In Response to Kenneth Wilhelm
by Ferez S. Nallaseth

April 15, 2014

Dear Kenneth,

Thanks for raising all these points. I think that badminton is a great sport - my brother was one of the top players in India! And in general you'll find that in squash players would agree with your (1) emphasis on developing junior Squash programs and (2) predictions of slow growth in the squash community in the UK and Australia, the 2 anchor nations of Squash, being alarming.  However, those losses are more than compensated for by the remarkable growth of both (1) global junior programs (see link (1) and (2) Squash in mainland Europe, Asia, Africa and both the Americas (25 million squash players in 188 countries, an underestimate, does better than the vast majority of sports).

But of more importance the single most important reason for its lack of growth i.e. as an Olympic sport, is the complexity of the game both from a participant and spectator perspective! Thus making it so difficult to communicate and televise (link 2)  - which is the bread and butter of any activity!! It has many more dimensions, far than badminton, as borne out by (a) see link (2) from Carte Blanche of Squash Sites below and (b)  the results of reciprocal matchups of Sharif Khan and Fleming Delfs among other facts (link 3).

Finally it is neither an elitist sport (link 1 from today's online BBC articles among others) nor is it going to survive without improving communication and participation (link 2 and see my response to Guy Cipriano in Daily Squash Report of 4-2-2014) as well as .

(1) Squash an elitist sport - or one whose members are socially responsible? http://lnkd.in/dG4gda8

(2) http://www.carteblanchesquash.com/2014/04/09/promoting-squash-the-key-to-the-olympic-door/

(3) https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxmZXJlem5zcXVhc2hkb2NzfGd4Ojc3NjIyYTk5MzJjOGRmZjQ

However, I do think that the alarm you raise is necessary and urgent! I hope that you draw the appropriate and good response from the squash community.

Kind regards,

Ferez

Ferez S. Nallaseth, Ph.D.




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