Growth and Funding

In the last five years, U.S. Squash  has paid almost half a million dollars in grants to a variety of causes and programs to further support the growth of squash in the United States.

The soon-to-be-released scorekeeping and reporting app will feature a U.S. Squash login page and an intuitive scoring navigation window for matches.
The soon-to-be-released scorekeeping and reporting app will feature a U.S. Squash login page and an intuitive scoring navigation window for matches.

As U.S. Squash has shored up its financial picture it has been able to further work towards the vision of providing the opportunity for all people to have the chance to enhance their health and well-being through the sport of squash.

The United States has the fastest growing squash participation level of any country worldwide—the most recent data from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association shows a remarkable growth of 82% between 2007 and 2011 to an estimated 1.2 million players nationally.

The tremendous growth that has been achieved in recent years is evidence of the advancements that have been made.

“We provide grants to efforts as large as the World Squash Federation’s bid to gain entry into the Olympic program, and as small as providing a grant for each racquetball court to be converted to squash. There are currently 3,500 squash courts, including the hardball singles courts, in the United States, and 30,000 racquetball courts, and this represents a huge opportunity for the sport,” says Kevin Klipstein, CEO of U.S. Squash.

“A frustration that many squash players share, myself included, is that we still need to increase access to the sport and awareness. No one likes to have to respond to people after you tell them you play squash with, ‘it’s like racquetball’.

“What many members don’t really know is that in addition to supporting all the programs we offer and driving the growth we’re experiencing at the grass roots, we are also making strategic investments to increase access and awareness,” says Klipstein.

Screen Shot 2014-09-19 at 12.13.17 PMAs well as the variety of grants and program offerings that U.S. Squash provides, members receive online access to their national squash ranking, historical data, tournament and match results, a Find a Match feature, extensive discounts on certification programs, merchandise, PSASquashTV, Squashskills, Hilton Hotels, and a subscription to Squash Magazine.

A new membership benefit will be the upcoming release of a scorekeeping and reporting mobile application this spring, which will be free to current members to use to referee matches and submit results for all sanctioned tournament matches. The application will also have features including access to rules and other event-related features such as automated registration using geo-location.

“As the association becomes stronger financially, we are able to increase our investments in new initiatives, grants, and program development which will accelerate our growth and provide new resources and opportunities for our members,” said Klipstein.

As U.S. Squash looks forward to continuing to support opportunities and needs of the squash community, Klipstein emphasized the following:

“Rome was not built in a day. However, we know that by committing ourselves to our core programming, working effectively with key partners such as our Districts, the College Squash Association, NUSEA, Life Time Fitness, the men’s and women’s professional tours, entrepreneurs and high school leagues across the country, while also making targeted investments in initiatives that increase access to the sport, sustained growth is inevitable.”

This piece is an excerpt from a longer article. To learn more about the grants and membership opportunities that U.S. Squash provides, head to www.ussquash.com and see the news article “U.S. Squash reflects on flourishing five year growth and future enhancements for members”