Message from the CEO - A Year in Review

As the holiday season roars towards us, it is timely to reflect on the year that has passed and it has certainly been an eventful one for Squash in Australia.

The year was of course highlighted by possibly the most important day in the sport’s history in October when the International Olympic Committee voted Squash into the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. So much work has been done behind the scenes for many, many years to make this a reality and there is so much excitement for the impact that inclusion will have on the sport and for those who could play themselves into the frame for selection.

On the home front the highlight was welcoming the squash world to Australia for the World Junior Championships. Late last year were were able to reveal the wonderful news that Australia had been awarded the event and in January we announced that Melbourne would play host at the Melbourne Sport & Aquatic Centre.

The long build-up to the event was over when players from across the globe joined us at the MCG for the opening ceremony. Not even the news the following morning that Victoria had pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games could dampen the mood.

The World Juniors turned out to be an incredible success. Australia’s players did themselves proud, and the quality of squash from the future stars of our sport was incredible.The Australian women’s team finished their World Championships campaign on a high, becoming the best-performing Australian junior women's team since 2003 by finishing in seventh. 

The event delivered a bigger digital footprint than ever before for the World Squash Federation, and viewers around the country were able to view highlights via 7plus in an agreement that includes next year’s City Tattersall’s Group Australian Open.

Australia sent a team to the first WSF World Cup since 2011 in Chennai where Jess Turnbull, Nick Calvert, Joseph White and Alex Haydon finished fifth. White and Calvert are currently joined by Rhys Dowling and Dylan Molinaro at the World Men’s Team Championship in New Zealand and at the time of writing have progressed to the Round of 16.

Australia went down in tightly contested Junior and Masters Trans Tasman series in New Zealand but we hope to get revenge on home soil next year!

In September we announced that the City Tattersalls Group Australian Open would shift to March 2024 in a realignment of the tournament within the PSA Tour schedule. Later in the year we were given approval to stage the tournament in the heart of the city, with the glass court on Martin Place set to be a spectacular addition.

In our major domestic events, Jess Turnbull and Ryan Cuskelly added another National Championship to their resumes, while Madison Lyon and Oscar Curtis rounded out their under-19 careers with comprehensive title defences at the Australian Junior Open and Australian Junior Championships.

This year saw Joe White win just his his second PSA Challenger Tour event at the Auckland/Oceania Open where Alex Haydon finished runner-up in the women’s final.

Last month we announced the formation of the Athlete Advisory Group, ensuring elite players have an effective, organisationally-recognised voice to help shape the high performance program. 

In February, Rainbow Racquets Squash Sydney held the first Pride Squash Tournament during SydneyWorldPride, with players from six countries taking part. It was just another example of how Squash is committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for anyone who wants to play the game, which was followed in May by the launch of our LGBTQ Inclusion Policy.

In May, Squash Australia launched its new national participation program - Squash Stars. An introductory level program, ‘Squash Stars’ takes a game-based approach to learning the game and started rolling out into schools from Term 3.

Away from the court, we launched our new website, SquashAUS.com.au, powered by RevolutionseSPORT. The migration of all our database-driven systems - from membership to tournaments and even newsletters - to RevSPORT has been a mammoth task but one which will benefit the entire squash community into the future.

Finally, the Annual Awards in November was another fabulous occasion, and it was particularly pleasing to see Chris Sinclair inducted into the Hall of Fame for extraordinary services to Refereeing. The feeling in the room was overwhelmingly positive and a fantastic way to cap off a memorable year.

I hope everyone in the squash community is able to rest and relax over the holiday period, and I hope to see you back on court in the new year.

I wish the Squash Community a very happy and safe festive season.

Robert Donaghue
Squash Australia CEO