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
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.
