The month of September may have been light on tournaments, but it has beenvery busy for our junior players heading to the 2025 Australian Junior Championships.  While our juniors have been preparing to take on the best juniors in the country, Squash SA have been hosting our Club Development Workshop and the SRASA AGM.  Plus our Northeast High School Competition has concluded with some hard-fought grand finals matches.

The Squash Rackets Association of South Australia (SRASA) held its Annual General Meeting on Monday, 22 September at The Southern.  A significant highlight of the evening was the approval of the nomination of Des Panizza as a Life Member of the Association, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to squash in South Australia over the past five decades.  Des has served the sport with distinction as a player, coach, and Development Manager for Squash SA.

During the meeting, four Board positions reached the end of their term (three elected and one Board appointed). One member was re-elected, and two new members were elected to join the Board. We extend our congratulations to David Lipschitz, representing Next Generation Squash Club, and Carmel Maher, representing South Adelaide Squash Centre, on their successful appointments.

A massive congratulations to all the high school students who battled it out in this year’s Adelaide High School Squash Competition! Over 12 glorious Friday afternoons throughout Terms 2 and 3, the courts came alive with 167 students, 29 teams, and 5 fierce divisions—serving up rallies, rivalries, and more than a few beautiful boasts.

For the first time, all 5 divisions played their grand finals at one location, the ARC.  The atmosphere was exciting and was a great finish of the season.

The Divisional Premiers were:

Division 1 – St Peters College

Division 2 – Heritage College

Year 10 – Prince Alfred College

Year 9 – Heritage College

Year 8 – Rostrevor College

The 2025 Squash SA Junior State Team is gearing up to hit the road to Ballarat for the highly anticipated 2025 AJC! With eight boys and six girls ready to represent South Australia, they'll be battling it out in a four-day individual showdown, followed by a thrilling three-day team event.

Stay in the loop by following us on Facebook and Instagram. We’ll be sharing daily updates, behind-the-scenes moments, and match highlights. And don’t forget to drop a message of encouragement, our juniors thrive on your support and love hearing from their cheer squad back home!

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Over the weekend of 13–14 September, Squash SA hosted a two-day Club Development Workshop for all affiliated squash clubs across South Australia. The event brought together club leaders and volunteers eager to strengthen their organisations and grow the sport.

We were honoured to welcome Brad Hindle to share his knowledge and facilitate the weekend. Brad runs three thriving Queensland facilities—Daisy Hill Squash & Racket Club, Nerang Squash Club, and Alex Hills Squash and is currently developing a fourth centre in Mackay. Under his leadership, Daisy Hill has grown from a modest 40 members six years ago to over 1,200 active members today.

Brad’s squash journey spans more than two decades. As a former professional player, he reached world rank #64, and his résumé includes:

· National Junior Assistant Coach for Australia

· Head coach for Malta’s Commonwealth Games squads (three Comm Games)

· Programme Director for Malta and Russia

· Consulting roles in the United States, Israel, and several European nations

His breadth of experience gave workshop attendees a rare glimpse into the strategic, operational, and cultural levers that drive club success.

Workshop focus: The Business of Squash

The sessions centred on practical, evidence-based tactics for building vibrant, member-centric clubs. Some key topics included:

Membership Growth - Case study of Daisy Hill’s rise from 40 to 1,200 members; proven recruitment funnels and retention programmes.

Marketing & Advertising - Low-cost digital campaigns, community-partner outreach, and event-driven publicity that generate sustained interest.

Club Governance - Designing clear organisational structures, defining roles, and establishing transparent decision-making processes.

Volunteer development - Recruiting, training, and recognising volunteers to create a reliable backbone for daily operations.

James Rogers, Squash SA General Manager, facilitated a dive into club values, illustrating how a shared purpose can align activities, attract sponsors, and inspire both members and staff.

We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who participated. Your enthusiasm and willingness to adopt new ideas will undoubtedly propel your clubs forward, benefitting members and the broader squash community alike.

Together, let’s keep the momentum rolling and make squash an even stronger pillar of sport and community in South Australia.

Squash SA’s referee extraorinaire, Dick MacKerras, has written a summary piece on the WSF new rules for squash.

