Belonging is not a privilege: Why clubs like Northern Rebound exist

We sat down with Martin Cooper, Chair of Northern Rebound, a safe space for LGBTQ+ people to play the game they love. In recognition of LGBTQ+ History Month, he outlines why clubs like his and safe spaces where people feel they belong are so important.

You may remember a time when squash was booming as ‘the’ hobby sport for the working man. Executives, bankers, accountants and early mobile phones salesmen would typically all finish off a day’s hard labour behind their Amstrads with a trip to the local squash court for a hit up with their colleagues or clients.

It might be fair to say that those who don’t follow our sport more closely may still have that preconception of what squash is and who it’s for. The hangover of the ‘idyllic’ past is the association with squash participation being exclusively for the middle-class white man who can afford to be a member of the club.

Little do they realise that more people are participating in our sport from differing backgrounds. Local participation programmes are encouraging and assisting young people from underprivileged backgrounds to pick up a racket, local clubs are encouraging people with SEND to join in and clubs are now so much more aware - as is general society - of the importance of diversity and inclusion in things like race and gender.

I know this first-hand, because my voluntary job is as chair of Northern Rebound - a club which is designed to encourage people from the LGBTQ+ community to participate in squash.

I know what you’re thinking. Keep an open mind and hopefully I can make you understand why clubs like mine and so many others are still necessary.

Northern Rebound is a Manchester-based club which offers a safe space for any player, but primarily offers assurances to LGBTQ+ people that they will be welcomed and not judged, encouraged and coached in the same way as anybody else and where they can be free to be themselves.

Why is it any different for them though? Squash is squash, right? Well, it is, but the problems lie more in the culture of sport and competition as a whole. Many LGBTQ+ people grew up feeling excluded from that sporting community and very actively avoided places like single gender changing facilities and wider sporting challenges like regionals and leagues.

Stuff like that never really leaves you. Past scars can run deep, and putting yourself back into those sorts of environments can be wholly undesirable.

It’s often easier to avoid it altogether, but then people end up missing out on so much. We all love the social connections, health benefits and sense of achievement we get from squash and I think everyone deserves the chance to feel that too, and so clubs like mine exist.

However, one really important component of what we do is how we integrate with our allies. ‘Allies’ is a fancy way of saying ‘people who don’t identify as LGBTQ+’. Because what we certainly don’t want to do is segregate ourselves from the wider community. No minority group wants that. What we do want is to feel safe and to be secure that we don’t need to hide parts of our personality which often defines so much of who we are.

By offering clubs like Northern Rebound or any of the other brilliant LGBTQ+ clubs around the world, we take away those fears for players. Anyone is welcome to play with us, and the more allies that come to play at our club, the more we feel like the gaps are getting smaller, and the acceptance of people from different backgrounds is increasing.

So, Northern Rebound and its sister clubs around the world exist, across all sports and cities. I just ask you to remember something, however you think about this conversation. It’s not ‘us against them’. We certainly aren’t promoting division by having ‘gay clubs’. We just want to play safely, free from the prejudices that still - very evidently - exist. So, if inclusion rather than segregation is what you believe in, then come along and join in with us - we’re happy to have you as our allies!

For more information and if you're interested in joining Northern Rebound, join their group on Facebook or follow them on Instagram.