Squash was invented in Harrow school around 1830, when the pupils discovered that a punctured Rackets ball, which “squashed” on impact with the wall, produced a game with a greater variety of shots and required much more effort on the part of the players, who could not simply wait for the ball to bounce back to them as with Rackets. The variant proved popular and in 1864 the first four Squash courts were constructed at the school and Squash was officially founded as a sport in its own right.

Squash is now played in more than 185 countries, on nearly 50,000 courts, and the WSF now has 147 Squash playing National Associations in membership. It is the sole International Federation for the sport, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and maintains responsibility for the Rules of the Game, Court and Equipment Specifications, Refereeing and Coaching. The WSF maintains a World Calendar of events, organizes and promotes World Championships for Men, Women, Junior Men, Junior Women and Masters age groups in both singles and doubles Squash; and leads its Member Nations in programs for the development of the sport.

Squash has been voted “the world’s healthiest sport” by Forbes magazine in a technical survey that included measure of cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and calories burnt. Squash is a game for life and can be played from ages 5 – 80 yrs approx. In a recent ESRI study (Sporting Lives: An Analysis of a Lifetime of Irish Sport) it was noted that team sports are played at a younger age with a transition to more individual sports in adulthood. This trend should place squash in a strong position in terms of building a life-long sport model. Squash is ideal for those with a busy lifestyle as one can play a good game, have a fun workout, shower and change inside one hour. You only have to find one opponent and because it is indoors, it never gets rained off!