Who invented squash

In the 19th century the game increased in popularity with various schools, clubs and even private citizens building squash courts, but with no set dimensions. The first squash court in North America appeared at St.

In the Titanic had a squash court in first class. It was not until that the Royal Automobile Club hosted a meeting to further discuss the rules and regulations and another five years elapsed before the Squash Racquets Association was formed to set standards for squash in Great Britain.

By there were around 50, squash courts in the world, with countries and territories having at least one court. These materials also come with synthetic strings. Modern rackets now have standardized maximum dimensions of mm They now allow for a maximum weight of grams 9. Squash balls now have a diameter of They are made using two pieces of rubber compound, which are glued together to create a hollow sphere and buffed by using a matte finish.

Different balls can be used for different temperatures and atmospheric conditions. Due to its specific rubber composition, a squash ball has the attribute of bouncing at a faster pace at higher temperatures typically.

Squash balls have to be hit dozens of times because they need to be warmed up when a session is about to begin. Cold squash balls normally do not have a very high bounce.

The small colored dots present on the ball indicate its dynamic level bounciness , and hence the standard of play for which it can be used for is often inferred. There is however some recognized speed colors which indicate the degree of dynamism. Some ball manufacturers like Dunlop prefer to use a unique method of determining the grade of balls based on their experience. This does not in any way hinder them from having an equivalent dot rating.

Click here for more squash statistics. While playing squash, players are expected to wear comfortable sports clothing. While participating in competitions, men normally wear shorts and a T-shirt, a polo shirt or tank top.

Women normally also adorn their bodies with a skirt or shorts and a T-shirt or a tank top. Squash goggles with polycarbonate lenses are also normally recommended by the National Institutes of Health. In addition, the WSF maintains and organizes a calendar of world championship events for men, women, juniors and masters players in both singles and doubles; as well as regular coaching and refereeing conferences.

The WSF has been integral to the acceptance of squash as a medal sport in multi-sport international competitions. The Olympics are next. Squash has been shortlisted three times for inclusion in the Olympic Games, and the WSF continues to lead the campaign to have squash a part of the Olympic program. As a major force behind the development and growth of squash, the World Squash Federation is at the forefront of many exciting aspects of the game today. Professionalism has always been the shop window of squash, but it took decades before that window was bright and inviting.

Pro squash began hesitatingly with small tournaments and two-men challenge events. The first bonafide professional tournament in the world was held in Philadelphia in , with just six entries. In Jock Soutar, the world champion in racquets, was crowned professional champion of America after he beat Bill Ganley two matches to one in a three-leg, two-city contest. Ganley won nothing. Four years later Soutar defended his title against Otto Glockler. In other countries, pro squash also took a long while to solidify.

Until both events were two-man challenge tournaments, a home-and-home played at two different London clubs on two different days. The Professional Championships ended after After the Second World War, matters improved. The Australian Open, started in , was revived in Open only reappeared in India started a professional championship in and the Egyptian Open was started in By the s enough events existed that teaching pros were able to leave their clubs and become full-time touring pros.

Just like there were two types of squash courts, there were two squash tours on them, hardball and softball. After the dominance of the Khan family a member of the family—Hashim, Azam, Roshan or Mohibullah—won the British Open thirteen straight years , the star of the late s was Jonah Barrington.

A six-time British Open champion, Barrington was the first pro to cut himself off from the clubs and earn his entire living from tournaments, exhibitions and clinics. McKay was famous for not losing a squash match for eighteen straight years, and Hunt, a seven-time British Open champion, was renowned for his amazing physical and mental endurance.

An exciting group of players came from Pakistan. The s were dominated by Jahangir Khan and the s by Jansher Khan. In softball, women were even more successful. At the same time teaching pros like Angela Smith and Sue Cogswell became full-time touring pros.

