Squash goes to school to grow the sport

Jamaica Squash is taking the sport to children in its quest to grow it and develop recruits. Several persons, including coaches from Jamaica Squash, visited St Andrew Prep School recently, where they introduced squash to the girls during their Girls’ Day activity. Squash was one of several sports that were available for the girls to try out during the day. Basketball and Go-Cart racing were also available for the girls to partake in and learn, as well as netball, which is already played at the school.

The response from the children during the day was very encouraging, as some of them watched videos of previous squash games, listened to the coaches as they were instructed on different aspects of the sport such as the proper way to hold the racket, hit the ball, serve, as well as other things like proper hydration during games. That point proved important to the girls as the day was very hot.

Karen Anderson, president of Jamaica Squash, endorsed the visit to the school while saying that having the sport in schools was very important. “Today St. Andrew Prep is celebrating Girls’ Day. And so it’s just the young girls from St. Andrew Prep, and it’s about exposing them to sports and exposing them to squash. This is a perfect opportunity for us to achieve one of the goals on our strategic plan, which is to get more kids playing it and getting it into schools. And so we brought our inflatable court today and exposing the young girls to what squash is about. Hopefully we’ll get some young people who are interested and continue to grow the sport as we have wanted to do for a number of years.”

She was pleased with the girls’ response. “It’s been fantastic. There’s one young lady who has come back at least four or five times, and every time she leaves to get her water or something, she says, ‘This is my racket, don’t let anybody else take it, and I’m coming right back. And every time she’s gone to another booth, she’s come back. And she’s still over there right now as I’m looking across, so it’s been wonderful. The little kids have just absolutely enjoyed it. And we have a screen up so they can actually see what squash is. And they’re like, oh, that is it. Yeah, we love that. So very excited.”

“We’re really appreciative of St Andrew Prep inviting us to their Girl’s Day. It’s about empowerment and getting young ladies to understand that they are strong, that they can achieve just about anything that they want to achieve. And it’s about how you carry yourself and the character that you build, and I’m sure that St. Andrew Prep is developing that with these young ladies. So squash is excited to be a part of that. It aligns with us and with the whole gender equity going on across the world in sports, so we’re very excited about being a part of this with this girls’ day with St Andrew Prep,” said Anderson.

The Jamaica Squash representatives were happy with the visit and are looking for the next opportunity to share the sport with another school.