World Squash Day kicked off in style with every Squash club across the world hosting a fun and family event at their venue – for us, our partners the Jacob Esuene Sports Club, BA Kolo Squash Club (BKS) and Jean-Marie Besombi got on the festivities with an event in their respective countries to celebrate our great sport.
Despite not having our own event in the UK, we were happy to see our friends across the globe put on some wonderful tournaments on Saturday, a few of which were tournaments inviting existing members to compete for a local cause as part of a fundraising event.
Exhibition tournament of next generation
Our partners, the Jacob Esuene Sports Club hosted a range of exhibition matches in their local community, which showcased the students from their squash programme.
It was the first time, Jacob Esuene Sports Club held a World Squash Day at their venue, in fact, the event was well received by the local Squash community.
Each exhibition match was showcased on Facebook Live, which in our opinion was very innovative for broadcasting a World Squash Day event to their followers and the global squash community.
Raising awareness of mental health with Squash
When it comes to raising funds for a local cause, Squash is the ideal sport for health causes to collaborate with given the health benefits of the sport, in addition to the social benefits of the sport too.
Once again Squash New Zealand partnered once again partnering with the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation (MHF) as the charity partner for World Squash Day, along with the PSA Foundation raising money for mental health causes.
Let’s not forget playing Squash brings about considerable health benefits, mainly a boost to self-esteem and sociable aspects; both of which are vital for positive health and wellbeing.
Democratic of Republic Congo unite to promote Squash
BKS Squash Club – World Squash Day
Earlier this year, we entered into a partnership with the BK Squash Club and one of our remits was to help them raise awareness of squash in the Democratic of Republic Congo as a means to introduce the sport to a wider audience, plus assist the governing body to have more coverage over sports in the country.
Bianco Kibuila, along with Freddy Nzama and other members of the team embarked done an awareness walk to the Central Station, in Kinshasa. This was followed up on the day with some Squash exhibition matches on squash courts at the Cercle Elaïs Club.
Jean-Marie Besombi (left) Credit: Squash DRC
Meanwhile, Jean-Marie Besombi took part in an exhibition game with a few members of the Cercle Elaïs Club in front of a packed crowd:
Oddly enough BK Squash Club was featured on the World Squash Federation website.
England Squash continues to excite
Despite the Cost of Living crisis facing people in the UK, it was good to see many playing squash players taking part in tournaments with friends and family on World Squash Day 2022.
Building upon the Commonwealth Games legacy, a number of squash venues in the UK were hosting some exhibition matches too.
One of the most notable was the Reigate Squash Club’s exhibition match with Daryl Selby, an England squash legend who played a few games with the club members.
Daryl Selby – World Squash Day Reigate Squash Club (credit: Reigate Squash Club)
Meanwhile, our good friends the Northumberland Squash Club hosted the last rounds of their Masters/Racketball/Doubles County Closed 2022 tournament – this was a great way for the local community to see the best squash players in action.
Celebs compete in Squash tournament
One World Squash Day fundraiser that took place was a celebrity Squash tournament in Australia.
As we all know, Squash is one of Australia’s most popular sports, for World Squash Day 2022, there was Celebrity Squash Challenge that took place at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park.
One such notable participant in the tournament was Robert Donaghue, Squash Australia CEO. Other high-profile participants included Dave Hughes, George Calombaris, Dave Hussey, Mark Eustice, Darren James and MP Peta Murphy.
There was even an exhibition match between Rex Hedrick, Australia’s #1 ranked male, and Adrian Waller, the current world #24 from England.
Final Thoughts
Following the great work achieved by our partners overseas, we reckon this momentum will help shine a light on Squash more come 2023 – when we collaborate with a potential UK partner.
Furthermore, seeing how the sport can do wonders for your health sends a clear message to those who have no interest in sports in general but could consider squash as a sports activity to build friendships as well as self-esteem.
Overall, we are proud to see BKS Club our partners and Jean-Marie being a part of World Squash Day; furthermore, it is going to boost the profile of the sport and the Squash Association of Demographic Republic of Congo’s ambitions for making squash a prominent sport too.
To sum up, each World Squash Day gets better every year – 2022 is clearly a favourite of ours now; so, for 2023 we could see going even better; how this comes about, well just watch.
All credit to Alan Thatcher for creating World Squash Day as a means to create more awareness of Squash to a wider audience – he is truly the beacon of the sport and deserves an award for his excellent support of the sport.
As for our overseas partners, well done and we look forward to celebrating World Squash Day 2023!!!