This move led to a global effort to achieve prize-money parity in all major squash tournaments, an initiative that was reached in just four years. Doubles began at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia in when Fred Tompkins, the pro at the club, erected a forty-five feet by twenty-five court. After the First World War, dozens of clubs across North America built courts and an amateur circuit of tournaments sprung up. Every two years the associations help host the World Hardball Doubles; the most recent event featured players from nineteen countries.

The game is growing. Today there are a hundred and fifty active hardball doubles courts in North America, a sixth of those having been built in the past decade. There is just one left in Great Britain. In four hardball doubles courts were built there: at St. Starting in the Squash Rackets Association held national doubles tournaments for both amateurs and professionals and England played Scotland in an annual Test match in doubles.

The Second World War led to the destruction of the St. Today softball doubles is the norm outside North America. In the Royal Automobile Club constructed two softball doubles courts at their Woodcote Park clubhouse outside London.

The courts were thirty-two feet by twenty-five, which was proclaimed the standard softball doubles width. With sliding wall technology made common by the German-based court building company ASB, the inchoate game appeared around the world. In the first World Softball Doubles Championships were held in Hong Kong and it has been held intermittently ever since. This brought in a tremendous amount of public exposure and governmental support.

Moreover, the showpiece of squash now became a show. Courts appeared in every possible country and in every possible guise. In many countries, squash went from being a private game at a few exclusive clubs to an accessible public sport. In Ireland, for example, in there were ninety-four courts; a decade later there were five hundred and fifty courts, most of them public. Denmark had just one three-court club in Copenhagen before the commercial boom: it leapt to fourteen clubs with fifty courts.

Japan had no courts until ; in a dozen years it boasted eighty courts at twenty-two clubs. Switzerland had one court in and a hundred and sixty a dozen years later. By the new millennium, fifty thousand courts were being used in nearly two hundred nations.

Squash was everywhere: from Andorra to Zimbabwe, from the southernmost court in Ushuaia, Chile to the northernmost court on Svalbard Island inside the Arctic Circle. All five continents have produced world champions. More than thirty nations have a player ranked in the top one hundred in the world rankings.

West Germany formed a national association in and started their national championship in ; in the ASB court construction firm started building squash courts. Since then ASB has become a global force in court innovation and Germany has the third highest number of courts in the world.

By , the world association had nearly fifty member nations, including the Philippines and Spain joining in ; Caymans ; Barbados ; Indonesia ; Brazil, Israel and Venezuela Nearly every year since, a new nation has joined the WSF. Moreover, regional associations took on grassroots development and staging championships. In recent decades, Malaysia and Hong Kong, with significant government support, became leaders in producing top-notch players and staging major events.

Squash was entirely private in Malaysia until when a commercial club was built in Kuala Lumpur. Major clubs came in the s—including a twenty-six court complex—and in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian government greatly expanded its efforts at developing squash.

More recently, the Middle East has surged, with Qatar and Dubai in particular investing heavily in the game. After the end of the Cold War in , Eastern Europe became a fertile region of growth. Just as the move to public, commercial clubs in the s expanded the idea of who played squash, the urban squash movement more recently led the game into new communities.

The future of squash has never been brighter. Technology has forever shattered the inherent limitations of this racquet, ball and wall game. Racquets are much lighter and stronger today, making the game more exciting.

The ball is now consistent throughout the world. Innovations are continually being introduced that make the game more accessible in person and more approachable online: glass floors, LED lighting, side-door entry and scoring and booking apps.

The game is uniquely modern: you get the best workout in the quickest amount of time. Recently, Forbes magazine rated squash the healthiest sport in the world. In a century and a half, squash has gone from a quirky schoolboy pastime at Harrow to the most exhilarating, entertaining and explosive game in the world. Before Squash The game of squash was invented more than a century and a half ago in England. Lawn tennis, as played at Wimbledon, was invented in as an outdoor version of real tennis.

Harrow The combination of racquets and fives sparked the creation of squash.