Growing the game

Strewth! Aussie MPs get on court as World Squash Day serves up a treat on and off court By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent World Squash Day attracted thousands of new players as clubs across the planet opened their doors to showcase the sport on Saturday (October 12). A social media blitz and [...]

‘Squash is the greatest game in the world’ says Aussie legend Rhonda Thorne By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Maria Toorpakai, Nicol David, Joel Makin, Declan James, Daryl Selby, Greg Lobban, Campbell Grayson, Nick Matthew, Sarah-Jane Perry, Nick Taylor, Mike Harris, Brad Hindle, Rhonda Thorne, Ritwik Bhattacharya and Pakistani legends Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan [...]

‘It’s a privilege to be doing what I’m doing’ says the man changing the face of squash in India By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Former Indian number one Ritwik Bhattacharya, a regular and talented competitor on the PSA World Tour for many years and now a successful coach and promoter, is staging one [...]

Nick Matthew leads massive day of action in England  By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor PSA stars past and present are making a racket to support World Squash Day. Former world champion Nick Matthew is spearheading a week-long project at his lifelong training base, the Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club in Sheffield. Matthew, who [...]

11 Points With Ashraf Hanafi: ‘Our target is to be the biggest squash club in the world’ By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor The Black Ball Sporting Club in New Cairo has enjoyed an outstanding first year of operations, staging two major professional tournaments and laying the foundations for future growth by implementing one [...]

Former world champion offers free taster sessions at Hallamshire By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Former world champion Nick Matthew is leading a whole week of activities at the Hallamshire Club in Sheffield in the build-up to World Squash Day. Nick, who lifted the world title three times, alongside a hat-trick of British Open [...]

Move to attract more female coaches By DONNA HELMER – Squash Mad Correspondent Women’s Squash Week returns from September 23-29 to raise the profile of women’s squash across England and the world. The week-long campaign will celebrate and showcase women’s squash at every level from playing to coaching and highlight the contribution women make to [...]

“Squash à la Franglaise”: Nantes Open builds on Anglo-French “Squash Twinning” By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Reporter France and Britain: two great nations so close geographically and yet so different. We may take the mickey out of each other, with our “Frogs” and “Rosbif” jibes, but despite past conflicts, cultural differences and superficial disdain, [...]

‘I have a lot of experience and knowledge to pass on and I’m looking forward to it’ By DONNA HALMER – Squash Mad Correspondent England Squash has finalised a long-term mentoring agreement with Laura Massaro that will see the former World No.1 develop and nurture England’s younger generation of female players. Massaro, 35, called time [...]

‘Our goal is to build 100 of these centers’ Interview by ALAN THATCHER (Squash Mad Editor) The Manhattan Community Squash Center is planning to open its doors at the end of this month. With a number of New York squash clubs closing in the past decade or more, this is a much-needed addition to the [...]

Teaming up again to grow junior squash By DONNA HELMER – Squash Mad Correspondent England Squash has announced the renewal of a three-year partnership with coaching academy Off the Wall Squash that will see the two organisations working collaboratively to grow junior squash in England. The renewed partnership will see England Squash drive awareness of [...]

Busy season ahead as prize money grows By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent The Professional Squash Association (PSA) has announced the calendar for the 2019-20 PSA World Tour season, which will see 29 tournaments take place across five continents between September 2019 and June 2020. The PSA World Tour is the pinnacle of professional [...]

Massive response to global project designed to attract new players By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor With World Squash Day six weeks away, England Squash are leading the way with their support for a massive global project designed to grow participation numbers. At the time of writing, 120 clubs have signed up to take [...]

Sport England team up with medical profession to launch Active Charter By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Squash clubs have an amazing opportunity to play a leading role in delivering community health benefits .  As part of the advice given to clubs who take part in World Squash Day, I have been encouraging the [...]

Racketlon growing in popularity with Olympic aspirations By GORDON KERR – Squash Mad Correspondent Racketlon combines the four ‘biggest’ racket sports in the world: Table Tennis, Badminton, Squash and Tennis. Administered by the Federation of International Racketlon (FIR), this amateur portmanteau sport is well organised and campaigning confidently for Olympic inclusion. The four sports are [...]