East Glos Racket Manager Steve Worsley isn’t concerned with the sate of squash within his club even if the bigger picture tells a different story.
“Certainly as far as East Glos are concerned, the squash element is very healthy here we’ve seen good numbers on the coaching programme there’s a thriving social background to the club lots of teams lots of players playing socially. We also hold a lot of events here, pro events, internal club events as well.
Squash has seen a sharp decline in new interest since the introduction of padel with many clubs transitioning and accommodating for the ever growing sport.
Its expected that this year 180-220 squash courts have been converted to a padel court. The idea is that two squash courts can merge into a singular padel court without huge construction needing to take place.
“We’ve also now branched out to external facilities which is helping us grow the sport, probably one of the nice things coming up is that its going to be in the Olympics next time out so we are hoping that gives us some traction to help grow the sport.”
Branching out is a positive motion for East Glos, getting more and more traction the further the go down the road of fighting off padel.
The introduction of squash into the Olympics could play very nicely into the hands of clubs across the country. Eight failed bids and over 30 years of campaigning have led to this moment for the squash community to have it’s moment in the sun at the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
An Olympic presence could prop up the squash market for the foreseeable future and if they manage it with success then it wont be its only appearance in the games.
Online and throughout the country squash can be seen as a dying sport but Worsley doesn’t see it that way.
“I think its had its challenges but as we’ve said hopefully with the Olympics coming up it helps creates household names and things like that can only help the sport. Helping its popularity and its wider audience.”
The European championships in 2027 is being held in Istanbul and that is one of five events that will be part of the qualification process to be able to compete for Team GB.
