US Squash is the national governing body for the sport of squash in the United States. US Squash was previously known as The United States Squash Racquets Association. The organization is headquartered in New York City and is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. US Squash owns and licenses the U.S. Open, the North American Open and all other U.S. Championships. Last year the organization held twenty-one championship events for juniors, adults, hardball and doubles. The U.S. National High School Championships, held alternatingly in the Hartford, Connecticut and Philadelphia areas, is the largest squash tournament in the world in terms of overall number of participants. The Men's National Championship and the Women's National Championship are held every year at the National Singles. US Squash supports four national teams that compete abroad in World Squash Federation and Pan American team tournaments. The current male U.S. Champion is Todd Harrity and the female U.S. Champion is Olivia Blatchford. The organization currently has 21,000 current members.
History
US Squash was founded in 1904 in Philadelphia to meet the needs of a growing population of squash players. With its creation, US Squash—which at the time was called the "United States Squash Racquets Association"—was the first squash organization in the world. The organization took up the mantle for being the arbiter in all dealings of the sport when concerning rules and regulations by being the first association to define and regulate the sport: this not only included rules about play, but also ball and court specifics/regulations. By 1923, US Squash had grown in popularity throughout the country. This caused the organization to start to annually gather with an executive board meeting. The board members were to address the ever-growing and evolving issues that manifest from such a human enterprise and conceive the new policies, by-laws and goals of the organization. In February 1924 an American Squash Racquets Singles Championship was held in Boston, Mass., and was won on February 24 by Gerald Robarts of England, defeating William F. Harrity of Philadelphia in the final. As the 1950s approached, the US Squash's Board's goal to organize the sport had seemingly been realized; the popularity of the sport had notably grown as well. With evermore players the organization expanded the board positions and hired full-time executives to run it; in addition, the organization opened two subdivisions to separate the players by starting both the Junior Nationals and the Senior Nationals. In 1957, US Squash officially incorporated as a "not-for-profit" organization in the state of New York. In 2006, the United States Squash Racquets Association officially rebranded to be called US Squash under the leadership of Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg, who was also its first female Chairman of the Board. At this time its headquarters were also moved from Philadelphia to New York City.
USWSRA
By the 1970s, US Squash had helped pioneer the female surge in athletics for America. The organization had started a sister organization called "The United States Women’s Squash Racquets Association". The USWSRA was meant to organize the sport for women on a national level; meaning to define and regulate the game for women the same way that the United States Squash Racquets Association did for men. The USWSRA and The USSRA worked together in conjunction until 1979 when the two organizations decided to merge in an effort to help unify the sport to be a more influential advocate for squash around the country.
Contemporary
In 1975, Darwin P. Kingsley was made the first executive director of US Squash. From there he helped bring the organization and the sport to its modern prominence. When Kingsley first took the position in 1975, there were 800 members and 40 clubs, when he left in 1992 there were 10,000 members and 250 clubs. Kingsley's successor, Craig Brand, also left behind a legacy for the game as the chief executive officer of US Squash. In the ten years Brand had as CEO, he helped the integration of the international popular soft ball game to the US. Brand is also credited for bringing the opportunity for US Squash to become a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Palmer Page's stint as the CEO of US Squash from 2003-2004 was short-lived but effective; he quickly adopted and inserted 21st century technology to help support and improve the sport's modern needs and issues. Page celebrated the end of his position with US Squash shortly after its 100th anniversary in 2004. Current CEO Kevin Klipstein took over Page's position at US Squash in 2004. The organization founded the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame in 2000 to honor the most distinguished players in every aspect of the sport, including hardball, softball, singles, doubles, men and women, masters and juniors, amateurs and professionals. Induction into the Hall of Fame is considered the highest honor in the sport of squash.
Participation
Overall
The United States has the fastest growing squash participation worldwide–the Sports & Fitness Association shows 101% growth overall between 2009 and 2014 to 1.6 million squash players.
Junior
Junior Participation has grown over 400% nationally since 2007. Since 2010, west coast junior tournaments have seen a 634% increase in junior tournament participation, 375% increase in the number of tournaments and a 55% increase in the average number of players per tournament. In the southeast, in 2010 there were no US Squash accredited junior tournaments. In the 2015 season there were more than eleven accredited tournaments in this area accounting for more than 500 accredited matches played. Since 2006, the U.S. Junior Open Squash Championships has increased from 271 to more than 1000 players in 2016 from more than thirty-seven countries, making it the largest individual junior squash tournament in the world.
Women
US Squash organizes Women's Squash Week, an initiative that has turned international with a focus on bringing women players together around the world. Women’s participation has doubled since 2008, now playing more than 30,000 matches each year.
