Longtime lurker here, but one subject I’ve never seen discussed is squash. I only started playing a few months ago (tennis before), but really got into it. It’s so intense and you have to really use your head in addition to your body. Are there any other squash players here?
Nope, we use the courts for the right thing, racquetball.
Squash is a lot more popular than racquetball in Canada, despite our proximity to the U.S. I tried playing the latter game once, but I fell asleep between points.
I haven’t played squash regularly in a few years, but a while back I was in three club leagues, and played at the lowest level of the intra-city league. I loved the workout, but eventually my shuttling back and forth to Tokyo made it impossible for me to keep up with league play. I still occasionally play on the weekend, but I don’t really have any opponents who aren’t much worse or much better than me. It’s frustrating.
I used to play it, frequently, but I never got to be very good at it. I know that on principle, you should constantly seek out the center. But I seem to be running all over the place, instead.
Heh. I tried racquetball once, but never got a sense of subtlety. It seems like you if you pretty much whack the ball as hard as you can, you’ll be alright.
Cerowyn, funny you should mention Tokyo, I’m planning a semester abroad there. By chance, did you see if squash is popular at all?
You did not play racketball if you did it once. You can not develop a skill set or learn the shots and angles.
I haven’t played squash in over 20 years, but there was a time in my life when I really loved the game. I started playing it when I lived in Singapore.
I played a few games with friends while I was there, so there are definitely courts. I couldn’t say how popular it is, but it’s at least known to some degree. IIRC, in Japanese the name is pronounced more like sukoshu (which sounds almost like “skosh” if you’re not familiar with Japanese). Someone who lives there could almost certainly give a better answer.
Actually, I have a squash game scheduled about 90 minutes from now. I never saw much difference betwen squash and raquetball, though. Definitely a head game, and much more intense than tennis, IMO.
I miss playing squash.
I played from the time I was about 8 years old until a few years ago. Played on the varisty team at University, and did the Toronto District Club League for a few years afterwards. Several dozen provincial and national tournaments along the way as well. Fantastic sport - far superior to racquetball as squash is more about positioning and thinking than that game played with a squishy superball (I started playing squash just as hardball was going out of style (mid-eighties), so I only played it a few times - that is a far different game than the current double-yellow dot).
Towards the end of my “career”, my home club opened up a doubles squash court. That is a different experience, but I enjoyed it. Probably would not have devoted as much time to it though - I prefer singles.
Then marriage came, and I played less and less. Then kids came, and I essentially stopped playing altogether (couldn’t afford the club dues anymore). Plus, I broke a string on my last match - I took it as a sign. Never bothered to get it restrung.
I moved 100 miles away to Buffalo, NY - and it is like the sport doesn’t exist. Only one club in the city offers any sort of sqaush program, plus there are courts at the University of Buffalo that I could join. I’d like to play again now that the kids are a little older, but haven’t bothered as I question the variety of competition. Maybe in the fall I’ll look into it again.
I just got back from playing squash. I love it! Just got a new racquet, a Karakal SX-100, supposedly the lightest racquet you can get. Agree also that theres a lot more strategy to it than racquetball. Also, I didnt realize that squash wasn`t as popular in the US.
Too bad you don’t still live in Toronto; I played T&D D-level for a couple of years. It sounds like we might have been able to play some. 
I was playing Level-C for the TLTC in the late 90s. Good competition. We also had an A/B team. Playing them - it was like “here is your ass - I thought you’d like me to hand it to you…”
Yeah, I had the experience more times than I like to count. Our club pro (at the Wellington Club) was a former Canadian-ranked player. The only points I ever scored against him were off what he called my “Sampras serve” (which he tried me to abandon all the time 'cause it put me out of position for the return).
We played all the froo-froo clubs (since the TLTC was one also, I suppose) - B&R, RCYC, Cricket Club, Boulevard Club, Adelaide Club, etc… I’m trying to remember the Wellington Club. I assume it was Wellington St., but I don’t know if I ever played there.
It’s at the corner of Wellington and York Streets, and part of the Sports Clubs of Canada chain, which used to be part of Bally, now GoodLife. I guess it would count as one of the “froo-froo” clubs.
I used to play squash quite a bit in Australia. Since moving to the US, i think i’ve only met one person who plays squash, and he’s a Canadian. Everyone else seems to play racquetball.
I was never a competition player or anything, and i probably had more determination than skill, but i used to love playing squash. I had an opponent, a friend of mine, who was very close to me in ability and tenacity, and we used to have some absolutely cracking games.
That’s one thing about squash, though: you really need to play against someone with a very similar level of ability. While this is ideally the case for all games, some are more forgiving than others, and allow both parties to have fun even if one person is considerably better than the other. Squash, in my experience, is not one of those games.
“Not for the claustrophobic -
A pastime for the posh
Without sounding too peculiar
If it’s a cardiovascular
You’re after then you can’t go past squash”
Before my back packed it in, I played a moderate amount of squash. Completely lacking talent or cardiovascular fitness, I made up for it with pure bloody-mindedness. We ended up establishing a formal right of weight - that the 120-kilo guy who could get up a surprising amount of momentum was always entitled to a direct path to the ball because even if you were standing between me and the ball, I just wasn’t going to see you.
The fortnightly games came to an end when people started to get jobs outside the city and we couldn’t all get to the courts as easily as we used to be able to. Pity.
I’ve been playing it for almost three years now. It’s neck and neck with badminton as my favorite sport to play, but I definitely find that it’s a faster workout.
I wanted to make a new thread, but I found this one here instead, and decided to do some Vbulletin necromancy instead! Have any other squash players joined/taken up the sport since '09?
Baloney. racketball is all about positioning and angles. if you just blast it a good player will wait for it and put it away. It is the same mental game as squish. Plus you can blast it and get a great workout too.