New strategy group pledges to drive squash forward in the female arena

A new Ulster ‘Women in Squash’ group formed during Summer 2024 is creating a range of opportunities in a bid to grow women and girls’ squash across the province.

The strategy group brought together 10 players, including 4 female coaches from across Ulster including: Mid-Ulster and the Northwest League, In4Squash (an LGBT club based at Queen’s University Belfast) Windsor, Belfast Boat Club, Lisburn Racquet’s, Ballynafeigh and Bangor. 

Joining the first meeting was a representative from the Mary Peters Trust, which has been a wonderful advocate of Squash’s female athletes over the years. The Trust has supported 8 of Ulster’s current top female players including Hannah Craig from Lisburn who entered the world top 100 this year, Shriya Drawid who is aspiring to play squash at the Olympics and Ulster’s most successful ever player, Madeline Perry from Banbridge, who reached a career high world number 3. 

Dorothy Armstrong, a long-time advocate of the women’s game in Ulster, reflected on Ulster Squash in past years and into the noughties, saying, “In the 80’s and 90’s we had 8 women’s leagues in Ulster and as recently as 2006, we held the Women’s World Championships on a glass court at the Ulster Hall with 19 of the top 20 women in the world taking part.”

This look-back to the local game, along with squash gaining Olympic status and featuring for the first time in the 2028 Los Angeles games, sets the tone for ambitious goals to help the Ulster Women in Squash initiative grow the game to the levels of participation in the past.

After some very successful Sport NI funded pilot and taster sessions in Springtime this year, which attracted over 50 women and girls to the sport, the group has agreed the need to develop more structured pathways with clubs to create a welcoming and progressive environment for women and girls entering the sport.

Ulster Squash Board Member Lynda Dunlop said, “The taster sessions clearly demonstrated the demand for the game from women and girls, but we need to be clearer with our information about where to continue to play the spor.” 

The group has also clearly identified the need to provide separate women and girls sessions in addition to mixed activities involving all players.

Michele Jackson, one of Ulster’s female coaches from Belfast Boat Club explained,

“This is vital to provide a positive, safe and engaging way for female players to enter the sport and address some of the well-known sports participation barriers that women and girls face.” 

Shelly Ryan from Windsor Club added, “Whilst it is enjoyable to have mixed sessions, it is also really important to have female only sessions where you have the chance to meet other women socially”. Francesca Operti, also from Windsor, similarly added, “It’s as important to have a great off the court experience as it is on the court.”

Kirsten Livingstone from Bangor has just recently got back into squash after several years away from the game.

“Squash was such a big part of my upbringing and I would love to get the next generation of young girls playing the sport. I made so many friends playing squash, including Emma-Louise who I met through the new Women in Squash group for the first time since we played on the same squash team at school.”

The group also addressed the need to provide low-cost ways of playing squash and how important it is for players to have access to female coaches at the earliest opportunity.

Sarah Keenan, Ulster Squash Director of Coaching says “Ulster Squash is hugely committed to developing a strong pool of female coaches to drive forward our women and girls programme. Female coaches based in a robust club environment is going to be key to the success of this initiative.”

Underpinning all Ulster Squash’s work is the desire to grow the sport in a diverse and inclusive way and this has come across throughout Women in Squash group discussions.

Cait Murray, one of the leaders of In4Squash, a developing LGBTQ+ squash club in Belfast shared her ideas:

“It’s been fantastic to bring the game of squash to the LGBTQ+ community in Belfast. One of the key learnings from In4Squash Dublin has been the need to create spaces for female players within the club and we’re really excited to be part of the Ulster Women in Squash initiative to help us do this.”

Emma-Louise Kells, Chairperson of Mid-Ulster Squash Club and one of the founding clubs of the Northwest League which commenced in Autumn 2024, added “Geographical diversification is really important. We’re really passionate about raising the profile of squash across the whole of Ulster and can’t wait to get squash buzzing in Strabane, Limavady, Ballyshannon, Cookstown, Ballymena and Derry~Londonderry.”    

The new Ulster ‘Women in Squash’ initiative plans to work with local clubs and regional council sports development teams to develop an overall strategy for growing women and girls’ squash in Ulster aimed at being “Olympics Ready” in 2028 to meet the anticipated surge in the game when squash hits Los Angeles 2028.

During the coming months the focus is on creating the right club and coaching infrastructure and introducing a range of participatory programmes and activities across the Ulster.