Well, at the Qld Awards night Col Clapper got caught a bit off guard and sort of wormed his way around a very delicate question (Col is President of the Oceanic Games I think you call it) but at the Aust Awards he was ready for the question so handled it in his stride without hesitation.

Pressure was put on the Hon Member Minister for Sport who presented the Awards to hand out more funding in view of the success of our Squash  Aussies at the Commonwealth Games - but how much clout that carries in terms of the medals won I do not know.

There is a saying "God helps those who help themselves" - I feel that until the funds dry up it will be much of the same.  So how long is a piece of string?

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Very informitive post Rita, thanks.

Someone said here some time ago, that squash will continue to drift off into the sunset until the game stands up and gets angry. I think that is so true.

You guys are standing up with this great web site.

I believe keen discussion on forums like these will also help the game stand up, I have seen it make a difference in other sports.

Supporting change at your own club level is something else I try to do as I think this can foster change from below.

I wonder how the speeches went at the awards night ?

Lots of well deserved back slapping I would surmise, which is how it should be at an awards night, but how good would it have been for someone to have grasped the nettle and said > stop >

Applauding these fine players is well and good...

 "but we are kidding ourselves, the game is in steep decline and we need to act NOW"

Was there any such speeches ?

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Viper - you have access to every squash contact, eg SA and all its affiliates through the websites so by all means have your say.
When I was Director of Coaching I could not influence the powers that be to have a chain of responsibilities as they all have Constitutions and Boards etc....SA has really no say as it is run by the States.
Viper - Ray & I have said many times we have had enough of this "red" tape, and all you hear is "you cannot do that".... enuf said.
Unless jobs and responsibilities are put in writing in a contract nothing can be enforced, so thereby hangs the tail.  The Office Bearers are voted in by the members, usually the "willing horse" and not necessarily the most capable person for the job.  With limited paid employees it is difficult to insist on a standard/rules of workmanship.  People do not want to work for nothing any more, I asked things like, eg  the club to pay for its President/Secretary to attend a Club Administration Course, set up Duties of the President, Duties of the Secretary, Duties of the Club Captain so appointees would not be flying by the seat of their pants, but it is all too hard - so then these people do whatever they want to do, according to how they think and feel, and it all becomes willy nilly.
I asked that each Board member have an area of responsibility, eg Junior Squash so they gave a Board Member the job, and I never had one phone call, visit to a school or junior club, so how the hell can those people advise the Board???????????I wrote a schools program, took ages to develop and trial, and video, , but nobody seemed to really care, but of course wanted heaps of kids on the courts, and lots of kids in the top seedings.
I suggested we have Gold Cards for the people who really helped the junior clubs, as they were putting in family time with kids teaching them how to score, giving them tips, driving them to competition, running tournaments,  etc - durrrrrrrrrrrrr  I might as well have stood in the corner and talked to the wall.  Now, when it is all too late Award nights are being held, 15 years too late.
I believe nothing has really changed except the honorary workers have diminished. 
Squash in too fragmented, there are too many bosses, too many controllers, and every body wants to control/power. 
There is a big picture, but  each person sits in their little corner of the world, and nobody wants to be told what to do.
Until squash has a business model, benchmarks, accountability, same 5year plan Nationally, it is just all "hot" air.

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I take all that on board but....

1. Why is it not part of an AIS contract that the top Aust players do a certain amount of promotional work ? How good would it be to sit in on  the Grinhams, Palmer, Ricketts, etc  doing a workshop for instance

2. Why is it left to private interests to fund such promotions ? See point 1. (especially given the AIS is funded by the squash paying tax payer and the peak bodies are partially supported by club fees anyway)

3. Why would it not be quite economic to put together retired champions that already reside in Aust to undertake some promotional tours ?

4. Why would it not be easy and economic to support some of the old champions ( see the number we have in the recent Squash awards night for instance, ie Rita pics ) to undertake some speaking tours ?

My goodness I would pay good money to hear Heather Mckay, or Geoff Hunt, and some of the older stars speak. I consider myself lucky to have such access to Rita and Ray as it is here on this site.

It always seems to be just "too hard " for squash........

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Yep, it has been done mostly sponsored by court owner/s and/or clubs.
Usually promotions have been done inconjunction with a tournament circuit and coaching.
A package would be something along these lines:

•  airfares,
•  accommodation,
• appearance money,
• tournament prize money
• club exhibition matches and club coaching

Hashim Khan came out in the late 1960's, and in fact spotted Heather Blundell (Mackay) in Canberra at a coaching clinic; Aub Amos brought out the Pakistan players in the 70's; and the following will give  a good guide to the players of the day who came to Australia:
Australian Amateur Mens Champions
1968 - J Barrington (UK)
1973 - Q Zaman (PAK)
1974 - S Muneer (PAK)
1978 - G Briars (UK)
Australian Mens Open Champions:
1982 - J Khan (PAK)
1998 - J Power (CAN)

In the amateur days players were expected to enter certain nominated tournaments to gain selection.eg

• the Qld Amateur Team toured NQ for a week visiting all the Clubs prior to competing in the NQ Open in Townsville which attracted top players from other States.
• the number one players from the top men's pennant got a good deal to play, eg so much a win or loss, and free practice and equipment.

Unless there is a "carrot" put in front of today's professional players there is no chance of getting this happening again.  The offer also has to be better than what is offered overseas to justify the trip.

Sad but true.

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Yep, it has been done mostly sponsored by court owner/s and/or clubs.
Usually promotions have been done inconjunction with a tournament circuit and coaching.
A package would be something along these lines:

•  airfares,
•  accommodation,
• appearance money,
• tournament prize money
• club exhibition matches and club coaching

Hashim Khan came out in the late 1960's, and in fact spotted Heather Mackay in Canberra at a coaching clinic; Aub Amos brought out the Pakistan players in the 70's; and the following will give  a good guide to the players of the day who came to Australia:
Australian Amateur Mens Champions
1968 - J Barrington (UK)
1973 - Q Zaman (PAK)
1974 - S Muneer (PAK)
1978 - G Briars (UK)
Australian Mens Open Champions:
1982 - J Khan (PAK)
1998 - J Power (CAN)

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