Queen's Squash Revival

Aim

To start a 12-week program aimed at bringing in new female players while maintaining student wellbeing on and off the court!

Who are we?

We are Queen's University Squash Club and we have around 40 active members. We were a steadily growing club until the pandemic greatly affected our numbers.  Every year we get around 50 - 60 new players but have a very low return rate due to lack of funding for coaching. In recent years we have played in the Ulster League against other squash clubs in the area, both university and regular clubs. During our best years we have submitted 3 teams with reserves for each team. We also try to compete in the yearly All Ireland Squash Inter-varsities competition which we previously hosted back in 2019, this was attended by over 150 students from all over Ireland. This year we hope to be able to send at least 3 teams to the Inter-varsities hosted by RCSI in Dublin. Since Covid-19 we have had an increase in students who have never played Squash before so we aim to provide the best experience possible to players wanting to learn the sport. Historically Squash has had a much larger male presence (84% male to 16% female) so we hope to begin to change that and offer additional initiatives focusing on bringing in new female players.

Community Impact

Squash has a huge impact on the student body as it keeps them physically fit while helping to improve social and mental wellbeing. Queen’s Squash is an integral part of the Ulster Squash community; as many clubs have lost their courts due to Covid, we are lucky to still have 7 functioning courts within Queen’s PEC (Physical Education Centre) which allow us to regularly host friendly matches. Within the Squash community there is a large gap in players of the ages 18 - 30, and outside of the gap, these are still majority male players. With our new 12-week scheme, we aim to bring in and retain as many new female players as we can, and then we can prepare these players to join other clubs in the community after they have completed their university degrees.  Many universities throughout the whole of Ireland had their squash courts repurposed during lockdown, which has significantly reduced the number of active clubs for the yearly Inter-varsities Competition, which makes it more important than ever that we make good use out of what we have.

Why are we crowdfunding?

How Covid Affected our Club

We were a steadily growing club, having won Queen's most improved club in the 2018/2019 season, with member levels on the rise but when the pandemic hit we had to completely cease all activity for the 2020/2021 season. The following season we were only allowed a very limited court capacity which hindered our attempts at attracting new members. This lack of membership greatly reduced the capacity of our funds supplied by members and the Queen’s University Grant, which in turn prevented us from getting a coach for the season and attending the yearly inter-varsities competition held in Cork. 

Our Seasonal Goals

Our main goal is to provide a 12 week training program for mainly new female players but also for all beginners. This would involve bringing in complete beginners, introducing them to the sport, and coaching them to a sufficient standard so that they can attend the Inter-varsities competition. We aim to run this scheme as soon as possible to achieve this standard of players before the competition in February 2023.

Coaching - with additional funding we can bring in a licensed coach from Ulster Squash. This will help to attract these new players to ensure we have adequate numbers for our scheme. We will also look at getting our stronger players trained as coaches, to help run this program in future years, and getting the qualifications to referee matches.

Equipment - we will be able to get higher level racquets to improve our playing, and a range of different squash balls to cater to all levels of players.

Queen’s University representation - we want to be able to provide every member of the club their own Queen’s squash branded merchandise to make them feel like they are a valued member of the club.

Student Mental Wellbeing - we want to be able to bring all students to our social events and inspire them to make new friends on and off the court. Especially encouraging new international players as we have had a very limited number in previous years due to the Covid Pandemic.

Facility Upgrades - squash courts normally have heaters suspended above the courts to improve the playing but at Queen’s PEC we do not, which makes it hard to adjust when we play matches at other club's heated courts. If we meet our stretch target we can begin to look at improving our facilities.

How we'll spend the money raised

Any money we raise will massively support the wellbeing and training of our players. The majority of our funding will be used to bring in coaches for our 12 week program. This will involve a coach coming to our training sessions for two hours a week and using a range of drills to train our players.  Any leftover funds will be used for:

Specialised coaching equipment

Club kit

Inter-varsities competition contributions

Facility upgrades

How you can play your part

There are three simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge and claim your reward. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards yourself. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

This project successfully funded on 30th December 2022