Awesome Photo of Nicol David

Check out this awesome photo + graphic created by freelance photographer Mr. Edward KL Chan of Kuala Lumpur. The photo was shot on the 19th of March 2011 in Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during a match that Nicol David she playing against Alison Waters. (Reprinted here with permission: That means I asked if it was okay:)

More flattery! (OR did they just steal our logo?)

You have to love the new Google search option which allows you to search using an image rather than a line of descriptive code. How else would we find out that Mongolian Squash is using our logo or that the University of Alberta borrowed our logo for their latest tournament?

Here's some recent discoveries of squash clubs and associations "borrowing" our copyrighted logo.

1) Squash Fundacion C.R. Cantabria and Rioja Squash.

2) Mongolian Squash! On Facebook and their Mongolian Squash Flickr Page!

3) Squash Club Trebic liked our 3D version of our logo SO MUCH they used it on their Facebook page!

4) Aran & Bidgol PSA also took a liking to our 3D logo - anyone read Arabic?

5) Seems that the good folks at Devon & Exeter Squash were sold a logo by their web designer that looked a little similar too. I spoke to these guys and they promised to stop using it. Thanks Adam!

All these examples seem so far from Vancouver, Canada, that you can almost convince yourself that that kind of blatant plagiarism would never happen here. Right? Wrong. While on a squash trip to Phoenix Arizona I stumbled across someone from the University of Alberta wearing this shirt:

NICE!
My last example is my personal favourite: A trophy from the LA Sports Club.

Oh no! Carolyn Russell, say it isn't so!

I just heard that one of my favourite squash players (and favourite people) has retired from the WISPA tour. Carolyn Russell's last pro tournament will be the 2010 Sun & Surf, where she lost in the quarter finals to the eventual winner, and it's only appropriate as Carolyn calls the Jericho Tennis Club her home club. (Read the official Squash Canada press release.)

For those of you who only know Carolyn from reading the information posted about her on WISPA's website she's much more than just 104th in the world AND a National Champion AND a two-time Pan Am Games gold medallist. She may be a 'Pegger but she's a household name and a dominant force in BC squash! She's been ranked the #1 women's players for at least the last two years and holds the current BC Open title.

If you've played squash in BC for a while you may have been privy to one of the most exciting local squash rivalries ever. Carolyn and her 2006 Women's Worlds Championship teammate Melanie Jans have battled countless times in the finals of BC tournaments and created some fantastic memories for this particular fan. (Carolyn, you know I secretly clapped for you all the time:) And who can ever forget "Russell-Vision"? I only mention it about once a week when I'm trying to convince a new player that it's in their best interest to watch their opponent. "Haven't you ever seen Carolyn Russell play? It's like she's got an owl's neck! Watch her poised on the T, with her head turned just so and her eyes on the other player. Always! She's got Russell-Vision dood."

Carolyn, on behalf of all BC squash players, I wish you all the best in the world in your new position at the Multi Sport Centre of Excellence Foundation.

On a personal note, I want to thank you for the time you generously gave me on court. (Remember that 45 minute court time where we managed to play best-of-five MATCHES? Nine straight games. Ouch:) You started me practicing my "figure-eights" and always encouraged me to strive for perfection.

I sincerely hope that you continue to play until I can join you in a real match in Div 1 one day.

Love Robert,
Your biggest secret fan.

Carolyn and her biggest secret fan at the Sun and Surf at the Jericho Tennis Club.

Carolyn and Melanie at a SportCentral exhibition match (2006)

At the 2006 Women's World Team Championships in Edmonton.

(L-R) Alana Miller, Melanie Jans, Carolyn Russell and Runa Reta

Getting ready for a match at the 2007 Nationals.

Zombie Squash Posters

I'm really liking the aesthetics of these two posters I found online. Minimalist colour and seriously graphic graphics:)

The first is from Portugal Squash which just underwent a rebranding by Feel Brand Management. Not sure if Feel is responsible for this particular poster which is for an event being hosted by Varzim Squash.

The Varzim poster reminds me of this event poster I designed in 2009 for the Bentall Athletic Centre's Halloween Open. At the time I remember worrying that blood splatter on a court wall might be pushing things! LOL



















The second one comes from an event put on by the Griff Squash Club in Budapest:

The resolution isn't too hot but that green and blue logo looks familiar for some reason:) Karma?

NAO Squash Pushes it!

The organizers at the 2011 North American Open Squash Championships, which is going on right now have hired some truly talented people to help them advertise their event.

Check out this fab commercial:

And then check out this amazing photo-montage poster designed by creative director Dan Bogosh using images captured by photographer Patricia Lyons.

 

BC Junior squashies are golden.

I'd like to give another big shout out to the boys and girls who traveled to Halifax last week to represent my province in the game that I love. They did us and the game proud:) The girls brought home gold and the boys brought home silver and I couldn't be prouder of them.

Congrats again!

Front row: (L-R) Zachary Leman, "Big" Mac Foster, Tyler Olsen and Michael Thompson.
Back row: (L-R) Assistant coach Rebecca Fouchard Vassilakakis, Nicole Bunyan, Brynn Daniels, Lindsay Seginson, Abbey Foster and head coach Jeff Boag.


