Early History
Students at Harrow School in England created squash rackets sometime between 1830 and 1850. They played a similar game, known as hard rackets or, simply, rackets, but there was only one court available, so some students tried playing on a smaller court ordinarily used for a type of handball.
Because the small, hard rubber ball used in rackets was too lively for the small court, someone got the idea of puncturing it. As a result, the ball was squashed when it hit the wall, hence the name of the new sport.
Of course, the sport was by no means standardized. Harrow students also played outdoors in courtyards. And sometimes they played with a tennis ball and tennis rackets, thus creating a different version that became known as squash tennis.
In 1864, four dedicated courts were built at Harrow and squash rackets soon spread to other English schools. Several private clubs also added courts.
Squash was introduced to the United States in 1882 at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. The school's headmaster, James P. Conover, heard about the sport from a college classmate who had graduated from Harrow. Conover thought it would be ideal for his prep school students.
A building holding four squash courts was erected at St. Paul's and the sport quickly caught on with the students. The original version of the sport used a relatively soft, inflated ball that wasn't lively enough for the unheated courts in New Hampshire. As a result, a harder, rubber ball was adopted at St. Paul's.
The school's graduates went on to a variety of Eastern colleges and a lot of them brought squash with them. The sport was soon being played at many schools and colleges. In 1900, a squash court was added at the prestigious Racquets Club in Philadelphia. Two years later, one of the rackets courts at the club was turned into three squash courts.
Philadelphia quickly became the center of the young sport. Three of the city's "cricket clubs," which were actually much more involved in lawn tennis, added squash courts in 1903. Representatives of six Philadelphia clubs founded the U. S. Squash Racquets Association (USSRA) in 1907, when the first national championship tournament was held.
At the time, there was no standard size for the court. The USSRA originally specified dimensions of 31 1/2 feet by 16 feet, 3 inches, though few of the courts in use were actually of that size.
During the 1920s, hundreds of squash courts were built throughout the East and Midwest, in athletic clubs and larger YMCAs, as well as at dedicated squash clubs. In 1924, the USSRA adopted new dimensions of 31 feet by 18 1/2 feet but, again, few existing courts actually conformed to the rule.
International Squash
International play began with the Lapham Cup, an amateur team competition between Canada and the United States, inaugurated in 1922. A team from England also entered the competition in 1924.
The Squash Racquets Association was founded in England in 1929 to standardize rules for international play-meaning, at the time, in British Commonwealth countries, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Pakistan. The United States and Canada weren't admitted because they used a different type of ball and a different court. The SRA dimensions were set at 32 by 21 feet and the ball used was considerably slower than that used in North America. In the early 1930s, the ball was slowed down even more.
As a result, there were really two different versions of squash racquets: Hardball, played in North America, and softball, played elsewhere in the world.
Representatives from Australia, Great Britain, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa organized the International Squash Rackets Federation (ISRF) in 1967. Despite their rules differences, Canada and the United States were admitting to the ISRF in 1969.
The Women's International Squash Federation, founded in 1976, merged with the ISRF in 1985.
Since 1992, the international organization has been known as the World Squash Federation (WSF).
During the 1980s, more 21-foot courts were built in North America and many players began using the international soft ball on the smaller, older courts as well as the larger ones. In addition, a number of racquetball courts, which are 20 feet wide, were converted to squash courts and that width was approved by the USSRA for international play. By the middle 1990s, U. S. had gone over almost entirely to softball squash on larger courts.
There are now 109 member countries in the World Squash Federation, which conducts championships for men and women, juniors, and masters in singles and doubles.
It's estimated that there are more than 18 million players worldwide, about a million of them in the United States.
Professional Squash
A professional squash tournament was held as early as 1904. The six competitors were all rackets teaching pros who had only recently taken up squash. In 1916, the USSRA held a national professional championship with a top prize of $1,000, which was won by Jock Soutar, the world rackets champion.
The History of Squash
The first U. S. Open, for amateurs and professionals, was held in New York City in 1954. It merged with the Canadian Open into the North American Open in 1966. A new U. S. Open, using the international softball, was inaugurated in 1985.
The USPSRA became the World Professional Squash Association (WPSA) in 1978. Despite the "World" in the name, its professional tour was confined to North America, but it eventually boasted tournaments in more than 30 cities and prize money of over $500,000.
The International Squash Professionals Association (ISPA) was founded in 1973 to create a true world professional tour. It inaugurated its World Open tournament in 1976.
The WPSA and the ISPA merged into the Professional Squash Association (PSA) in 1993. The PSA tour now includes more than 50 events worldwide with about $2 million in prize money.
The Women's International Squash Professional Association (WISPA) was founded in 1985. Its tour now offers about $750,000 in prize money.
The biggest boon to modern professional squash is the portable, all-glass court, developed in the early 1980s. Set up in an arena or auditorium, the court allows a large number of spectators to watch a match from all sides and from considerable distances. It also makes televising a match much easier. In recent years, ESPN and ESPN2 have broadcast a number of professional matches.
Doubles
Doubles squash was invented in 1907 by Fred Tompkins, the tennis and rackets pro at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. Since a singles court could seem crowded at times, even with two players, he built a larger court for the game, 45 by 25 feet.
About 20 years later, the doubles version suddenly caught on. Many clubs built doubles courts and established tournaments. The USSRA established national championships for both men and women in 1933. A professional doubles tournament was established at the Heights Casino in Brooklyn Heights in 1938.
While singles players, as noted, have almost universally switched to the internationally used softball, most doubles competition still uses the squash hardball.
A professional doubles circuit was established during the 1980s and grew to about a dozen events, with about $150,000 in prize money a decade later. The International Squash Doubles Association was founded by players in 2000. It now conducts 20 tournaments annually, with prize money of $700,000. There are well over 100 doubles courts in the United States.
While there are a few hardball doubles courts elsewhere, notably in Bangkok, Edinburgh, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, doubles squash outside North America is usually played with the softball, on a 32 by 25 court. A German company designed a squash court with sliding walls that allows it be converted easily from singles to doubles, which greatly increased the international popularity of doubles play.
The first world softball doubles tournament was held in 1997 and men's, women's, and mixed doubles championships were added to the Commonwealth Games program in 1998.
No comments:
Post a Comment