July Special Meeting

Pennant Committee Update

The new Pennant Committee has just met and has come up with a series of By-law changes that will make life easier for players, especially when hunting for reserves.  They have reviewed the Pennant Player Referee Accreditation (PPRA) initiative and believe that the concept of having all players up to date with the rules of squash is still a valuable concept, however the delivery and content of the accreditation needs to be  addressed. The committee is looking at getting the accreditation set up on-line so it is accessible any-time and including videos of let calls to help give players a better understanding. The set up could take some time so the new system may not be set up and running by next season, an in the meantime we will stick to the current system. However the Pennant Committee is committed to not having a repeat of the situation last season where many teams were not qualified to play the finals.

Facility Update

The Barossa Valley council has just secured an additional $2M for the re-development of the Tanunda Recreation Centre. This centre is now fully funded and going ahead. Squash SA is in the process of  negotiating the inclusion of 6 courts at the facility (2 sets of 3 state-of-the-art ASB multi-use courts with fully movable walls) for a contribution of  up to $300K by Squash SA. In this arrangement, we will own the courts and they will own the building. This is great news but there was some discussion about our ability to fund the creation of other courts going forward if we commit $300K now. From our budget we have $400K every 4 years that we can contribute to new courts. In effect, we would not be able to commit to any more new courts in the next 3 years. There are still projects in Campbelltown, Adelaide Shores, Noarlunga that are in the works. We came to a compromise: because the Barossa project is definitely going ahead we should contribute towards getting courts in there, however we will go back to them with an offer of $200K where they will own the courts but we will negotiate access to hold tournaments there. This will free up some more cash to put towards facilities projects in the near future.

New Development Officers Appointed

The long-awaited Development Officer positions have now been filled! We had a very good response with many high-grade applicants from around Australia and the world. But there were two who just blew us away with their enthusiasm, experience and vision for the future of squash. Our two new Development Officers are Danni Rogers (Davis) and James Rogers. They are both coming from the USA and will be set up and ready to go by 2nd August. They will be joining Des Panizza to create a team of 3 Development Officers (DOs) with to take care of the North, Central and South regions in SA under the management of John Cranwell (Pathways Manager). 

Squash Australian Open

This year's Australian Open in Canberra (10-15 August) is shaping up to be an incredible event. If you want to catch the very best squash players in the world working their magic on the court then Canberra is the place to be in August. Squash SA will be sending along a few Board Members so we will see you there. You can find out the latest news and buy tickets at http://www.australiansquashopen.com.

New Board Member

There's a new Board Member on the block: Sam Abashira. Sam has just been accepted to fill the vacant position on the Board. Sam has a background in Corporate Super and started playing squash when he was 14 years old. However after an injury that prevented him from continuing with squash he started playing Racquetball and has been playing ever since.  Sam moved to Adelaide in 2004 and has been on the Racquetball pennant committee for the past 4 to 5 years. Sam sees Racquetball as a sport that is easier on the joints than squash and is often perceived as not being as serious as squash. He says that while pennant numbers have decreased the in-house competition numbers have increased. Sam is keen to see more kids getting involved in Racquetball and sees it as a great way for kids to get started.