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World Squash Day to relaunch the sport: “We are all in this together” says founder By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Correspondent World Squash Day will help to “relaunch the game” when events take place across the globe on Saturday October 10th. That’s the prediction of World Squash Day founder Alan Thatcher, who is determined [...]

France: green light given for green zone clubs to reopen By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Correspondent The French Squash Federation enthusiastically announced yesterday that long-suffering squash clubs, who have been closed since 14th March following the COVID-19 outbreak, could finally reopen their doors from today, Tuesday 2nd June, allowing their members to once again [...]

Elite French players given green light to resume on court squash training By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Correspondent In a Q&A style communique released today by the Fédération Française de Squash, it was announced that elite French players can now resume on court training, subject to compliance with strict health protocols. This is thanks [...]

Italian report ranks squash among the most ‘risky’ sports for COVID-19 infection By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Correspondent With certain countries like Switzerland, Poland, the USA and now Canada publishing ‘return to squash’ guidance for clubs once they get the green light to open their doors, and other countries in the process of working [...]

‘Beacon of Hope’ County will regain momentum By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Correspondent Following the article published a couple of weeks ago about how squash clubs are facing up to the financial and business challenges of COVID-19, which focussed on clubs in the West Midlands, in this next article I am focussing on a [...]

“The very future of squash in the UK” is in play … By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter It has now been just over two weeks since Boris Johnson announced ‘lockdown’ style social distancing measures in the UK to fight the spread of COVID-19, which of course meant that squash clubs up and down [...]

How one club in France is fighting to survive the COVID-19 storm By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter During my trip to the Open de France in Nantes last year, I wrote several blog articles on Squash Mad about my experiences of watching the tournament, as well as those of me and my travel [...]

Kiwi coach has double reason to celebrate By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter Jarrod Van Driel, a renowned squash coach based in Auckland, New Zealand, is currently enjoying a double dose of success for his Squash Academy. Jarrod, who runs the Double Dot Squash Academy in Auckland, has been coaching for more than 10 [...]

Final bidding flurry expected ahead of auction close at 19:00 BST By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter After a week of steady and generous bidding activity, organisers of the World Squash Day Auction 2019 are bracing themselves for what promises to be a final flurry of bidding activity to secure some collectable pieces of [...]

World Squash Day teams up with the PSA Foundation to support its squash community initiatives By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter Want the chance to own some unique and highly collectable pieces of squash history, whilst raising funds for a great squash charitable cause? If so, then read on … Following a highly successful [...]

Premier Squash League Preview: A new Castle for Warwick/Kenilworth By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter After just 2 seasons in the Premier Squash League (PSL), University of Warwick/Kenilworth Squash (WarKens) have already made quite an impact, topping the Northern Division last season and narrowly missing out on a spot in the Final. I made [...]

French crowd go crazy for Camille  By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Roving Reporter So finals day has arrived and after yesterday’s semis, promise to provide another fantastic spectacle at the Château des Ducs de Bretagne. I am especially looking forward to the women’s final as the French No. 1 will try to become the [...]

Great to see sports retail brand Decathlon teaming up with squash By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Roving Reporter It was a very early start for me yesterday as I had to catch a ‘Flixbus’ from Angers to Nantes at 7am. Flixbus is quite a new phenomenon in France, being their equivalent of National Express, [...]

Casting light on a great business model for squash By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Roving Reporter After a great night’s sleep, my friend Etienne takes me by car to revisit the club where I played as an exchange student at the Faculte de Lettres at Angers University, Squash du Lac de Maine. This club, [...]

I woke up to the headline ‘Greg Marches on’ By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Roving Reporter With five days of clothing, toiletries, playing gear, rackets, shoes, numerous World Squash Day shirts, several bottles of craft beer and two giant bars of Cadbury’s chocolate (gifts for French friends), I never thought you could pack so [...]