ITHACA, N.Y. –  David Palmer, the James Broadhead '57 Head Coach of Squash, announced Friday that Mark Burke has joined the Cornell men's and women's squash teams as an assistant coach.

Burke joins the Big Red as a full-time assistant coach in advance of the 2019-20 season, having briefly served as a volunteer assistant coach in February 2019. He has recent experience coaching national teams in Japan and Luxembourg while serving as the head coach at Burkesquash Academy and Recrean Sportcentrum in Belgium for 15 years. He has coached several players on both the boys and girls sides that have reached the No. 1 junior ranking in Belgium.

Burke also enjoyed a celebrated professional playing career, ranking No. 1 in Belgium as recently as 2009 and achieving a highest Professional Squash Association world ranking of 97th in 2002. He won a handful of PSA Challenger events, Winner of multiple PSA Challenger events and professional events in Belgium — including consecutive Wilson National Series titles in 2008 and 2009 — and he was a three-time representative for Belgium at the European Team Championships in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He advanced into the Round of 16 at the World Masters Championships in 2010.
 
Originally from Australia, Burke earned a masters of applied science, a graduate diploma and a graduate certification in sports coaching from the University of Queensland. He holds a UKCC Level 3 Squash Coaching accreditation.