(Photographed in front of the Manta Glass Court.)

I heart copy cats.

The original heart shaped logo designed for Valentine's day by Squash Republic.

The ripoff. Used in a poster for Valencia squash. Nice.

The original logo designed by Squash Republic for Squash Canada's 2010 National Championships:

This ripoff is particularly amusing as they spelled "squash" incorrectly. Love that.

A squash player's Christmas wish list

I realize that I'm putting this out a little late but it's a well known fact that squash players are procrastinators: Ask any pro and they'll tell you that everyone signs up for a tournament just before the deadline:) There are still a few shopping days left.

1. Because we like to read when we're not on court: A copy of "Run to the Roar" by the winningest coach in college sports history, Paul Assaiante and James Zug.

Just one of the many great quotes: "Today is the present. They call it the present because it is a gift."

2. One for the boys: The new WISPA calendar:) 'Nuff said. PURCHASE HERE.

3. More reading! How about a subscription to Squash Magazine?


















4. Lessons. And more lessons! Your local squash pro can do wonders for your game and it's about time you realized that your practice-to-games ratio needs to be flipped on it's head if you're ever going to win an "A" tournament. (Okay Pacey?)

5. Some new gear. Style is sometimes more important than substance and your team could probably use some help:) Check out Squash Republic: Their growing catalogue of shirt designs is quickly earning them a reputation as the #1 online clothing store for squash players.

Pictured here wearing the "Drop Shots Not Bombs" design (L-R): Christian Coufal, Birgit Coufal (Austria’s # 1, WISPA ranking 70) and Gerald “Hasi” (which means bunny) Hasslacher (Austrias no 125).






6. For the gamer: Check out the new version of "Racquet Sports" from Ubisoft.

Dood, you can play underwater and you don't have to ask for lets! Nice.









7. Club photo! At our squash club, the Vancouver Racquets Club, we're lucky enough to have a great crew of players playing singles and doubles and a great photographer to help us document it all:)

Photo © 2010 Chad Forbes.













8. A new MANTA racquet!
Available at S.C.R.U. Squash

9. A subscription to SQUASH TV

Squash makes PTI's "Turkeys of the Year"

Just when you thought the world had forgotten about Baset Chaudhry and his much-lamented outburst,  Pardon The Interruption placed him on their "Turkeys of the Year" sports clip montage. They call Chaudhry the "Squash-Taunter" and describe him as "a big hairy bully." Ouch.

Check the video here and skip to 1:26 for the "Squash-Taunter".

PSA World Series Squash Finals Graphics

The ATCO PSA World Series Squash Finals takes place January 2011 and I'm giving a big thumbs up to the group responsible for the graphics. Hopefully this is just a teaser and there's more to come.

I don't have confirmation but a little detective work makes me believe that Fleishman Hilliard Public Relations is responsible for branding of this tournament and the one page website with the trippy purple video.

Anyone know what the "Z-Court" is that they mention? Wouldn't it be cool if it was the squash court equivalent of the "Z-Pool Table"? Throw some extra corners in there to hide the drop shots?

First one to send me a photo of the "Z-Court" wins a Squash Republic t-shirt.

UPDATE: Squash Zag has pointed out that Fleishman Hilliard is the public relations firm for the ATCO PSA WSSF while Greenspace is the design firm behind the branding. Check out the work they did for the 2009 edition. Nice.

Taking it to the streets: Squash that is.

Click on the image on the left to check out this hilarious video of French prankster/comedian Rémi Gaillard playing squash in a phone booth. Check out his site: www.nimportequi.com. Thanks to Nicola for the link:)

Squash 360 talked about doing this a while back and I think it's time to take squash to the streets of Vancouver. Pacific Centre mall? How about a few "No lets" at the The Bloedel Conservatory! Conduct warnings at the Wall Centre!

Send us some ideas and if we use them in our video we'll send you something cool. Promise.

Squash Shortlisted for 2020 Olympics? Yah so?

Here we go again.

You may have heard that our game has been shortlisted for the 2020 Olympics but did you hear the real reason we didn't get in last time? Mr. Ramachandran, president of the World Squash Federation, was quoted as saying that Rugby Sevens beat us out previously because, at that time, the "IOC was going through a bad phase because of recession in Europe and they needed additional revenue. Thus, rugby was included." Hmmm. So it wasn't because of poor ball visibility or the perceived impropriety of players arguing with referees? It was about the money? Duh.

(As an aside, the NBA has instituted a new policy meant to curtail complaining by players because, according to Commissioner David Stern, "that's not a good thing.")

The IOC hasn't decided where the 2020 Olympics are going to be held yet as they're still hyping the 2012 games in London, but I'm loathe to start getting excited so soon. Instead, I'm going to look forward to World Squash Day because it's only 10 days, not 8 years, away!

David and Matthew win Commonwealth Gold in squash!

Congratulations to Nicol David for her 3-0 (40 min) win over Jenny Duncalf and to Nick Matthew for his 3-0 (66 min) win over James Willstrop.

