Growing the game

England Squash lead the way with Karakal partnership By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent World Squash Day returns on Saturday October 12th with ambitious plans to attract one million new players to the game over the next decade. The theme for 2019 is for every club on the planet to open their doors [...]

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 [...]

How royal court led to a court for sport  By GORDON KERR – Squash Mad Correspondent Squash Mad is launching a new series called Balls and Walls. With padel, a mixture of squash and tennis, on the march, new correspondent Gordon Kerr looks at the origins of racket sports and, in coming weeks, reveals how [...]

  Prize money total more than $7.5m By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent The Professional Squash Association (PSA) has today announced that a record prize money total of $7,569,706 was on offer on the PSA Tour during the 2018-19 season, in which the organisation’s new tour structure came into effect. The 2018-19 season saw [...]

Kenya set to welcome WSF Squash Ambassadors By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent Kenya is set to welcome the WSF Ambassador Programme this week when three of the world’s leading squash players visit the country’s capital Nairobi for the World Squash Federation promotional initiative hosted by the Kenyan Squash community. The sport’s ultimate [...]

‘Squash players will love the social side of padel, which is not always the case with tennis’ By ELLIOT SELBY  Following Saturday’s introductory article about the growth of padel in the UK, Elliot Selby, a member of a very prominent squash family, writes about his love for this fun doubles game which is spreading rapidly [...]

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 [...]

Record numbers set for July showdown By DONNA HELMER – Squash Mad Correspondent A record numbers of players are expected to turn out for the newly merged HEAD National Racketball Championships at Edgbaston Priory Club next month. The two-day event, which takes place over the weekend of 6-7th July, is expected to lure a huge [...]

Nantes changes name to French Open and upgrades to PSA Silver status By SEAN REUTHE The Professional Squash Association (PSA) have announced today that the Open de France – Nantes 2019 presented by Tailor Capital will use a best-of-three games scoring format up to and including the quarter-finals when the tournament takes place at the [...]

Big-name ambassadors to inspire new generation of female players By ELLIE MAWSON The PSA (Professional Squash Association) are teaming up with with recently retired eight-time World Champion Nicol David to launch a new joint awareness campaign titled ‘It’s Mine’ – created to help foster a greater sense of belonging and ownership among squash players and [...]

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 [...]

Squash legend joins Camille Serme and Borja Golan on WSF trip By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent Shortly after bringing her illustrious professional squash career to a close, the sport’s ultimate ambassador Nicol David will join fellow players Camille Serme and Borja Golan for the 2019 WSF Ambassador Programme visit to Kenya, where [...]

Stars return to Hull for a seventh year  By ELLIE MAWSON A record prize purse of $348,000 will be on offer at the 2019 Allam British Open when the world’s leading squash players line up at the University of Hull Sports and Fitness Centre between May 20-26, 2019. Split equally between the men’s and women’s [...]

It’s all far too confusing – even for the pros!  By CHRIS SARGENT – Squash Mad Columnist Now, I know this may be controversial. But I am just going to come straight out with it. The rules on strokes and lets are just too confusing. The rules are opaque and difficult to apply. Judging by [...]

‘Squash needs advocates and ambassadors more in touch with popular culture’ By CHRIS SARGENT – Squash Mad Correspondent Squash may have lost its way down the generations. From the dizzy heights of millions of players battling to book courts in the boom years of the 1980s, the game has struggled to halt a steady slide [...]