In a wide-ranging interview with the Squash Facilities Network, World Squash Federation President Zena Wooldridge shared some early thoughts about how grassroots squash might leverage the sport's inclusion in the Olympic Games.
It is now over seven months since the shock news of squash's inclusion on the Olympic programme for Los Angeles 2028. Already our Olympic status is making an impact on the professional game with investment in facilities, coaching and elite player support in some nations. It has undoubtedly increased motivation in younger players to strive to be on the plane.
The bigger question for the sport's future is, how can we use the Olympics to boost global participation and strengthen the sustainability of our venues? i.e. How can the Olympics leave a positive legacy on squash for us all?
The main route through which squash could benefit is the IOC's Olympic Solidarity funding, which uses revenue generated by selling broadcast rights to support National Olympic Committees (NOCs) with development of their athletes and the development of sports within each nation. It is this second one that should interest squash facilities.
Wooldridge told us that IOC representatives will attend December's World Squash Federation conference in Hong Kong to give guidance to NOCs how to access and capitalise on Olympic Solidarity funding.
"There are funding resources that nations can tap into to help them grow their coaching and volunteer infrastructure, train up officials and make sure they are ready for when that deluge of new squash players hopefully happens after LA2028," said Wooldridge (pictured above). "That's what we've got to be ready for. The IOC funding is about giving sports the capacity to cope with that influx."
Wooldridge admits that, as a global governing body, the WSF has limited tools to calculate the numbers of players, courts or facilities across the world. That is the responsibility of the national federations and their data is patchy. Thus, if the Olympics took place tomorrow, it would be difficult to measure the Games' impact on the grassroots of the game without a base figure to work from. "There's an awful lot of work to do - and our Olympic status gives us even more work to do," admits Wooldridge.
What is beyond doubt is that squash's ability to capitalise on the Olympics depends hugely on our facilities. If people are excited and energised by watching squash at the Olympics, and go to their local club, what will they find? Thriving communities with good courts, changing rooms, coaches, volunteers and (most importantly of all) an enthusiastic welcome? If not, what can we do to improve that before the summer of 2028?
Wooldridge states: “Clubs and venues are in many ways the centrepiece in the squash eco-system. Although it’s our Member Nation Federations that have, or should have, a more direct relationship with clubs and venues, it is in all our interests to ensure our clubs thrive. Part of WSF’s role is to try to support those (smaller) MNFs who may not have the capacity and expertise to support their clubs, whether via coaching and referee courses, sharing best practice or in other ways.
“The Olympic opportunity makes it even more important to collaborate with others who can add to existing expertise. Think of the squash eco-system as an orchestra which we need to grow from a quartet to a large symphony orchestra. Clubs might be the wind section, with different types of clubs/venues as the different wind instruments. WSF should be the conductor, helping to co-ordinate the key players in the sport to work together to achieve squash’s potential.”
Wooldridge's personal advice for squash facilities to ready themselves for 2028 echoes many of the best practice examples we have already featured on the Squash Facilities Network.
'Activators are vital'
In particular, she advocates for what we recently called 'Community Development Managers' - what she calls 'activators' - the passionate people (coaches or volunteers) who drive activity and build communities within their squash venues, making them the sorts of places that newcomers want to join and remain in.
She said: "If we want to maximise our occupancy of courts from early morning until late in the evening, it's not about having performance coaches, it's about having activators and initiators who can enthuse people and show them how to play the game, so they will keep coming back.
"It's all about court occupancy, and those 'activators' are the key to achieving that. They don't need to be top coaches, they need to be 'pied pipers'. Those are the people we need when the post-Olympic influx does come."
'Diversification is important'
Wooldridge also opened up about the viability of old two-, three- or four-court squash clubs, many of which are struggling to survive due to the limited scale of their operations. "Diversification is important," said Wooldridge. "Squash is more viable in a multi-sport environment, including multi-rackets clubs.
"Let's focus on promoting squash and Squash 57 and if padel, pickleball and tennis are part of that overall package to maintain the sustainability of our clubs, then let's embrace it. Let's not turn it padel and pickleball into an emotive distraction.
"These racket sports can all sit happily alongside each other. Let's not make it into a zero sum game. Let's keep existing players in squash and welcome new players in, then we'll see an expansion of the market. There's nothing stopping people playing all of these sports, and we can be stronger together."
Read part one of our interview with Zena Wooldridge where we discuss how clubs can help ensure players are using the right ball.
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