Is squash an expensive sport? Stuff, membership: all costs

Every athlete likes to think that the sport they participate in is the ultimate.

They want to believe they are good at the hardest, most challenging athletic competition out there, so it makes sense that a squash-player who also believes in “his” sport.

It is a complete workout that is completed in 45 minutes and is very intense.

I here's an article about all the rules within squash, but in this article I want to focus on the costs.

Squash is expensive, all the best sports are expensive

Like almost all other competitive sports, there is a high cost involved in playing squash.

What you should think about are:

1. cost of material
2. cost of membership
3. job rent costs
4. possible costs of lessons

Each player needs the important equipment such as a racket, balls, necessary sportswear and special field shoes.

If you play amateur game you may still be able to get away with some of the cheap alternatives, but at a higher level you'll want to look at the slightly better models as they simply give you an advantage that you can't keep up with without.

In addition to just the material costs, there are also the high costs associated with joining a racket club.

These fees can be very high if it is a private club or quite high if it is a public club.

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In addition to the regular membership fees, there are also job fees that are usually an hourly fee and can add up quite quickly.

The expensive thing about squash is that you need a relatively large amount of high-quality equipment to practice it, and that you almost always share the quite large court with only one other person.

When you watch football you can wear shorts and a shirt and shoes, maybe even good shin guards.

And you share the hall or field with a large number of players.

When you play the ultimate sport, you naturally want to be the best. And what's the best way to get to the top?

Practice, practice, practice.

Here are a few tips from Laurens Jan Anjema and Vanessa Atkinson:

One of the best ways to get the practice and instruction you need is to take a squash class, where you can just focus on your game and improve.

These lessons are very expensive, but worth it to improve your game and skills.

Like any sport, you won't succeed if you don't force yourself to work harder and build your skills.

These are all things to invest in when you start playing squash.

Is squash a rich man's sport?

There's no denying that squash is the brainchild of the British aristocracy, like most modern sports.

For a long time it has been a sport played almost exclusively by the social elite.

But that image has definitely changed now, played with squash in many countries around the world? Is squash a rich sport?

Squash is no longer considered a sport for only rich people. It is even popular in some less developed countries such as Egypt and Pakistan.

It requires little money to play. The only major barrier is finding (or building) a job, which can be costly.

In the Netherlands, however, nowadays squash club membership is relatively cheap and the equipment required is quite minimal (in fact a ball and racket are the two necessities) when you start.

Of course, like anything, you can spend a lot of money on squash on coaching, equipment, nutrition and other things. I'll look into that too.

This really depends on where you live in the world.

An important consideration to make when drawing some conclusions on this topic is determining what squash means to different people.

Squash – the financial picture

There are many things you may need to buy when you play squash.

I will list these, with the approximate price for getting either the cheapest possible, intermediate standard or high quality standard:

All of the above really won't make much of a difference, at least when you're starting out. For example, the quality of the racket is not a big problem in squash.

A good squash player can use a beginner to medium quality racket with little difficulty when playing recreationally.

You can of course borrow or rent some of the above, especially if you just want to try out the sport.

Depending on how much you sweat, it will probably be very difficult to play squash without wristbands, for example, but it is also not that expensive.

Squash in the third world

Squash may not necessarily be a sport for rich men, but it is certainly a sport that very few poor people play.

Those that do often make it because they have come across some excellent and reliable support structures.

There is actually a very famous anecdote about the patriarch of the Khan squash family, Hashim Khan.

Hashim Khan served in the British Army and in the Pakistan Air Force and was only able to play squash at home.

The thought of competing professionally had never occurred to him, as financial circumstances had never allowed him to do so.

As a result, he was quite content with teaching others and thereby contributing to humanity.

One day, however, it was announced that a player, whom he always beat by a large margin, would go to the final of the British Open, the most prestigious tournament in the world at the time.

After the news broke, those closest to Khan, especially his students, felt they had to do something to help.

By making personal sacrifices, not even the richest people in the world, they were able to ensure that he could compete in the next edition of the British Open.

The rest, as they say, was history as the Khan family then dominated the world's top for decades.

However, the reality is that the Hashim Khan stories are not common anymore.

These stories are much more common in sports like soccer, where players in South America and Africa are able to grow and thrive, having been picked by scouts out of relative obscurity.

The first lesson here, and this is probably the most important lesson, is that anyone, regardless of background, can have a knack for playing squash.

In fact, when an opportunity presents itself for a hidden squash talent, they often excel significantly more than a more privileged counterpart.

However, getting access to that level is really the trick here.

You can find second-hand squash rackets, discarded squash balls and nobody needs specific shoes anyway.

Conclusion

For the majority, squash is not a rich sport, and most people have access to it cheaply.

All you really need is a racket, which you can buy in advance or even borrow.

A little bit of money for the lessons or for some kind of club membership and you are ready to go.

But it is a relatively expensive sport when you look at many team sports, for example.

Good luck with the squash and don't let money problems stop you!

Joost Nusselder, the founder of referees.eu is a content marketer, father and loves to write about all kinds of sports, and has also played a lot of sports himself for most of his life. Now since 2016, he and his team have been creating helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with their sports activities.