With solo squash back from June 7th Derek Ryan is going to do  Online Masters Solo Squash & Movement classes on the following dates.

Register NOW by sending an e mail to [email protected] 

This is a reminder to please encourage all our athletes, athlete support staff and all other interested squash personnel to sign up for the very important Anti-Doping Educational Webinars run by ITA; the first is on Wednesday 26th May, so please register on this link.

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0DNnufKqRq2DB1ADGn9l7g

This forms a very important part of the WSF Anti-Doping Education Plan and we can’t stress the importance of making sure all members of our squash community are aware of Anti-Doping processes and procedures.

• ITA are pleased to offer program completion certificates to all athletes and athlete support personnel who attend all five webinars (the further two to be advised later). Attendance will be tracked – we encourage you to remind everyone to use the same email address each time they register for a webinar.
• ITA will be surveying webinar participants in accordance with the International Standard for Education. More specifically, they will be monitoring (ISE: Collecting data regularly and over time to see progress towards our program objectives) and evaluating learning (ISE: Determining whether our participants have learned something as well as gathering feedback to determine the quality of the learning experience or interaction).
• At the end of the webinar series, WSF will receive registration and attendance figures, as well as a report of the survey results. This data will feed into our Education Plan.

 The details of these webinars to circulate are below.

Important Information:

• All webinars will take place from 14h to 15h CET.
• All webinars are stand alone and each has to be registered for individually. Please use the same email address to register for each to ensure attendance is tracked correctly.

Please see a News Update from the Board of Irish Squash – May 2021

NEWS UPDATE FROM THE BOARD OF IRISH SQUASH

The Covid pandemic has limited our access to playing the sport we all love for much longer than any of us might have predicted. Throughout the past year, an Irish Squash working group collaborated with Sport Ireland to develop and refine Covid Return to Play protocols and we outline our current plans for restarting on June 7th below. 

In addition, there are other very significant initiatives underway: a Single Platform and a new Strategy for Irish Squash with further enhancement of our Governance structure.

Irish Squash Announce Service Agreement with SportyHQ

Irish Squash and SportyHQ signed a 5 year contract in April 2021 whereby the single software platform will be rolled out to affiliated members of Irish Squash over the next couple of years.

This will take place on an ‘opt in’ basis and will be provided as a benefit of affiliation to Irish Squash. The board of Irish Squash recognises that the smart use of technology will allow us to provide an enhanced service to our members and also improve general operations within the organisation. 

A project team was established in July 2020 with Peter O’Halloran, board member Irish Squash as Project Lead and Rosie Barry, President Irish Squash as Sponsor. Several software providers were invited to tender for the contract and provided detailed demos to the project team. Testimonials from other national squash organisations generated useful insight and we are grateful to colleagues in Scotland, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Finland, Germany and ESF for their time and input. 

At NGB and provincial level, SportyHQ will allow us to manage affiliations and to introduce a player rating and rankings model. We will be using SportyHQ to run our tournaments. Clubs have the option of using the platform to manage their membership payments, court bookings and run events. Players will be able to establish their own profiles on the platform and use mobile apps for scoring matches and booking courts.

The platform can also be used by clubs and provinces to create and update their websites.

Please watch our website for updates on the roll out of SportyHQ, commencing over the next couple of months!

Members of the Project Team in Phase 1 included: David Ayerst, Mark McGugan, Gerry Galvin, Brian O’Brien, Eugene Walker, Mark Gilliland, Andrew Gillespie, Gerry Callanan, Karim Singh, Anne Costello, Niall Rooney and Paul Nugent.

We are grateful to Sport Ireland for additional funding provided to us in support of this project.

Sport Ireland Governance Code and new Strategic Plan for Irish Squash

All NGBs are expected to comply with the Sport Ireland Governance Code by the end of 2021.

Irish Squash established a working group to review our existing policies and introduce new ones with the assistance of solicitor Sarah O’Shea, SOS Sports Consult. A review of our board and committee structures is also underway as part of this process.

In addition, we are re-engineering our Strategic Plan and have engaged the services of Derek McGrath and John Feehan of Sport2Sport to facilitate this work. The process of consulting with our stakeholders will begin over the next 4-6 weeks. Please check our website regularly for updates and to see how you can contribute to this project.

