Come on Ladies!!
The number of squash players declines, albeit gradually, every year. The
effect on Ladies playing is more dramatic, as there were fewer numbers playing
in the boom years. If you have any ideas how to encourage more squash players,
ladies in particular, please write to SquashHerts@hotmail.com
All comments will be passed to the Herts Squash Committee. Here is a recent e-mail conversation: - Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 6:09 PM
Subject: RE: Winter League
I've posted the Ladies League fixtures to the Herts website now. It is a pity there are not more Ladies Teams playing in
Herts. The SRA affiliated list is quite small, but over the past year I have added every club I could find in Herts, to the website under the "Clubs" button. There are around 57. Maybe if you sent a short note to all clubs, via the manager/secretary you might get a response from a few. I know it is a drag but how else to encourage a few more ladies & girls into the Ladies League? I wonder if you can get any help? -----------------------------------------------------------------------
I share your concern about the declining number of
ladies teams. Over the past year I discussed clubs that may have a
ladies section that I was unaware of. Last August (and the August
before) I sent a large number of letters to all the clubs and sports centres
that I could find in Hertfordshire addressed to the person in charge of
ladies' squash. I have spoken to teams that have dropped out of the
League to find out if there is anything we can do to ease their difficulties
and accommodate them in the league somehow (e.g. accepting teams with fewer
players). The fundamental problem appears to be a lack of young women
taking up the sport. To give you some examples, Berkhamsted have no
ladies teams at all, Dragons Northwood and Biggleswade have dropped out,
Cannons have dropped a team this year and even Tring are down to one ladies
team.
We are doing what we can about this at Tring. I
have applied for and launched an Awards for All scheme that is offering free
coaching to juniors. It also includes a free session for adults on a
Tuesday morning which is mainly aimed at young women and house husbands who
are free at that time. The take up has been very good. We are
running five junior coaching sessions (over 70 children) and two adult
sessions. So we must hope that we get some future players out of this
initiative.
I hope that you find this background information
helpful.
Kind regards
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