A US-based squash court design and construction company has linked up with Open Squash, the non-profit community organisation with a mission to grow the game by making it more accessible and affordable.
Sunrise Courts is founded and run by Jordan Aldrich, regarded as one of the country’s leading squash court builders. He has over 15 years of experience building state-of-the-art courts across the US at public and private clubs, community centres, high schools and colleges.
Open Squash has already built two community squash facilities in New York City with plans for more. More than 20% of Open Squash’s membership is on some form of low-income discount and it operates multiple Junior Scholarship Programmes where juniors play free of any charge.
For its part, Open Squash will provide Sunrise with various forms of support including some initial financial and advisory support.
🗣️"A lot of people have exciting ideas and projects, but implementing them is the hard part. That's what @WeAreOpenSquash do best."
Ambassadors @AliFarag and @VCrouin tell us why they support Open Squash's mission to make squash accessible to everyone. pic.twitter.com/SSpdlma5Xj
— Squash Mad (@SquashMadNews) April 25, 2023
Aldrich said: “Open Squash is the ideal partner for us, and we couldn’t be more excited. We share a strong passion for building community around the game of squash. Long before I even knew of Open Squash, our mission has been focused on helping build strong communities one squash court at a time, and fostering an inclusive and supportive environment through our courts that causes growth, connection, and positive change.
“Our commitments are aligned with Open Squash in that regard. On a practical level, the various forms of support that Open Squash can bring to Sunrise to help us scale will be very helpful. They have expertise in everything from back-office software systems to financial and legal controls to sales and marketing and can help advise us in all these areas. Open Squash will also provide us a modest amount of initial financial support to jump-start our growth.”
David Ellen, founder and board chair of Open Squash, said: “Having seen his craftsmanship and work ethic first hand, if there is a better court builder in the world, we would be surpised.
“So, to designate Sunrise as our official court builder is a no-brainer for us. We also greatly appreciate our shared vision for the community element of the sport. We are more than happy to provide Sunrise various forms of support to help it grow and thrive, and with it, the great game of squash.”