We aim to launch our new plan in September, hopefully in tandem with the start of a season where we can enjoy competitive squash once more.

COVID-19 Update

On June 7th, solo training will be permitted on squash courts and 2 household members may train together. Coaching on a one-to-one basis may also restart with social distancing observed and mask to be worn by the coach. Players should arrive at the club in their gear as changing rooms will remain closed.

All standard Covid restrictions must continue to be observed whilst off court.

Please note that we have specifically engaged with Sport Ireland regarding Covid vaccination status and access to play:  there is currently NO variation in the guidelines for individuals who are fully vaccinated.

We await further clarification about the timeframe beyond June 7th for the resumption of ‘pod training’ and we are in the process of developing our plans to restart competitions as soon as public health restrictions allow.

Derek Ryan’s online training sessions for Irish Squash are extremely popular and will prepare many of us for returning to the court. For those who haven’t been able to train, check out Sport Ireland’s website for advice on returning to play after a prolonged absence from sport – the last thing anyone needs is an injury just as we can get back on court!

Please check our website regularly for further news updates and contact us on [email protected] with any queries.

Rosie Barry

President Irish Squash

On June 7th, solo training will be permitted on squash courts and 2 household members may train together. Coaching on a one-to-one basis may also restart with social distancing observed and mask to be worn by the coach. Players should arrive at the club in their gear as changing rooms will remain closed.

All standard Covid restrictions must continue to be observed whilst off court.

Please note that we have specifically engaged with Sport Ireland regarding Covid vaccination status and access to play:  there is currently NO variation in the guidelines for individuals who are fully vaccinated.

We await further clarification about the timeframe beyond June 7th for the resumption of ‘pod training’ and we are in the process of developing our plans to restart competitions as soon as public health restrictions allow.

Derek Ryan’s online training sessions for Irish Squash are extremely popular and will prepare many of us for returning to the court. For those who haven’t been able to train, check out Sport Ireland’s website for advice on returning to play after a prolonged absence from sport – the last thing anyone needs is an injury just as we can get back on court!

Please check our website regularly for further news updates and contact us on [email protected] with any queries.

Rosie Barry

President Irish Squash

Irish Squash has just learnt of the very sad passing of Jack Davies from Galway LTC. The President, Rosie Barry and the board of Irish Squash would like to pass on its condolences to Andre, Naomi & Molly.

See a tribute to Jack from the Davies Family below;

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Son & Brother Jack Davies. Jack passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on the 1^st May 2021 after a brave battle against cancer.

Jack was a relatively late starter to squash but took to it like a duck to water and thoroughly enjoyed the competition and the squash community at both junior and senior level. He played with passion and loved playing all of the venues around the country where he met some great friends, always commenting on how the squash playing community was made up of some great people.

A talented racket sport specialist, Jack played squash, tennis and badminton, all to a high level. Galway Lawn Tennis Club was like a second home to Jack where he both played and, in the past, worked. Most recently he was coaching all three sports at the club as part of his sports degree which he absolutely loved.

One of Jack’s greatest disappointments when learning of his terminal illness was that he would no longer be able to compete, such was his passion for sport. He still continued to follow all of his sporting heroes some of whom reached out to Jack with messages of support including Dominic Thiem and the great Roger Federer himself.

For those who knew Jack and his personality, you will understand there is now a void in our family that will never be filled. We can only hope that time will allow some healing and that we can continue his legacy in life and sport.

We would like to thank everyone for their messages of good will and support, it is hugely appreciated.

May Jack’s gentle soul rest in peace.

Andre, Naomi & Molly

See all the information & centres re the Walk-In Covid-19 Testing Centres. We would ask our clubs & members to please circulate these through your club network and on social media to support the identification of asymptomatic cases in the community.

CLICK HERE 

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Send a mail to [email protected] to register by 1pm on Thursday 15th April 2021

Videos May be On or Off during each of the sessions.

Good luck and we hope you all enjoy the tournament!!

Irish Squash in partnership  with Squash Fitness are offering a 12 week strength & conditioning programme for Juniors, commencing next Monday April 5th and for Seniors commencing Wednesday April 7th.