Without stating the obvious, Squash players need considerable help in making big time to take part in major tournaments, whether it is a local tournament or a PSA event in Dubai: nevertheless, support is not that forthcoming.
Yes, the global pandemic had a major impact on the earnings of some of the world’s leading Squash players, but spare a thought for those junior Squash players, who were on the cusp of making the leap onto the professional circuit.
In reality, some have may quit the sport and give up their dreams of being a serious Squash star – nevertheless you have to feel sorry for the junior squash athletes whose dreams of playing at university on scholarship awards.
This is neither a soap moment nor a criticism of the national governing bodies, but some time ago we were inundated with emails from Squash players based in countries with strong legacies asking for support.
Having heard the stories from them about their Squash playing careers at a grassroots level, their credentials impressed us and had the potential to be major stars in the sport for their country.
Support in the community
What can be done, to support Squash players? Well, there are a few things, especially for those in communities where the sport is popular:
Lobby to make Squash a community sport
In light of the removal of Squash courts at some respectable local authority leisure centres, the local sports development units need to tender for the construction of more Squash courts.
This could be providing funding to a school with Squash courts to host a taster session or open day at weekends with an angle of providing more accessibility to those who play alongside other members of the community.
The most important thing is to make a key sport in the community, therefore if it’s announced that the Squash provision is going to be closed, the local sports development department should immediately start looking to tender new provisions for those Squash clubs members to continue playing.
Promote local talent
From the emails we received, there was one Squash player based in a location that has major talent but due to lack of funding and a coach, the individual could not progress further in their career.
Take for example Emma Raducanu, the UK’s newest teenage Tennis sensation – because of her success at US Open, her local Tennis club and the LTA began a campaign to get more young people into the sport – which is good for local Tennis in Bromley.
Emma Raducanu: (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
In addition, the government announced plans to fund the redevelopment of existing tennis courts plus new ones – now this is a huge blow to other grassroots sports, especially Squash.
Did the UK government not offer to fund or celebrate the global success of UK stars with more Squash provision? HELL NO! – Let us not forget, the current PM is an apparent Squash fan…
PM & Father playing Squash (Credit: Conservative Home seats & Candidates Blog)
Either way, funding should be equal for all sports – nevertheless, Squash has produced more world champions compared to Tennis in the last decade and a half.
Collaboration with others
Because of the emails we received from Squash players based overseas, we proposed a collaboration in form of ‘agent type’ with them to support their development.
This led to the launching of our new Talent Support initiative; with a crossover of the Partner with Us initiative, aimed at promoting Squash players, who are underrepresented in the sport, but in a non-commercial business approach.
Note, this initiative is also open to Squash players based overseas too (subject to terms & conditions).
Final Thoughts
Already we are in the process of lending support to two Squash players, as means to act their promotional partner and in return, we hope to engage more people in the sport.
The main thing we want to do is continue to grow the sport and encourage young players not to give up on playing Squash when they reach a certain age.
This year’s Squash Summit (hosted by Sportageous), highlighted that the World Squash Federation is working hard to engage young people to take up the sport. Thus, it should be the goal of all major stakeholders in the sport to help nurture talent whether it is a Squash player from the Congo or junior players from Bromley – support can go a long way in sustaining the sport.
To sum up, Squash is a brilliant sport to play and a career in the sport can be rewarding just like its racquet cousins, hence supporting local talent is important more than ever to keep Squash provision going for getting into the sport and building a legacy for the next generation.
