Unfamiliar squash making some racquet in the Quad-Cities

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By S. A. Thornbloom | Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:38 AM CDT | () comments

Many Quad-Citians might be familiar with the television advertisement that states pork as the other white meat. Many Quad-Citians might not be as familiar with squash being the other racquet-type sport. There’s tennis, badminton, and the American-born sport                  racquetball.

Squash, however, might be the oldest and most popular racquet sport in the world but the United States.

“We Americans always think of racquetball first because it’s an American sport and was invented here. But squash is an international game and played everywhere,” said John Groth, an associate director at the           Davenport downtown YMCA, the only place between Iowa City and Chicago to have                   regulation squash courts.

“When you think of squash courts you think of these big fancy racquet clubs and people with lots of money, and you think of seeing them in YMCAs. The courts I have seen in YMCAs are usually used for storage.”

Groth said the Davenport Y was fortunate to have two               regulation squash courts in use because there are a number of international players from around the Quad-Cities. He said the courts were in the original plans when the YMCA was built in 1963.

“Back then, squash was a               little more popular, and                      racquetball hadn’t been invented. Today, although we have more racquetball players here at the Y, we do attract squash players from Canada, Pakistan and South Africa who work at John Deere, Caterpillar and area hospitals in Peoria (Ill.), Cedar Rapids (Iowa) and here,” Groth said.

Because of the interest in squash, the Davenport YMCA is able to host occasional                 round-robin tournaments, including one this past                   weekend. About 10 players met at the Y to play — some were novices players. Others were top-level international players.

“It’s great to be able to play against new players from time to time,” said Greg Gadient, 54, of Davenport, who learned the game from his father.

“Playing against other                players, especially some of the international ones, helps improve my game and allows me the opportunity to see new and different styles of play.”

Squash is a game played on a four-walled court using a                  racquet and ball. The racquet is longer and more narrow than the standard racquetball                  racquet, and the ball is much smaller, about 1¼-inches in diameter. The court is smaller than the standard racquetball court, about 9 feet shorter and 3 feet narrower. Both singles and doubles can be played with a doubles court being the same dimensions as a singles court, except it is approximately 2 feet wider.

According to Groth, the ball doesn’t bounce like the larger Racquetball, and you have to warm up a squash ball to expand the gasses inside so that it is pliable enough to bounce off a wall. The name squash comes from the “squashing” of the ball on the wall.

“Squash is a faster game, and there is a lot of moving because you have to go get the ball and can’t wait for it to bounce to you,” Groth said.

Groth also said there aren’t a lot of long rallies, and there are hardly any smashes off the back wall and no hits off the ceiling, which is illegal.

The ball may only bounce on the floor once in between shots, and it must not bounce above the lines on the side and back walls. Should the server win the rally, a point is scored for the server. Play continues until one player reaches nine points.

“You definitely get a workout playing squash,” Groth said. “You use the same muscles as racquetball, and some additional muscles because there is more bending and reaching for low shots. It really works your ‘glute’ muscles.”

Squash’s history is spotty, at best. Most say the game was invented in England and became popular when the British military introduced the game to other parts of its empire in Europe, India, Pakistan and Australia. There are some who say the game was developed in France after the invention of tennis in 1148. London’s Fleet Prison in the 1800s is another of the unusual places that sometimes gets credit for the invention of squash.

“Squash is a very good workout, and you meet a lot of great people from around the world,” said Faraz Hussain 29, from Islamabad, Pakistan, who works as an Engineer for Caterpillar in Peoria. “I’d love to see the game continue to grow here in the Quad-Cities.”

Canada’s Glen Davis, 42, a tax accountant at RSM McGladrey in Cedar Rapids, is happy to be able to play regularly at the Davenport YMCA.

“I’m going home to Toronto in a few weeks to play a friend who’s very good, and having the courts here has allowed me the opportunity to get my legs back in shape and keep my game sharp,” he said.

“It’s been great being able to come down here and play. I really like the old wooden walls. It gives you a different feel than playing on a plaster wall. It’d be nice to see more people from this area get involved in the sport.”

Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.