The History of Squash

By Kush Mahan

The sport of squash is derived, unsurprisingly, from tennis. The first racquets were invented by the Dutch, and they were much cruder than racquets used today. The used to smack a ball against a wall with the racquet, and that was the entirety of the game. However, the ball was much different. They did not bounce well, as they were not made of rubber or the materials used today. They were usually extremely hard, and made of cloth wound up. It was the British who took the sport to the next level, building courts for which the game could be played. This quickly caught on, and soon this type of game could be seen across Great Britain. This spread even further, into colonies in Canada, India and Australia.

Another popular game at the time was called, “Fives,” which was more or less tennis without a racquet, in which players smacked the ball back and forth, or against a wall, with their open palm. The open-palm method is how the name fives came to be, referring the five fingers used to hit the ball.

Around the year of 1830, the inspiration for the game of squash that we know today was brought to life at the Harrow School, an all-boys school located just outside of London. The boys essentially brought tennis and fives together, hitting a ball with racquets in a partially-closed off area of the school that had two side walls and a front wall. Hitting the ball off of all three walls, this new game required players to be lightning-quick, think one step ahead and have a great dea of energy.

This game was played with a rubber ball, a material that had just started being used at large in producing commercial items. The English cut their racquets down shorter to play this game and played at a much slower pace, using at as both an indoor and outdoor leisure activity.

Over the years, the sport of Squash has developed quite a bit. Rules and regulations have been

developed, such as court size, what the court is made of, rules of play, type of ball used, and so on. When Great Britain ultimately nailed down their rules and regulations of Squash, the sport had already been established and was being played by a different set of standards for roughly 20 years in the United States. Squash courts were placed in Universities, clubs, and people’s homes.

Squash is over 140 years old, and it has come an extremely long way since its humble beginnings. Squash is now played in roughly 185 countries by 17 millions individuals. Squash truly is an amazing sport.