Squash: Moving into the new millennium

By Bob Pearce

The Howick Squash Club is likely to lead the way in technology to take the game into the new millennium in New Zealand.

The club is close to signing up to install a German-designed system which provides courts with movable walls which can be converted for other uses at the press of a button.

The rights to the ASB Court System have been obtained by a commercial subsidiary set up by Squash New Zealand and the technology will be promoted with clubs, local bodies and educational institutions.

Neven Barbour has resigned as chairman of Squash NZ to head the new company, Squash Dynamics Ltd, which has been started with a grant from the national body and is expected to return a dividend to it.

As well as Howick, Te Awamutu, Stratford, Blenheim and Invercargill clubs are already planning to take advantage of the new system, which was used at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Barbour said yesterday that the movable courts were the way of the future, allowing the space of half-a-dozen courts to be used for such things as aerobics, martial arts and a host of other recreational pursuits when the side walls were stacked away. Doubles squash was also available at the press of a button.

"I believe the recreational player is the key customer of the new millennium and they want to have a range of activities available," he said.

"Cold, concrete chasms were OK in the boom days 30 years ago, but young people nowadays respond to the kind of technology the Germans have developed."

The chief executive of Squash New Zealand, David Knowles, said the formation of Squash Dynamics would allow the sport to look after the interests of its 30,000 members and tap into a different form of funding.