Squash SA and your local referees are committed to improving both knowledge and behaviour within our South Australian squash community.  We know that rules can be a bit challenging to read as well as to understand in the practical sense on court, so we are continuing our collaboration to find more interesting ways to engage with you.We welcome your suggestions and your participation in our various media experiments.

To read the entire article click HERE.

Each of the new rules have been captured in a video explanation by the very talented Dick "Tarantino" MacKerras, Justin "Cruise" Beard and Lucas "Pitt" Norman.

Access to the ball

Court Condition

Turning

Influencing a Referee

Intervals

“World Squash Day was founded in 2001 by Mr. Alan Thatcher and a group of squash-playing friends as a memorial to squash players who were killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
Since then, World Squash Day has grown to become the world’s biggest grassroots promotion of squash, with clubs, Federations and players from all over the world celebrating an annual festival of the sport.
This year’s World Squash Day will take place on October 11th, with the theme to be “bring a friend on court” as World Squash encourages every member of the global squash community to introduce a new face to the sport.”

Squash SA would like to see our local clubs organise a special day, the theme is “Bring a Friend on Court”.  Use social media to post about your clubs’ World Squash Day, perhaps host an open day, a family day or BBQ.

If you or any of your clubs are planning to host an event, could you please email participation@squashaus.com.au to have the event listed on the World Squash Day page by Thursday 2 October.

Squash Stars

Squash Stars - Clubs, is Squash Australia’s new participation program.  Squash Stars has national promotion, is flexible in delivery, and is a way to increase club revenue and grow membership. This is a great opportunity for clubs to drive junior participants into their venue.

All South Australian affiliated clubs have been invited to find out more and get involved in this great program.

Squash SA are once again running Squash Pennant Rules and Safety Information Sessions for our Adelaide Squash Pennant.  There will be new content based on the WSF rule change, so look out for our fun demonstrations by Dick MacKerras, Justin Beard and Lucas Norman.

Session1 – Thursday 9^th October, Mt Barker Squash Club.Register HERE.

Session 2 – Wednesday 22^nd October, The ARC.Register HERE.

Session 3 – Tuesday 28^th October, Adelaide Malibu.Register HERE.

All Mount Barker Club In-house pennant players are encouraged to attend the first session on the 9^th October.

Players can now see all finals matches in their division schedule.  Dates, locations, times and costs are published both in “Draws and Results” and on the “Play/Pennant” pages on our website.

Draws & results - Squash SA

Pennant Squash - Squash SA

Pennant Racquetball & Squash 57 - Squash SA

Supporting Alex’s Road to the LA28 Olympics

Join us for an afternoon of flavour, fun, and fundraising as we rally behind SA's squash sensation Alex Haydon on her quest to represent Australia at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Every sip helps fuel her international journey to climb the rankings and secure her spot as Australia’s #1!

Date: Saturday, October 12

Time: 2:30–4:30 PM

Venue: The Southern, 1303 South Road, St Marys

What’s On:

• Gin Tasting Experience hosted by David Lipschitz of Dapper Chap Gin Enjoy a curated tasting flight plus a full glass of your favourite pick.
• Money Board with Prizes – Bring along $10–$20 cash to join the fun and win big!
• Discounted Gin Bottles for Sale – 10% of all bottle sales go directly to supporting Alex.

Tickets: $40

Includes a tasting flight and one full pour of your favourite gin.

All proceeds go toward Alex’s international travel schedule as she chases Olympic qualification. Let’s raise a glass—and raise the bar—for one of Australia’s brightest squash stars!

Purchase tickets via the link below.

Squash Stars was promoted successfully to 25 Primary PE teachers at the recent ACHPER SA conference. Teachers loved the modified equipment, resources and activities that can be accessed free using Sporting Schools funding. Encourage your school to engage with Squash Stars and let’s get more children involved in our great sport. 

Put some pressure on your kids PE teacher to sign up for Squash Stars at your child's school.

Contact Squash SA for more information - squash@squashsa.asn.au

The 2026 Annual Awards Dinner will be held once again at The Arkaba Hotel after great feedback from this year's event.  The date is still to be confirmed.

It is a time to come together and celebrate squash and racquetball in SA from 2025 and the important people that contribute to it.

Clubs can now complete nominations for Club of the Year and Squash and Racquetball Service Awards with the criteria available on our website.

 https://www.squashsa.asn.au/about/awards