Princes Squash Club named Club of the Month

Derbyshire's Princes Sports Club (formally known as Brampton Manor) has been named February's Club of the Month.

Over recent months, there's been a surge in activity from the squash team at Princes Sports Club culminating in some exciting new participation programmes becoming established.

A year ago, a team of volunteers along with the club's owner Stephen Prince took part in the club support day initiative, which saw England Squash and Mick Todd, CEO of Pontefract Squash Club, sharing ideas and experiences about developing a thriving squash club. This was a springboard for the team of volunteers and the owner to become more organised in working together to develop the squash and Squash 57 offering at the club.

Squash coach Jo Wallis is part of this squash team and she talked us through the processes, which have seen Squash and Squash 57 at Princes Sports Club go from strength to strength.

“The club support day visit gave us all a reason to get together, focus the enthusiasm we have, and enabled us to start to think how we move forward as a club,” she says. "As a squash and racketball club, based in a privately owned facility, the club visit helped us realise we had the opportunity to become a collective driving force for squash so we started to form a committee.”

After the club support day, the club realised there was more than just club and team level squash and Squash 57. "We now understand more about the different types of squash player and how the England Squash participation programmes can work for the club," says Jo.

"We shifted some of our focus to to ensure we had a suitable offer for those who play squash less frequently, by creating a more social and friendly offer."

Princes Squash Club have had great success from some of their new participation focused initiatives.

The club has focused on getting more young people interested in the sport, and with support from Chesterfield School Sport Partnership they created Squashfest. Squashfest 2018 saw 160 children from five local primary schools attend Princes Sports Club for a day of Junior 101 based activities. The club were delighted to see the event featured in the local magazine, S40 local.

“The key thing about Squashfest 2018 was our follow-up offer,” Jo says. “We established two new weekly junior sessions at the club, aimed at newer players, using the fun activities in Junior 101. We gave flyers to all the young people who took part in Squashfest, inviting them to attend three free sessions at the club within a specific time period.

“From Squashfest 2018 we have had 13 new children take up the free sessions and we’re incredibly pleased to say that all 13 have stayed on, and now they play regularly in our junior sessions.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Princes Sport Club have linked up with the U3A Chesterfield (University of the Third Age) group, focusing on Squash57 sessions. For this group the social aspect is particularly important, and tea and biscuits after the session are a must.

From the Chesterfield U3A group, 25 people have signed up to try Squash 57 at the club. In the first two weeks, 15 people between the ages of 63 and 79 have attended; and such was their enthusiasm, they have even requested some homework, so they can better understand the game.

The club have also continued their focus on engaging more female players. A monthly female-only session was set up two years ago by another coach, Jane Beresford. Jo received a bursary from Squash Girls Can and support from England Squash with her Level 1 coaching award, and now volunteers with these sessions, which have a pool of 15 regular adult players. For Jo and the team, the success is all about how they market these sessions, the wording and photos they use to show that this social, friendly sessions is a great opportunity for everyone.

Focusing on the enjoyment of casual players of squash has helped Princes Sports Club become a real success story. Their achievements are due to them working as a team, with many players giving their time and expertise to make all these positive changes happen. Having gone from strength to strength over the last few months, they are excited to build on these achievements in 2019.