Squash is a male-dominated sport, with 84% of players being men, according to data from East Coast Squash Academy.
Because of this, co-presidents Lucy Basso ’27 and Piper Salik ’28 are working to bring more girls into the sport through Girl Power Squash (GPS). It is a program that introduces elementary school girls to squash through fun and beginner level clinics.
“It’s definitely a male dominated sport, so having a place where only girls can get together and have a good time and learn how to play is definitely an important thing,” Basso said. “And also because it will then benefit our high school team in the future.”
Each clinic is run by students from the Staples girls’ squash team, which gives the children a chance to learn from older students. The focus on younger kids is intentional, as GPS wants to start teaching squash to girls at an early age in order for them to build passion and experience, especially since squash is less well-known than other sports typically played.
“I think the purpose of Girl Power Squash is to motivate these young girls to find a love for the sport,” Salik said. “Especially from a young age and to make it fun and have mentors which are high schoolers to teach them and help them gain motivation.”
Squash is only growing, doubling to 1.3 million players in the US over the last 20 years, according to US Squash. As the sport increases in popularity, Basso and Salik hope that more people will sign up for GPS and expand the program.
One of their next goals is to expand to the middle schools, where the program could reach girls who might be interested in learning to play squash and retaining the kids who had already gone through GPS as elementary students.
“I would like to add a middle school clinic to GPS just because it’s our goal to have more middle schoolers to then go onto high school,” Basso said. “So having a middle school clinic where just girls can be together to have fun and also learn the basics of squash would be nice.”
