SQUASH IS A GREAT SPORT THAT REQUIRES SPEED, SKILL AND FITNESS TO SUCCEED IN. SO WHY IS IT TWELTH ON THE LIST OF THE MOST POPULAR SPORTS IN THE UK?

 

According to ‘Sports England’ just over 500,000 people in the UK play Squash (only 1.2% of the population) compared to the 2.9 million people that play football (over 7% of the population). But why is this? Is it that society demands that young people play football? Or is it that the media gives a mass amount of coverage to football and the bare minimum to other sports? Personally, I believe that it is a mixture of the two. I have never seen a professional squash article on the main sports news websites that I visit, and it is rare that you see squash televised. Maybe this is the main reason why children take up football instead. They see their idols such as Chelsea FC captain John Terry on their screens every weekend, so of course they will start to play football, that is what they will believe they have to do to be 'cool' and fit in. Also, these role models may be a bad influence on the children as there is constant swearing, spitting and racism in football. John Terry is possibly the worst player for doing these things, and yet he is honoured by captaining Chelsea and by previously being England captain.

Football is also promoted in P.E lessons such as at my time at Farnham Common Junior School. Squash was not on the curriculum for me and for most of my generation, whereas we played football for the entire winter. This is a real problem as it deprives young people of experiencing squash and forces them to play football. Furthermore, many people do not enjoy playing football, and perhaps would enjoy playing squash a lot more. These people may be put off sport all together without experiencing the likes of squash, hockey and cricket, therefore, it is no surprise that 3 in 10 children in the UK are obese.

However, perhaps the biggest problem about children not being exposed to squash and other less popular sports is that we could be missing out on very good squash, hockey and cricket players that could even compete internationally. This waste of potential talent could cause the UK to fall behind on the international stage for these sports in the future.

Matt Davies, a squash coach at the Farnham Common Sports Club told me ‘squash is very popular at the club and new members are welcome’. He added ‘squash is a very fun and exciting sport that needs you to help support it, so come on down to the club and give it a go!’.

At the Farnham Common Sports Club, football is not offered to members. Less popular sports are offered, such as squash, cricket and hockey. This break away from the trend is very positive for sport as a whole. These sorts of clubs need to be supported so if you are interested go to: www.fcsc.org.uk.

We can support the community by getting involved with local sports clubs and it gets us fit too! So why wouldn't you get involved?

 

By Luke Hastings