Squash’s sporting pause. How offline clubs survive the quarantine

The spring of 2020 has defined the lifestyle of all mankind and has clearly slowed down the pace. In such conditions, only the one who adapts the fastest to the existing realities, no matter how far they are from the comfort zone, survives. The sports industry was one of the first to take this blow, so even now, after a month in self-isolation, we can talk about the intermediate results of the transition to the online mode. Strange as it may seem, one of the frontrunners of the industry this spring can be called young squash.

10 years ago, only lovers of British culture and fans of the movie “Rabbit Hole” knew about the existence of squash, three years ago – adherents of a healthy lifestyle and all sorts of new manifestations of it. Today, about 140 squash courts are open in Russia, and 123 professional players took part in the last Russian championship. In 2018, the query “Squash” was accessed a little less than 32 thousand times in Yandex, in 2019 this figure rose to 94 thousand. For any major sports federation these numbers are quite modest, but the more vivid is the path that Russian squash has traveled over the past five years.

Squash is a maximally offline sport, but the reluctance of squash clubs to “let go” of their audience allowed to create a whole network of online activities, which turned out to be in demand not only by squash players.

Online training

It’s hard to surprise anyone with this one since the beginning of the self-isolation period. Fitness clubs, studios and personal trainers instantly went online and encouraged people to keep their fitness in mind while staying at home. Squash clubs and the federation are no exception. Today, the community offers a wide variety of workouts to suit all tastes. And although it is not easy for squash players to do without hitting the ball on the court, you can’t do without general physical fitness, coordination and stretching. By the way, hitting the ball also works.

The National Squash Center, in turn, has teamed up with the British EliteSquash top players, which makes online training not only more effective, but also more useful. After the session, there are meet-and-greets with top athletes from around the world.

Social media and engagement

In addition to social media training, other activities have been added. Squash community members support each other, share pleasant memories and involve their audience in communication. Ivan Borodin, Vice-President of the Squash Federation in Moscow and Head of PR-direction of the Russian Squash Federation says:

We are lucky to have such an audience, we are few in number relative to popular sports, but the bonds within the community are much stronger. In such a difficult time, our main task was to keep a sense of squash in our lives. What have we done? Simply tried to pay attention to every club, tournament and, if possible, every loyal customer. The main thing is to be sincere – we really miss you and we’re not afraid to write about it.

Education

Another important point in the sport is educational. After all, squash is not only about physical training and technique, but also about strategy. The federation tries not only to keep athletes in tone, but also to improve the qualifications of the staff that trains and judges them. There are additional classes conducted for coaches of different levels through live broadcasts. The topics of such broadcasts are divided into different areas: tactical analysis of the game, analysis of different styles, development of the training process and everything that can help the coach to bring the ward to a high result.

Similar training is provided to club trainees. Squash grounds did not limit themselves to their own resources and began to invite foreign guests, who occupy leading positions in the world ranking.

Psychology

The Federation employs a full-time sports psychologist who participates in conversations and helps players, both professionals and amateurs, to go through this difficult path of isolation from the court and maintain the right attitude.

We realize that an athlete’s mental health is just as important in preparation as physical health and we are trying to work towards that even now.

This is a difficult period for the sports industry, but now more than ever it is important to make every effort to get back on track without losing, but only gaining.