Let's Talk Squash - SUSPENDED

Adam Hildred · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject: Cost of playing

Just wondering what everyone else here pays to play?

I pay £20 annual subs for junior membership and then £1.80 for a token. One token is 20 minutes so you and your opponent both put one into the meter and that's 40 minutes.

Adult membership is £95 per year.

I think that's fairly cheap but Boston, Lincs is a pretty low income area and people are cheap here. I bet even the Yorkie clubs can get away with charging more! Sad

The major setback of it is if we charged like some clubs can we would be able to hire a pro coach... We have a guy doing Tuesdays - Fridays and doing stuff like cleaning, sweeping the courts etc as well as some coaching but he isn't really a particularly good coach. He's a great person though! The other thing is we might be able to maintain the club a bit better - some bits are a bit shoddy. Having said that, we're the best in Lincs with condition imho - we just got some new carpet tiles over the "lino of death", cleaned the court walls and sanded the court floors in preparation for our BSPA event. But all for very little - we got the carpet tiles on the cheap, a carpenter who happens to be a good member laid them just at cost of the adhesive and it was all volunteers for the court stuff...
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Viper · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:09 am Post subject:

In Aust it is as cheap as chips, ie plenty of public courts at about $15 US an hour so $8 or so each US an hour.
No other fees at all.
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........ Squash is a drug - and remember there is always someone better than you........

GOB · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:09 am Post subject: Re: Cost of playing

nmc8 · Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:42 am Post subject:

I pay £50 per month to be a member of my racket club. This covers all squash court costs, tennis courts and gym fees. I play squash 3 to 4 times per week, tennis occasionally and can use the well equipped whenever.

With a stand a lone gym membership elsewhere at about £20 to £30 per month this is excellent value considering I could play squash everyday, train at the gym as often as I like and play tennis through the summer months without any additional cost.

nmc8javascript:emoticon('

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VolleyDrop · Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject:

I play at a military athletics facility with three nice courts which are about 10 years old.

Annual membership for use of whole facility = $300 CAD. No extra charges for the squash courts.

Only extra fees are for instructor-led aerobics classes.

The price is great, but we don't have many regular players right now.

bendi36 · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:11 am Post subject:

Paul_SW_London · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

My squash club in South West London.....

£45 a month, book a court and play. No lights fees etc.
Also includes a small gym.

I'm on this tariff because of my work with the juniors. New members are charged £60 a month. Still pretty good if you are playing 2-3 times a week.
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Boody · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:56 am Post subject:

squash is very cheap here its 12EGP an hour to play which is like 2$ and a few cents and the courts are great the ones pros play on. But thats just for the court you need to have ur own shoes, rackets and stuff.

so for 2$ an hour who wouldnt play squash
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fionnmacual · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:53 am Post subject:

Hey Boody, I'm surprised you need to lose weight, for $2 an hour just lock yourself on court with 2 guys that can play a bit and play 3/4 court all day, watch the weight peel off. (I mean that in a good-natured way Wink

Egypt sounds like a good destination for a squash holiday!

My club is stg£23 per month for 30 year old, well-heated courts. Pretty good if you play 2-4 times per week, no lights to pay for.

bendi36 · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:35 am Post subject:

Doesn't anyone agree squash is too expensive to ever get a large following?
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fionnmacual · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:12 am Post subject:

I think there are 2 age brackets for court costs. For adults, it is up to the laws of supply and demand plus the court owners need to make some money on facilities, otherwise the just turn the courts into gym/exercise studios.

bendi36 · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject:

I wish it was like that in Aust. 2 or 3 pounds a game on fixtures, 4 pounds an hr.
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If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite

Mad Dog · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject:

Hi All,

Annual Subscription at our club is £195.00. Concessions apply for students and Juniors.

Thereafter courts cost £3.00 per hour split between the players - great value!

Plus you can play at any time 365 days a year.

Very Happy

Boody · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:35 pm Post subject:

Viper · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:28 am Post subject:

Squash Mad · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:55 am Post subject: Squash Cost

Our club, in terms of squash has 5 international courts (2 glass, 3 wood backed) & 1 doubles court

While we are a "private club" our facilities are quite modest (ie. in need of updating, re-investment); while the depth and calibre of players is probably the strongest in our city - Vancouver, BC Canada). In total about 260 squash members, but a truly disappointing junior component.

