During 2023 the PSA Foundation has been working hard to make a positive impact in different communities around the world where squash has an influence.
Let’s take a look back at what we have achieved together over the last year
Women In Coaching Fund - US and Malaysia
The Women in Coaching Fund (WICF) was created during the 2023 Tournament of Champions, and is providing women and girls with funding to earn key qualifications to pursue a career in coaching and give them a platform to inspire more women and girls to play squash.
The first coaching course delivered in partnership with the WICF took place in the US and then a second in Malaysia in August 2023.
It's really important for numerous reasons to have more women's coaches. I think for women in squash you have to see it to believe you can be it. The Women In Coaching Fund is paving the way for a whole future generation of women in coaching
Outdoor Squash Survey
PSA Foundation conducted a survey about the squash community’s perceptions on Outdoor Squash, receiving over 1,000 responses from 65 different countries around the world.
Outdoor squash seeks to expand on the sport’s accessibility and opportunities to enjoy the game at a grassroots level. Recent innovations have introduced courts of varying sizes and materials, each one offering a new adaptation that could work within your squash community.
Over 88% of respondents to the survey said they would personally enjoy being able to play squash outdoors as well as their indoor squash sessions
Squash for Development Organisations Making an Impact Across the World
Squash for Development Organisations (SDO’s) use squash as a vehicle for social change in underserved communities, alongside other offerings of support such as food provisions, additional medical care, academic support, vocational training and more.
As the charitable arm of the PSA Tour, we partner with these non-profit organisations to provide them with additional resource support, to create a shared network for best practice and knowledge sharing, for governance support, grant writing and more.
The SDO network engage with around 2,000 kids from underserved backgrounds on a weekly basis.
Six coaches were given access to the World Squash Foundation Coaching Award.
We have also given three players from SDO’s a free membership to play on the professional tour, giving them the opportunity to pursue their squash careers.
Two new organisations joined the network this year: The Nicol David Organisation and START Foundation (Sports Temple and Rural Training Foundation)– making a network of 14 SDO’s in total.
The Nicol David Orgaisation was launched in 2022 in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, by Malaysia’s former World No.1, eight-time World Champion, legend Nicol David, and Colombian former World No.81 Mariana De Reyes.
With her strong desire to build on this legacy and give back to the community, Nicol decided to create the Little legends program.
This initiative aims to engage the children involved with squash, developing their life skills, provide them opportunities to learn English as well as enable good nutrition.
The START Foundation is situated 90 minutes away from Mumbai, India, in an indigenous village called Kalote Mokashie.
We also celebrated all of the organisations we partner with at the Squash for Development Day that took place at the PSA World Championships in Chicago.
A number of these organizations and player ambassadors were in attendance to showcase how each organization utilizes the sport to change the lives of underserved populations across the globe.
Leaders and player ambassadors from eight of the groups were in attendance and spoke to hundreds of people watching this prestigious event- raising awareness of the important work they all do.
More Than Just A Ranking
This year, we launched our More Than Just A Ranking campaign: which gives a personal insight into squash players about more than just who they are on court.
Across the year, we interviewed a range of players on a range of topics such as the process of coming back from an injury, their hopes for their squash in years to come, and the importance of growing squash in countries where it is not as dominant a sport.
The interviews collectively were watched by over 70,000 people, take a look at all the interviews so far below
Rebound continues to distribute donated equipment across the world
Rebound, our squash gear recycling initiative, distributed around 1,500 items across the world this Summer!
Rebound is an initiative that takes your unwanted but usable squash rackets, shoes, clothing or balls, and passes them on to Squash for Development organisations across the world that are introducing squash to underserved populations.
School & Youth Groups at PSA Events
The PSA Foundation engaged with thousands of school children, youth groups and general public at a series of PSA tournaments across 2023.
These activations gave the children the opportunity to play squash in a fun and aspirational environment, watch some of the action from the show court, and then signposted to where they can keep playing locally.
Over 1,500 Children were introduced to squash at these events in 2023, sparking interest in the sport for them and potentially making future champions.
Pride In Squash
During June, we celebrated Pride Month, which is a globally recognised month that supports LGBT+ awareness.
Sport as a whole has an important responsibility to create spaces where LGBTQ+ people feel safe, included, and supported. Sport is a fundamental aspect of many individuals’ health and well-being.
Many LGBT+ sports people still today feel marginalized in different parts of the world and we believe every person has the right to enjoy and take part in squash.
During this month, we championed LGBT+ players and highlighted the need for squash to continue to be an inclusive space for LGBT+ people- and how this can be improved.
Over 20,000 people saw the Pride in Squash pieces on social media, with over 12,000 views obtained on YouTube.
Playlist
Women’s Squash Week
Women’s Squash Week 2023 was an international occasion, which had clubs from across the world involved with this key week as well as highlighting a number of extraordinary stories of women and girls in Squash
This year’s theme was #YouBelong: we showcased how women and girls belong in all aspects of the game: encouraging and inspiring more women and girls to get involved in our sport.
This can be from playing recreationally, to competing on the PSA Tour, as well as other areas such as coaching and refereeing.
Around 57,000 people were made aware of the Women’s Squash Week content, with hundreds of page views and article views for the campaign being obtained within the week- raising the profile of female squash.
World Mental Health Day
October 10th was World Mental Health Day, and encourages conversation around mental health, how we need to look after it, and how important it is to get help if you are struggling.
The PSA Foundation continues to provide mental health support services for PSA Tour players and advocate for conversation around mental health across the whole squash community.
We raised hundreds of pounds on this day in support of our mental health work, benefitting players of all levels on the tour.
Squashtache
For the second year running, we ran the Squashtache campaign over November: which asks the squash community to grow facial hair in support of the PSA Foundation and Men’s health charity Movember.
A number of players from the PSA Tour and clubs across the world grew their squashtache’s to support these two causes, this year’s challenge raising £5,442!
