The PSA Foundation has had a busy month introducing squash to the communities of both Manchester and Hull in the UK. For the Manchester Open, PSA World Tour Silver event, we placed ourselves in St Ann’s Square to showcase our great sport. Hundreds of children had their first introduction to squash with roughly 4,600 people passing by the court over two days.
Only the second time making an appearance, in Manchester City Centre we utilised the new Melior Sports Mini Squash Court. A quarter the size of a full sized squash court, a junior racket and bouncier ball make for a perfect introduction for the junior ages. The portability allowing us to take squash to the communities!
Check them out in action in Birmingham’s Centenary Square for the Commonwealth Games 1 Year To Go Event here.
Mini Squash Court at the British Open 
St Ann’s Square Manchester City Centre
Over the two days in St Ann’s Square, we had 4,600 people exposed to squash and hundreds of children playing for the first time and we used the England Squash Club Finder tool to filter keen juniors into local clubs. The Mini Squash Courts are a very new invention of Melior Sports and are a great step towards accessibility and awareness for the sport.
At the British Open, the PSA Foundation also worked hard fundraising and collecting for Rebound – our initiative which sees us collect usable squash gear and recycle it to send to squash programmes all around the world.
At the Manchester and British Open, our Rebound initiative received significant donations. Thanks to England Squash for donating around 200 juniors T Shirts & UNSQUASHABLE donating 100 used squash rackets. This equipment goes a long way towards introducing children from underserved communities all around the world to squash. Check out the programmes that will receive these donations here: https://psafoundation.com/programmes-we-support/
The tournament also featured the Dunlop Chuck-a-Ball Challenge and merchandise sales, with 100% of proceeds going to the PSA Foundation.
