Growing Squash: What doesn’t work and what might
by John Branston

September 20, 2013 - If the powers that be want American squash to grow in new places – and I am not at all sure they do – then they should imitate tennis.

Team tennis is booming in my hometown of Memphis and in neighboring Nashville and Little Rock and other cities. The hottest thing is the “combo” men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles league where players combine their individual ratings to make 7.0 or 8.0 or 9.0 teams. These are further divided by age classifications, giving every player a chance to compete and experience the camaraderie of team tennis at the local, state, and national level. 

I played a lot of team tennis 20-30 years ago before taking up squash and my wife still plays. To my eye it looks like participation is higher now than it was in the celebrated days of “Volvo” tennis, as we called it back then. Interestingly, I would not say overall participation in tennis is necessarily increasing. Memphis seems to have a surplus of courts at clubs, public parks, colleges, and private schools. But team tennis is definitely booming – to the detriment of local tournaments – especially at the over-45 age level.

The USTA is the umbrella organization for this, but the real energy comes from local players and team captains. I remember something like this happening in racquetball in its glory decade of the 1970s. There was a come-one-come-all spirit, but it died out for reasons I won’t speculate about here.

I thought students at Rhodes College here would embrace squash when the college built two courts 15 years ago. I thought curious tennis players would embrace squash when the Racquet Club of Memphis built a new court two years ago. I thought the University of Memphis, once the epicenter of American racquetball, would add a court or two. I thought people would want to take free lessons.

I was wrong on every single count. While it may simply be that there is no underlying interest in our great sport, I can’t quite convince myself of that. Squash thrives in Atlanta, which is admittedly a bigger metro area with three clubs with multiple courts and doubles courts.

You build on what you have. In Memphis we have 15-20 dedicated players, all men and nearly all over the age of 40. The most courts we have at any location is two, making a regional tournament like the ones in Atlanta difficult, as we have learned. There is no point in having a USSRA sanctioned tournament when players are reluctant to play tournaments anyway. It must be harder, not easier, to say “no”.

We’re hungry for fresh competition, but Atlanta is a seven-hour drive or a $300 plane ticket plus a hotel for a couple nights for what might only be two three-game matches. We reached out to Vanderbilt’s club squash team a few years ago, but there’s an age divide and scheduling problems.

I wonder if inter-city (state?) adult team squash, with a home-and-away format, might work. Call it squash tourism. We have the courts, the players, and the free housing and hospitality for that. No doubles, unfortunately, but a team, which might only be four people, could consist of players at different ages and levels. Everyone would be guaranteed plenty of court time, and the expenses could be held down.

We hosted former world #1 John White here for a weekend clinic a couple of years ago and while it went well it was a fairly expensive one-shot deal. Would lesser pros or former pros or young guns trying out for one of the regional teams perhaps come here for the good of the game and a good time?

I can’t promise that a crowd would turn out. This might be a tiny seed, at best. But I think the “do nothing” option will result in squash remaining exactly what it is.


*John Branston, jbranston@bellsouth.net, is the author of 'Unpublished Squash Chronicles', the winning entry in the 2013 Black Knight Short Story Contest.