Mr.
Nick-At-Will’s opinion piece about the hardball doubles game’s current
condition, published in DSR on Weds. 21 July, deserves a
response.
The SDA Pro Tour’s schedule for 2021-22 has seventeen sanctioned pro tournaments to be played around the country.
It is anticipated that this season’s total prize money will exceed
$440,000 which was the amount of the total purses in the 2019-2020
season.
The SDA also lists the National Doubles, run by US Squash, which will
be played in Philadelphia. It will contain competitions in an
Open division for both men and women, in all age groups, and
several skill levels for both sexes. The annual Intercollegiate
Doubles will also be played in Philadelphia.
The two largest and most prestigious invitational ( primarily
amateur) events, the William White in Philadelphia and the Gold
Racquets at the Rockaway Hunting Club, will also resume competition
this season.
Local SRA’s in NY, Philadelphia and Massachusetts will also
resume tournament competition this season in multiple divisions.
Pro tournaments also contain pro-am events which are enthusiastically
supported and hotly contested. They provide additional prize money for
the pros.
To my knowledge there have been five doubles courts shuttered in
the past ten years: the court at Jadwin Gym in Princeton was
converted to office use.
The court at Bowdoin College in Maine was located in an old gym
that was demolished and replaced with a new fitness Center.
Fairmount (which had two courts) is defunct, and CityView
converted its court to singles. How many singles courts have been
demolished, re-purposed or taken out of service? The answer is a lot.
The vast majority of doubles courts are located in private clubs. The
mission of private clubs is to provide sporting and social
facilities to their members , not to make a profit.
And the adult squash members of private clubs with doubles courts love doubles, not singles.
The clubs which have doubles courts and pros who organize matches and promote the game are going strong.
If one visits clubs like Merion or Apawamis one will see the singles
courts populated almost exclusively by juniors and college
players, and the doubles courts are packed with adults morning to
night.
And it’s the adults that have the money and they use their money to promote and participate in doubles.
If the San Diego urban squash program organizers are smart they’ll use
their doubles court to involve adults who have money and live
locally in doubles play; hopefully they will become involved in
the program and will donate to the program in a meaningful
way.
Hardball doubles is thriving and its successes should be celebrated.
