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Outdoor Sporting
Squash Buddy has all the information on this competitive sport right on the site. Find Squash Buddy movies, Squash Buddy photos, Squash Buddy news, Squash Buddy articles, Squash Buddy pics, and everything in between.Squash Videos
Squash - Power vs Shabana
Squash-Willstrop vs. Matthew
Squash Photos
Squash - DSC05160.jpg
Squash - DSC05161.jpg
Squash News
Healthy Plate: Tricks for making thick soups minus all the fat - Salt Lake Tribune
Healthy Plate: Tricks for making thick soups minus all the fat Salt Lake Tribune, United States - By Jim Romanoff AP Frozen pureed squash helps make this soup hearty and satisfying without added fat. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe) Thinking about how to fill up ... Squash soup a cheap fill-up |
Eat your winter veggies: A lesson in loving cabbage and squash - Daily Camera
Eat your winter veggies: A lesson in loving cabbage and squash Daily Camera, CO - It's like cabbage, brussels sprouts, winter squash, not one of which you'd be tempted to eat right out of the garden. The produce, like the short days, ... |
About Squash
Squash is a racquet sport that was formerly called squash racquets, a reference to the "squashable" soft ball used in the game . The game is played by two players with "standard" rackets in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball. Squash is characterized as a "high-impact" exercise that can place strain on the joints, notably the knees. Squash is recognized by the IOC and remains in contention for incorporation in a future Olympic program. Squash narrowly missed being instated for the 2012 London Games. It is again up for consideration for the 2016 Summer Games along with baseball, softball, rugby, golf, and roller sports. Up to two sports will be added to the Olympic programe which will be decided at the IOC assembly in October 2009. Currently there is a 28-sport ceiling and 26 sports are guaranteed to be included in the 2016 Summer Games. Squash has kicked off their bid at the 2008 Hi-Tec World Championships with Jahangir Khan, President of the World Squash Federation, leading the way.
Squash developed from at least five other games involving racquets/ gloves, and balls having roots in the early 1500’s in France . It's stated that “Squash, with its element of hitting balls against walls, was for entertainment. For example, boys and girls slapped balls in narrow alleys and streets”.
Religious institutions in France, such as monasteries, developed a similar game. Monks used gloves that were webbed to hit balls against a fishing net strung across the middle of the courtyards of the monasteries. This developed the early “racquets” used in tennis and squash. Then in late fifteenth century, the tennis was developed and spread to other European nations. The next major development of squash took place in England where the game of "racquets" was developed in Fleet Prison, a debtor’s prison. Similar to tennis, it involved racquets and balls, but instead of hitting over a net as in tennis, players hit a non-squeezable ball against walls. A variation of rackets that also lead to the formation of squash was called fives, similar to handball. Fives was essentially the game of racquets without a racquets played against a wall or walls.
These games gained popularity and were further developed in schools, notably Harrow School in Britain. The first courts built at this school were rather dangerous because they were near water pipes, buttresses, chimneys, and ledges. The school soon built four outside courts. Natural rubber was material of choice for the ball. Students modified their racquets to have a smaller reach to play in these cramped conditions. In the 1900s the game increased in popularity with various schools, clubs and even private citizens building squash courts, but with no set dimensions. In April 1907 the Tennis, Rackets & Fives Association set up a sub committee to set standards for squash. Then the sport soon formed, combining the three sports together called “Squash”. It was not until 1923 that the Royal Automobile Club hosted a meeting to further discuss the rules and regulations and another five years elapsed before the Squash Rackets Association was formed to set standards for squash in Great Britain.
The sport spread to America and Canada, and eventually around the globe. Players such as F.D. Amr Bey of Egypt dominated the courts. Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan of Pakistan won the World Open and British Open numerous times. Soon after this, many squash tournaments new associations formed by countries including European countries, United States, and Canada such as the World Squash Federation.
Squash is constantly growing, drawing new players and teams and also expanding to different countries around the world.
The court size was codified in the 1920s at 975 cm long and 640 cm wide. The front wall has a "front wall line" 457 cm above the floor, connected by a raking "front" line meeting the "out" line on the back wall at 213 cm above the floor. The front wall also has a "service line" whose top is 183 cm above the floor with the "board" 48 cm high. The floor is marked with a transverse "half-court" line and further divided into two rear "quarter courts" and two "service boxes", as shown in the diagram above.
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