Squash Stars!

Some of the most influential women in squash are preparing to shake the male-dominated squashnet by launching "SquashStars.com". Here's a quick quote from their promotional material:

Passion is Positive and Powerful
We're passionate players and fans who would like to translate our drive into something positive and powerful for the sport we all love - squash. We believe that we can make a difference and because of that, we dare to dream.

Some of the people involved include Nicol David, Liz Irving, Alana Miller (Canada) and Natalie Grainger. Got your attention yet? The site is being built as we speak but you can get early info as they already have a blog going.

Oh, did we mention that Squash Republic and Pacey + Pacey Design helped with the logo (Do you recognize the athlete in the logo?) and designed the website? Nice.

What if you held a National tournament and no one came?

Firstly, all you Canadian squashies need to thank the World Health Club in Calgary for stepping up to the plate and volunteering to host this year's Canadian Squash Championships. If they hadn't it would have most likely been held in Toronto again. Kudos to Jonathan Hill too for being the point guy on what's turning into a touch-and-go kind of event. He returned my call and emails right away. Thanks dood.

The official website is up and you can sign-up right now. $150 CAD gets you two PAR 11 matches, a "player kit souvenir" (?), Thursday night lasagna feast and dinner and dancing on Saturday night. Contact telephone number: (403) 239-4048. Registration deadline is 9:00am April 13th, 2009.

My only beef? Wasn't long ago that the Nationals meant that the glass court would be coming out of hibernation to dazzle us all with it's 360 degrees of viewing. Not this year. It turns out that the show court in Calgary will be one of the four glass back courts at the WHC. Don't get me wrong, playing on a glass court isn't the be all end all but you can sit a lot more people on four sides than you can on one. This is the problem: You can't buy tickets online yet to see the show court matches. Turns out that the WHC is offering the tickets to it's club members before allowing the rest of Canada to purchase them. Apparently they will go on sale to the general public this Thursday, March 26th. I sure hope that there are some left because it may actually be the deciding factor for a lot of us.

Whatever happened to World Squash Day?

It seems like all squashies are talking about these days is the confusion over PAR, and what it will mean to their club ladder or beer league, and the ongoing struggle to get squash into the Olympics. I'll leave PAR alone for now (only because it doesn't really have graphic representation - maybe I'll design an "I'm for PAR!" or an "Ask ME about PAR!" button:) but I thought I'd mention the latest surrounding squash's quest for GOLD.

It looks like squash is in fear of becoming the well behaved monkey tied to the organ and the IOC is turning the crank. We're "recognized" but not as recognized as solo synchronized diving and we're working hard. Seriously, the IOC has been yanking our chain since 1900 when Jeu de paume was a demonstration sport.

(Mon ami, qu'est ce que c'est Jeu de Paume? It was similar to squash, only competitors used their hands instead of a racquet to strike the ball and it was a demonstration sport. Just in case you think I'm making this up: LINK.)

The WSF has been a busy monkey (if you excuse the metaphor:). They've re-vamped their brand (see previous post), produced a Powerpoint presentation extolling the virtues of the game, created an Olympic Pledge poster, and had superstars sign it, and even created a snazzy video full of game clips and sounds and info all in an effort to catch the IOC's eye and convince them that we are worthy. The video, which you can see on the new WSF-affiliated website, includes this little nugget that still gets my goat: Squash is played in every major games EXCEPT the Olympics.

So what's new on the Olympic front? The death of one idea is making way for the birth of another. I quote from Inside The Games: "The world of Squash is uniting to support the sport’s bid for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic programme with a massive worldwide festival on May 23, it was announced today. The popular World Squash Day is being re-branded as Squash 2016 Day as national federations all over the globe organise a massive programme of events to back the sport's push to get into the Games for the first time."


Much like the effort to get Softball back into the Olympics ("Back Softball") the WSF has recently launched a new website and a groovy shiny new logo in an effort to raise awareness of the initiative and to raise funds to pay the organ grinder.

This latest squash logo is growing on me and their website looks good. Kudos to the WSF and who ever else is involved behind the curtains (Alan Thatcher, you still kicking? And who is Juniper PR in NY anyway?) I think I might even order a t-shirt with the new logo and celebrate with my beer league amigos on May 23rd. Wonder if they'll want to play with PAR scoring by then?

