When was squash created

Later in the s, construction inadvertently moved to lighter materials such as graphite and aluminum with additions of small components like titanium, Kevlar, and boron.

Late In the 19th century, the game had an unprecedented increase in popularity with various clubs, schools, and even private citizens designing and building squash courts, but with no standardized dimensions. The first squash court to appear in North America was at St.

Further modifications led to its resurgence which made it be now known as U. In , to use the Court, you had to pay about 50 cents. Passengers were also allowed to use the court for about an hour unless other people were waiting.

It was around that the Royal Automobile Club held a meeting with the aim of further discussing the rules and regulations of the game. It was not until another five years had elapsed before they were able to create the Squash rackets Association. This was mostly designed to provide for standards for the game in Great Britain. Standard squash rackets are modified by adhering to the rules that primarily govern the game.

Originally, they were designed from laminated wood mostly ash , with a small part of the strung area using strings from natural gut. After a change in the rule in the mids, composite materials or metals graphite, Kevlar, titanium, boron are now used in the design and composition.

These materials also come with synthetic strings. Modern rackets now have standardized maximum dimensions of mm They now allow for a maximum weight of grams 9. Squash balls now have a diameter of They are made using two pieces of rubber compound, which are glued together to create a hollow sphere and buffed by using a matte finish. Different balls can be used for different temperatures and atmospheric conditions. Squash was first played in the s by boys at the Harrow School in England. The boys took a small rubber ball — something that we take for granted today but was then only just becoming available — and, using racquets, hit the ball off the walls of their school courtyards and alleys.

Squash spread to the US in , when St. The game also took hold at Harvard, with two courts being built in Gradually, the game spread southward and westward in the US, and began to catch on with a wider audience. By the s, squash had spread throughout the world. The most dramatic example of this worldwide growth was the arrival of Hashim Khan on the international squash scene. He honed his game, eventually landing a job as the local squash pro. In , Pakistan sent Hashim to play in the British Open, the most prestigious tournament in the world at that time.

With the establishment of a Professional Tour, to which clubs were encouraged to send their teaching pro. Additionally, the USSRA recognised a 20 feet width as being acceptable for International play, this width being derived from the increasing trend to convert Racquetball courts to Squash use.

Quite why this change happened, and why so quickly, is still being debated but there is little doubt that a new generation of players is now experiencing the love affair with international squash which happened in all other nations and finding it preferable to the higher racket skills demanded by the hardball game. The North American player was also the first to appreciate the virtues of Doubles Squash, with the hardball being used on a court measuring 45 feet long by 25 feet wide. The first National Doubles Championships were held in and hardball Doubles continues to thrive even though the singles version now holds only a minority of play.

South Africa, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries learned their Squash from the military and soon adopted it as their own.

Probably the most successful Squash nation of all time, Australia, had its Squash seed planted through contact with the military. Although the first Squash courts in Australia were established in , at the Melbourne Club in Victoria, there was no official Squash association until although top players had been engaged in ad hoc club tournaments since During a group of players decided that local administrative pressure and the need to liaise with interstate and overseas organisations demanded an official body and the Squash Rackets Association of Australia SRAA was founded, although its main tasks remained locally orientated in the Melbourne area.

Even when the first Australian Championships were held, for men in and women in , they were, in reality, State Championships for Victoria. The SRA of Victoria was formed in But it was in the s that Squash started to really take off in Australia. Greater commercial development came into the sport and public Squash centres were built all over the country, bringing the game to a much wider audience.

Hunt was World Champion seven times and won eight British Open titles while Heather McKay was the most successful Squash player of all time, being undefeated in international competition for an astounding 19 years. In Germany Squash was born twice!

Its first cradle was in Berlin in when the first four courts were built by Dr. The initiative for the rebirth came from Christhof Viscount Vitzthum who had discovered the sport in Australia, heard about the Siemens courts by accident and started to promote Squash and bring the courts back into use. But an even earlier start had been made in Hamburg by a merchant, Henning Harders, who erected three courts following an infection by the Squash bug in Australia and it was a group of Hamburg players who founded the German SRA in and sent a team to the European Team Championships in Stockholm during Two years after the German SRA was founded the first National Championships were held and within a few years there were over courts and 2 million players in the nation - the most spectacular growth of Squash anywhere in the world.

Many other nations experienced tremendous growth in Squash, starting slowly at the beginning of the century and then gaining momentum over the past thirty years. In each country the basic story is the same. A group of enthusiasts start to play and promote the game which, because of its inherent qualities of intense exercise coupled with all-absorbing competition. The formula which made Squash grow in its traditional homelands is now being seen again in Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Korea and many new Squash nations, worldwide.

No history of Squash can be complete without an account of the amazing exploits of the Khan dynasty, starting with Hashim who won the first of his seven British Open titles in at the age of 35 years. Jansher took over his mantle in with his first of World Open titles and began a debate in the sport about which JK was the greatest of them all.