Unfortunately, as you will know, indoor sport was not included among the businesses and activities that are able to re-start on 4th July.

Subsequently, however, the Minister for Sport has advised that the Government has a target of ‘mid-July’ for this.  We are hopeful that this will include squash and squash57, albeit in a restricted format.

Tennis

Strange to see that as a sub-heading in our Newsletter!

It’s been great to see a fair number of you giving tennis a go.  Maybe some of you will be converts to playing both squash/squash57 and tennis going forwards.  Perhaps when things eventually get a little bit more normal, we’ll have to organise a 1970s style Superstars event, covering the 3 racket sports.

I know how much work the Tennis Committee, plus Susannah and Vicky in the club office, have done to mobilise the safe return to tennis, and make it inclusive for all club members, and we thank them.

Easing of the Lockdown:  indoor sports

Similar to the tennis section, we have been working through an action plan to be ready for a safe return to squash and squash57.

England Squash have a toolkit ready to launch for clubs, but they are holding back on publishing it until the start date is confirmed.  We are unlikely to get much notice, so we have had to make as many advance preparations as we can.

Countries that have already re-started squash and squash57 have all commenced with restricting the types of play to:

• solo practice for one player; and
• games between two players if both are in the same lockdown household.

In addition, some countries have also commenced with:

• practice drills between two players who have not been in the same lockdown household, provided that the national social distancing gap can be maintained.

For Day 1, given that we need to plan but we are doing so without any clear guidance at this stage from the governing body, we are likely to restrict play to the first two types.

As soon as we have Government and ES announcements about a confirmed launch date, we will issue our Playing Rules.

As with tennis - and so many other things now - a court will need to have been booked in advance.  All bookings will be online; the Kiosk machine will remain switched off.

Therefore, please make sure you are familiar with how to use the booking system on whichever device you prefer to use for these things.  Email Susannah or Vicky in the office (manager@bltsrc.co.uk) if you need to know your login details.

We will be running the court times slightly differently, so that we stagger the starts, and there will be a buffer period between each booking.

There are a number of countries, such as France and Italy, who have had a comparable epidemic to the UK and who are now returning to full competitive squash and squash57.  The direction of travel is positive and there is cautious optimism that we will return to some sort of normality for squash and squash57 quicker than we may have thought back in April.

First things first, we will get underway carefully; and we will then proceed with vigilance.

England Squash membership

Talking of England Squash, did you know that you are all members?

As we are an affiliated club, all our squash and squash57 members are automatically given membership of England Squash.  You will have a membership number and, with this, you are able to set up an account with EnglandSquash.com and download the EnglandSquash app.

Team players will know this, as they have to submit their ES membership number to play in our club teams and to enter any events.

But many of you may not.  Among other benefits, there is an increasingly useful library of material available to members, including videos of coaching tips, and short documentaries of players.

Have a look at their website https://www.englandsquash.com and if you’d like to know your ES membership number contact John john.gs@btinternet.com

Bye for now

Keep well everyone.  Our next email will hopefully be the date when we will be re-opening the courts and the protocols that will be in place to do so in a Covid-secure manner.

Best wishes until next time and, fingers crossed, see you soon,

Squash & Squash57 Committee

(John Shaw, Mark Shattock, Adam Fuller, Gill Trimmer, Rob Harbron)