Squash Love

OMG! WSF, WTF?

I never really intended this blog to be so design-centric but I guess I can't help myself!

It seems that the World Squash Federation (not to be confused with the United Federation of Galactic Squash) has "updated" its logo. Yep, in an attempt, no doubt, to gain a little credibility in the eyes of the I.O.C. the WSF has moved away from the classic "Mollweide Projection" (I didn't make that up) to a trendy, contemporary little ditty. Strikes me as change for change's sake.

While the old WSF logo may have look dated there was something comforting about it. It looked like the logo of a governing body. (Or a division of Pan Am airlines:) It said "GLOBAL" and that was good.



The new one doesn't:



Take the tagline off and this logo could be for anything. Will someone please explain the two blue fangs? (I know: "Whoosh!") And does anyone else read "W I S F"? What happened to the "W"?

I do like the colours so here's my suggestion. No charge. Update with the new colour scheme and reposition the ball so that the equator line isn't competing and voila! Groovy and trendy and I'm sure that Jacques Rogge would approve.




Interestingly enough, I Googled to see if I could find out who designed the logo and no one is taking credit for it which makes me wonder. Anyone know who did it?

+ + +

On a related note, U.S. Squash has also recently updated their logo. Their old logo depicted a single old-school round headed racquet while their new one has two. That's progress.

Canadian Nationals Host Announced

On January 9th, 2009, Squash Canada finally announced who would host this year's edition of the Canadian Squash Championships. And guess what? It's not in Toronto this year!

It's being held at the World Health Club in lovely Calgary. This bodes well for West Coast representation - at least it better! - and Squash Republic will be doing everything we can to convince people to head to Calgary.

Jonathan Hill, the club pro, had this to say: "I am very aware of the importance of there being a national squash championship. . . We will put on a top-class event!"

Excellent. Now, Mr. Hill, how about adding that companion event that we keep asking for?

VOTE IN OUR NATIONALS POLL!
(It's over there on the left. No, further down. Yep, there you go.)

(Apologies to Matt Giuffre for taking his place in the photo above:)

Read Squash Canada's official announcement here.

A squash player's Christmas list

The snow falling outside has reminded me that it's time to start shopping and that reminded me that not everyone knows what a squash player might need or want to find under their tree on Christmas morning. I personally haven't opened any well meant racquetball paraphernalia but I've heard many the sad tale.

1. A WISPA calendar!
This one is obviously for the boys but could be good, clean entertainment for the whole family! The days of the thong are long gone (can't believe I even mentioned it:).

Order yours at WISPA for only £12.25! Miss August is my personal fave:)









2. Lessons!
Holy moly do we need these! Find out where your love plays and get them a couple of lessons with their club pro - they'll love you for it and will have to thank you when they finally win something.

3. That groovy ball warmer thingy.
Remember this? We had a bunch of players asking where to get this beauty. Seems more of us would rather have a warm one in the bag than a cold one on court (or something like that:)

Get them for 10 Euros at Jet Bounce and let us know how they work!


4. That new Jonathon Power DVD

He's my fave. Simple as that.
It's only $79.00 - go on order it at JP Squash.com

This instructional DVD has it all: 100 drills (!), a downloadable list to keep in your bag and commentary and demonstration by JP himself that explains the proper execution and goals of each drill.

I've got the one before this, "Exposed", and loved it.


5. A PSA tournament CD
There's nothing like watching your favourite players playing. Rewinding to figure out how they hit that shot? Of course you are. And who films these things? Jean Delierre that's who.
Check out the growing list of matches at SquashLive.com.












6. A "S.C.R.U. Squash" t-shirt
Truly, the finest squash t-shirts in the galaxy. How many times do we have to tell you?
From the famous "SCRU Squash, Let's Drink" (worn here by Nicol David) to the new Melanie Jans Signature Line, you can't lose.

100% Canadian. They don't brag, they mostly boast.
Super Charged Racquets and Upparel. Check em out.










And what about a couple that money can't buy?

A drop shot -
Santa, please put a drop shot in my stocking this year. Puh-leeze.

A companion event at this year's Canadian Nationals -
So that I can go and play in the same tournament as Jonathon and Mel and the best from around Canada!

Squash in the Olympics -
Duh, because we deserve it.

Free referee clinics!
For my friends who don't really know the rules so much.

More songs about squash!