Queens Squash Club

Hear how Squash Girls Can leader, Sarah Kippax has inspired more than 20 women and girls to pick up a racket in West Yorkshire.

"I received funding from West Yorkshire Sport through their Sportivate funding programme to run a seven week course of female only beginners squash sessions, part of the Squash Girls Can campaign.

"I advertised the sessions four weeks prior to the start date in as many places as possible within the local community including schools, workplaces, cafes, shops, community centres, post office etc. With the help of club members and parents of the junior squash players at the club, we spread the word about the beginner course. Word of mouth was definitely the most effective strategy, but we also utilised social media too.

"In advance of the first session, I had a list of over 20 women and girls who'd signed up to attend the course. As a result, we split the planned session into two time slots to accommodate everyone that wanted to take part. There was a cross section of women in attendance ranging in age from 12 to 60, and from complete beginners to those returning to the sport after 20 years!

17 lovely ladies turned out to train with me this evening! Great group, lots of giggles, loved it! @englandsr #squashgirlscan
— Sarah Kippax (@Sarahkippax) May 23, 2016

"During the sessions, the emphasis was on having fun, however I made sure that the ladies learned something new each week. I feel the satisfaction gained from learning new skills is the key to ensure they keep coming back for more. I also communicated with the group in between sessions via email to keep them engaged, illustrating the emails with photos I had taken during the classes, and adding squash-related YouTube videos to familiarise them further with the sport.

"We ended the course with a fun tournament followed by food. This meant that the ladies had more opportunity to get know each other, build relationships and make friends to continue playing outside of the sessions. The club had also agreed that those who attended the course could join at a reduced fee, providing an exit route into the club once the seven week beginner sessions came to an end.

"9 of the 15 non-members who attended the course subsequently joined the club, with a further three family members joining too. Through the feedback forms, I discovered that 20 of the 22 regular attendees wanted to continue playing squash, which was great news!

"Since the course has finished, we have continued running the sessions and now have beginner and intermediate ladies training groups. There are up to 18 ladies attending every week across both sessions."

"We’ve had three friendly, social handicapped tournaments to help integrate the new women into the club and we will be playing a match against another club soon. The ladies have also set up their own group chat so they can arrange to play games.

"The first course has been so successful that I'm planing to run a daytime ladies squash group and another beginner's course!"

Inspired? Find out more about Squash Girls Can and how you can get involved.