Our club offers a full range of membership and payment options. In short here are the annual rates:
Adult $710
Senior $459
Student $459
Junior $225
Junior (under 10)
Daytime, Early Bird, Doubles Only, Summer Memberships also available

Price and court-time availability have ZERO to do with our stagnating membership ... club dynamics (volunteer board, internal politics - squash/badminton), squash pro who has been in position too long, are but two contributors

Vancouver Racquets Club
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bendi36 · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:43 pm Post subject:

Theirs no way parents are gonna pay that much when other more popular sports are like 50 dollars a season. Plus coaching in many other sports are held for free Tues or Thurs, in squash it's about 20 dollars a half hour. No student can afford $450 while struggling through uni or highschool, and I don't know many adults who would be repaying mortgages, raising a family who could pay $700. Go play cricket in the backyard for free.
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If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite

Viper · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:56 am Post subject:

Price of the sport is having little or no effect on the demise of the sport, squash in Aust at least is cheap as.
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........ Squash is a drug - and remember there is always someone better than you........

Kiwichick · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 2:35 am Post subject:

I totally agree with you Viper - I believe the cost to play squash is not the reason squash is on the decline as it's equally as cheap in New Zealand. We have clubs where people can join to play all year, any time of the day or night. The cost varies for each club, as the separate committees all set their own fees annually - they could range from $120 a year in one of the smaller towns to $800 odd in the cities, but it's still cheap as chips when compared to other sports. It's even cheaper for juniors to play.
I recently heard one of the directors of an international indoor sports stadium speak about his company, and their business has increased dramatically over the last few years. This is a "casual" pay as you play business, and works out a hell of a lot more expensive than squash, but they have no problems filling the draws every night of every week of every year. If we make the game more attractive to play, we'll retain the membership. This includes the state of the venues, relationships, programmes, etc etc. Please don't undervalue our sport - it's still one of the greatest in the world!!
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bendi36 · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:13 pm Post subject:

Pedro · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject:

Golf is way more expensive and it has been booming for the last 15-20 years. A full set of hockey equipment costs between 1500 and 3000 cdn dollars. Mountain bikeing, motocross, downhill skiing, snowmobile hill climbing are all more popular here and are much more expensive than squash. I could play basketball, tennis, volleyball and soccer for less but I would require more than one other person to play, and that is more difficult than to simply arrange a squash match with one other person.

Squash is certainly not the cheapest activity out there but it is NOT expensive for the majority. For me personally it is one of the least expensive of my activities and it gives me the best bang for my buck.
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IN SQUASH WE TRUST.

Viper · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:29 am Post subject:

bendi36 · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:08 am Post subject:

nmc8 · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:52 am Post subject:

I have to say that golf is not that expensive to play in the UK - £600 to join club (£50 per month) same as I pay for my membership to my racket club. Squash equipment is not cheap having just bought 2 rackets this year for £150 and now broken them (another issue for another day) it will cost me another £150 so £300 this year plus balls and socks etc.

Squash is not cheap in the round but as with any sport you can make of it as you wish in terms of expenditure.

All I know is that after this weekends club championship our junior section is doing very well with some highy quality players that give the sport a bright future.

NMC8

Pedro · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:09 pm Post subject:

[quote="bendi36"]
Thank you for proving my point. 'Mountain bikeing, motocross, downhill skiing, snowmobile hill climbing are all more popular here and are much more expensive than squash' all of these sports are minority sports everywhere and are all really expensive in general, and really hard to access. quote]

Actually I was describing the way it is where I live. And as far as minority sports go, I tend to judge them by the media coverage they generate. I can tune into many different sports channels via sattelite and see Mountain bike races, Motocross in all of it's various forms, world cup skiing and tons of golf but it is vary rare indeed to find squash. Snow mobiling is obviously a very regional activity but it is none the less more popular in my neck of the woods. Crickett for example is totally unheard of here, I've only ever met one person here who has ever even played it and he grew up in India.
I don't think that a concensus can be reached with this thread simply because of our regional differences, I have no clue what the sporting scene is like in England or Australia especially the associated costs. But it is interesting to learn what sort of hurdles our beloved game of squash is facing in other areas of the world.
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IN SQUASH WE TRUST.