — I actually didn’t do anything that I had practiced. I was so nervous to be there that I didn’t even remember anything — I sort of blacked out if you will. But I think what really did it was the Q&A. I got a bad Q&A. It just messed me up. It was something about the states like Mississippi and Missouri and Delaware and I’m from Canada so I didn’t really know what to say.
Some of the photos from the competition featuring you in very minimal clothing have appeared on Facebook and I know your parents have Facebook. What were their reactions?
My mom was so excited. She left me voicemails saying good luck and she tried getting me all these songs I could dance to, she liked all the photos on Facebook. She showed them to all the people she works with and my aunt and her friends of me in my little underwear. It’s kind of disturbing. My dad was like whatever. He’s used to it now. He thought it was a little bit too much but he’s pretty used to it.
4) What did you do out of the window last year that made your teammate Arjun so disgusted he started throwing up?
I dropped a homemade bomb out of the window. No one was hurt but it smelt really bad and when it exploded it looked really gross and the sight of it made Arjun throw up the meal he just ate. He has a really weak stomach so he can’t deal well with things like that.
5) Can you tell us about your hobby of dressing up in women’s clothing?
I’ve had a past of jokingly trying on women’s clothes and surprising people. When I was younger, I dressed up in my mom’s silky black bikini with sparkles, and I was probably like seven. And ever since then, my sister has the photo on her iPhone and in the summer when I worked with her, if I ever uploaded a picture of her at work with like … whatever a double chin or just looking awkward, she would threaten me with the photo, saying she was going to put it on Facebook. And if it was on Facebook, I would probably be so embarrassed. It’s probably the worst photo of me ever. I have my finger in my mouth, like posing sexually. It’s pretty bad.
Speaking of your childhood, have you ever gone to the bathroom in a public pool?
Oh (laughing). Yeah, I did.
Can you tell us about it?
So when I was little, I went to a squash tournament. I wasn’t allowed to play in it yet because I was too young, so I was probably about five. I could have made better decisions at the time, but I had to go to the washroom and it was in a maze sort of thing. I couldn’t find it. So I went to the washroom behind a bush near the pool and then I ran into the pool and cleaned myself in the water. And the next day they had the pool closed and they had to like drain it. They had guys in full-out chemical body suits cleaning my feces.
6) Do you really think of yourself as “the man”?
(Laughing) yeah, so I was sick one time last year and it was late at night at our house on Delaware. I don’t know if they had gone out that night, but all my roommates were in their rooms in bed and I was in the washroom getting sick over the toilet. And I started talking to myself and they were upstairs and they could hear me saying things like, “you’re the man, Nick” and “hooking up with girls, you’re the man, you’re the man!” They come down and they’re just laughing at me and I had no idea what was going on. I was so out of it because I felt so sick.
7) Would you consider yourself a good dancer?
Yes.
Where did you learn your infamous dance moves?
When I was little, I just used to dance around and stuff. And I used to love Michael Jackson, so I would just put Michael Jackson on and do his dance moves. Ever since then, whenever there’s a good beat on I’ll just start dancing around anyone. It could go on for an hour total, me just dancing in my living room and stuff.
Do you think you have what it takes to be an exotic dancer if you choose that career path?
Yes, for sure. I’ve actually had some job offers lately. They saw my (facebook) page and then after Ivy Man, I’ve gotten a few phone calls. I think I got what it takes. I could be the next Magic Mike.
Do you think you would enjoy that lifestyle?
Yeah, I would. Chicks would be all over me, money … it’s not a bad life when you think about it. As long as I’m dancing for women I’m happy.
8) Many of your friends have described your unique habit of shaving your nipples. Why do you do so? Yeah I don’t know. I just don’t like nipple hair. Girls don’t have nipple hair, why should I have nipple hair? I don’t have a lot of body hair, but I have some. And then all of a sudden my nipples have all this hair and it just doesn’t look right. It looks like I got a beard on both my nipples and I just don’t want it there anymore. So
I have to shave it off. Do you have any unique study habits?Yeah. Well Owen and I are in the same Oral Comm. Class together and his speech was the week before mine. And then when I was practicing mine, Owen found a women’s thong in his laundry bin. We share laundry with girls. So one night he and Arjun were chilling, and I put the thong on and practiced in front of them. I thought if I can do it in a thong, I can do it in normal clothes in front of people. So I put on the thong and recited my Oral Comm. speech in front of them. It turned out pretty well. I wore clothes. I did wear the thong underneath my jeans though for good luck. 9) Is it true that one of your eyes cannot look up?Yes. I don’t know which one though. But if I ever try to look up with my head straight one eye stays. I first noticed it when I was in grade four. I was at summer squash camp with my buddy and we were staying in dorms. We were like jumping around at like two in the morning talking about our girl crushes and stuff and all of a sudden he was like, “whoa, what’s wrong with your eye, man?” and I went and looked and I saw it. For like a year I was freaked out and I never told my parents or anything. I just let it go ‘til now. Now I don’t mind busting it out here or there at a party. You know, like for Halloween tonight I might use it to my advantage. We’ll see. 10) Which other Cornell team do you like to hang out with the most? I’d have to say girls lax. We’ve been hanging out with them a bunch lately and uh … they fancy us. What would women’s squash have to say about that?I think they’re a little jealous for sure. We used to be a little tighter with women’s squash in the past, and we haven’t done too much with them this year, but I really don’t care what they think (laughing).
Original Author: Katie Schubauer