Check out the coverage at www.squash.me.uk/cgames  and Squash Stars.com
Photo: www.cwgsquash.com

Oh no! Alana, say it isn't so!

Read the whole story here.

Oh no! Razik, say it isn't so!

 

Read the whole story here.

From the Archives: Michael Desaulniers for Athlete's World

When I first saw this four page advertising insert I thought "Here's a rare glimpse into that locker room of old!" Although my club has a co-ed steam room, the days of the "co-ed" locker room are past. (It seems that I missed everything by taking up squash so late:)

What I didn't realize was that it wasn't just the groovy camaraderie of 80's squash that I was missing, it was the fact that at one time sports stores actually catered to squash players! This advert is for "Athlete's World" (a Canadian sporting good store that's still around) and it harkens back to a day when sporting good stores were a better place to go to find squash racquets and shoes than Canadian Tire. Now I bet most of you buy your racquets online. (Ed note > Shameless plug: I sell Manta racquets:)

The other thing I didn't realize about this advert was that it featured an ex number 1 in the world hardball squash player who also happens to be Canadian: Michael Desaulniers. It turns out that I've played doubles with his brother! Six degrees of cool!

If you don't know about Michael, or you think that Jonathon Power was our first squash superstar, you really need to read this 2004 article by Rob Dinerman at SquashTalk. Dood, he beat Sharif Khan when Khan was on the top of his game!

If you know anything about Michael Desaulniers please consider adding to his Wikipedia page which is a little light on content.

Another cool aspect of this historical document is the appearance of the WSPA logo. I said "WSPA" not "WISPA":) A precursor of the PSA, the World Squash Players Association never made it to the internet (Go ahead, Google them.) Classic logo though.

Got any info on the WPSA? Contact me.

Robot Squash Referees

After squash lost out on it’s bid to become an Olympic sport there was a lot of discussion about the game and why it didn’t receive this arbitrary form of legitimization.

One group suggested that the rules were too difficult for the average viewer to understand. The WSF agreed and officially sanctioning not one but three scoring systems. No confusion there.

Another group forwarded the oft heard complaint that “the ball is just too hard to see on TV”. This was apparently also a problem for hockey at one time: Remember the glowing hockey puck? Luckily, it was generally agreed that this isn’t a problem and if you don't agree I suggest that you go watch a Jean De Lierre match video and tell me that you can’t follow the ball.

Perhaps the loudest group was the one that claimed that squash didn’t make the Olympics due to the lack of civility that a lot of players display on court. (We all saw the video of what’s his name from what’s that ivy league school and were hurt to see blogs write articles with titles like "Squash Players are just the worst!") The reason the players act this way? Their parents brought them up wrong? No. The refs let them. A player relies on the ref to keep control of the match and if they don’t bad things can happen.

I think it’s the decision making process that accompanies a call for a “Let”. But that’s not a reason to get rid of “lets”. (And please, don’t get me started on that wacky concept of five “lets” per match. I heard a rumour that this same group wants professional players to eschew the “let” altogether! Goggles and helmets will be mandatory.)

No, I’ve always felt that if we could just get rid of the referee as the “flash point of a match” we would be set. What I mean is, as it is stands now, the decision on whether a call is a “let” or a “stroke” is one person’s to make and if the player doesn’t like it he or she knows who to turn on. (I saw this in the Grand Circuit Finale where a disgruntled player lost his temper, and the match, at a suspected biaised call. Nasty words ensued.)

What if, instead, a player would request a let from the faceless robot who would render an obviously non-partisan verdict? We’re getting close to this with the "three ref system" where three referees vote on each call and the majority rules.

But wait, there’s something better and we don’t have to wait for robots!

It’s appropriately called the “Let, No Let Technology” and it’s available right now. (FYI - I've suggested calling it the "Robot Ref 5000" for marketing purposes:) According to Raghbir Badhan, of the newly resurrected “Unsquashble”, the only thing missing from the equation is someone who “has the guts to use it in a tournament.”

The "ROBOT REF 5000" interface. How simple is that?

This technology uses a web server that is accessible through any gagdet that connects to the web (iPhone, iPad etc) and allows three referees to consult without hand signals or raised eyebrows. Each ref enters their decision and then the result is flashed onto the ceiling of the court.

How cool is that? Angry with the decisions. Curse the roof not the ref and get back to the game.

I’ve seen it in action and it’s awesome. I only yelled at the roof once:)

Want to use it in your tournament? Email Raghbir Badhan: info@unsquashable.ca

Tell Raghbir that Squash Republic sent you and let us know how it works at your tournament.

Our poster design spotted out of Africa (again)!

If you travel to the outermost region of the European Union you'll find a little archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. And guess what? They play squash there and they seem to really like our poster designs!

Check out two new variations of the posters we designed for the PSA:





Nice. I'm glad they like them. Just wish they hadn't taken the credit line off. ¿Porque lo quitaste? Dios mio!

Squash Infographic

A visual guide to participation in the 2010 Canadian Squash Championships held at the Jericho Tennis Club, Arbutus Club and VRC in Vancouver, BC.

Created by Squash Republic in cooperation with Squash Canada.