Alan’s Blog

Karakal kit bag and £250 grant lures clubs to sign up to WSD By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor A big shout out to England Squash for launching a significant and successful development project in partnership with Karakal to encourage clubs to sign up to attract new members on World Squash Day. In what [...]

‘We can’t afford to send a team to America just for a joyride’ By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Squash in Pakistan slumped to a new low this week as the nation that once ruled the men’s game blamed their players as they defended their decision not to send a squad to compete in [...]

New courts spring up across the UK as Andy Murray invests in padel By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Squash clubs investing in adding padel tennis courts to their mix of facilities are reporting significant financial benefits. There are more than 60 padel courts in the UK, many of them built during the past [...]

‘He was a genius at work and a pleasure to play with’ says Nick Matthew By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Ramy Ashour’s retirement provoked a massive response from the global squash community, mixing sadness at his departure from the professional tour with enormous gratitude at the way his astonishing skills and smiling demeanour [...]

Injuries bring a sad end to Ramy’s playing days By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Ramy Ashour, probably the most gifted and entertaining player to ever pick up a squash racket, has announced his retirement from the professional game. He took to social media to tell his army of fans about his decision to [...]

Roehampton edge past Hallamshire on night of drama By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor It was a great pleasure to watch Nick Matthew roll back the years as his Hallamshire side visited London to take on Roehampton in the quarter-finals of the England Squash Nationals Clubs Knockout competition. After a slow start, at number [...]

Virtual sports are big business By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor When pondering why squash has been overlooked yet again for the Olympics, understanding the impact of fun activities like breakdancing and skateboarding is one thing. Accepting why eSports (computer games) are also likely to be miles ahead of squash is another. The IOC [...]

Youth Olympics likely to be next target for squash By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor The World Squash Federation (WSF) and the Professional Squash Association (PSA) have demanded answers from the IOC following the sport’s latest Olympic setback. Squash’s latest Olympic bid was stopped in its tracks within a few days of being launched [...]

Colourful concept takes shape as front wall turns into giant interactive screen By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor  The presentation of professional squash will move up a notch when an interactive front wall will feature in the forthcoming PSA World Championships at Chicago’s Union Station. For a long time it has been every promoter’s [...]

Interactive Squash pitch wins Global Tennis Innovation Summit   By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor It was a real honour and a privilege being present in London today while a significant piece of sporting history was being recorded. Markos Kern, founder of Fun With Balls, the German company launching the game-changing Interactive Squash product into [...]

Five hub clubs provide ‘world-class environments for players’  By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor England Squash have chosen five leading clubs to act as “performance hubs” to help develop the next generation of world-class players. The five clubs are West Warwickshire Sports Club, Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club, Berkhamsted Tennis and Squash Club, Pontefract [...]

Handful of tickets left for 2019 By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor The best-of-three games scoring format will be trialled for a second successive year at the Citigold Wealth Management Canary Wharf Squash Classic in 2019 when the PSA World Tour Gold tournament returns to the superb East Wintergarden venue from March 10-15. The [...]

Coaches rename their job as “child-minding operatives” By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad New Brands Editor Squash coaching took a massive leap into the future by redefining the value of care given by coaches to the children in their charge. Bribing kids to do their homework is an art perfected by parents down the centuries. [...]

Coll wins epic battle 13-11 in the fifth By SEAN REUTHE in Philadelphia – Squash Mad Correspondent New Zealand’s World No.8 Paul Coll became the first male Kiwi since the 1990s to reach the semi-finals of a major PSA Tour event after he claimed a massive 3-2 win over World No.3 Tarek Momen at the [...]

From Poznan and Graz to Colchester and Chattanooga, clubs go crazy for World Squash Day By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor World Squash Day 2018 is being launched with music and fireworks as clubs all over the globe join forces to promote the sport. The Official Single for World Squash Day “Africa” (sung by Oliver [...]