When i was at school in shepperton we went to Walton leisure centre to play on our sports afternoon.

I never knew shepperton had any courts.

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What is the current status of the Shepparton Squash Courts? How many juniors and what is the standard?

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Hi all

I'm a little happier now, because I see that much of my coaching at Mooroopna Squash Centre (now a church for idiots) was not wasted.  Some of the juniors I spent time on the court with are coming back to play at Shepparton (now waiting for somebody to lease it).

They have mostly come back as full fee paying adults, so this will be a boon for anybody wanting to lease this centre. 

Which is why I offered to buy Mooroopna centre (had 140 adults playing comp) as we would have an extra 40 more full fee paying players by now and that would take it to over 180 full paying adults for a 4 court centre.  Not bad aye.   We would still have had over 60 junior players on their way to becoming adults for the future.   But dreaming won't bring Mooroopna Squash Centre back to reality.  Damn religion.

Anyway, their return to squash is the best news I've had all year.  I went and watched some of them last Monday and they seem to be really enjoying their time on and off the courts.   Almost like old times, but not quite.

Cheers,

Sagey

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No Viper

They are the only remaining courts in the city.

All the other courts closed down for different reasons.

One was bought out by a large SuperStore called Narvey Norman, that had 3 quite profitable courts.  Another became an amusement centre and turned the courts into a fun area for kids by cutting holes in the walls and putting tubular slides through them, then filling the courts with soft balls.

The last was in Mooroopna, practically a suburb of shepparton which had a very profitable 4 courts and 65 pennant playing juniors who I used to coach.  This was purchased by a church to turn the courts into mind control cells for unsuspecting youth.  A sad way to get converts, aye.

The Shepparton Centre has 4 nights of pennant running and it looks like getting very big, I've seen 10 players that hated the last manager at the courts today, signing up for the next season.   Things are looking very good for the centre, apart from not having a manager.

We are just hoping Graham (owner) doesn't decide to lease it out to some group that wants to use the centre for something other than squash, like the religion that took over both Mooroopna and Tatura squash courts. 

Cheers

Sagey

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Thanks Sage.

BTW is there any other courts apart from this one in Shepparton ?

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Sorry Viper,  the last manager took off and gave us the news that he was not going to continue to lease the courts from a distance, so I haven't been able to find out how well the place was doing.  The next comp hasn't started yet so I'm not sure of how many are playing.

The last manager wasn't very popular with the patrons, he drove most of the juniors away.  We had 65 pennant playing juniors at Mooroopna (little 4 court centre) before it closed, of which 22 showed interest in moving to Shepparton, but after meeting him, half of those decided not to play. He was a cold hearted business man and extremely arogant, a bit on the other side of what Ray mentioned in his blog.  Those few that started, found that they couldn't stand the manager and quit.   So after six months, only 5 of these juniors remained playing squash.   So he was not junior orientated at all.  

I believe the last manager was making a reasonable profit, he claimed that had his sights on buying the entire block for $2 million which contains a number of other businesses. But, I think he became more interested in his sexual exploits over in Thailand than staying here to run a business.  He seemed to think of himself  as a bit of a playboy and started taking regular holidays. 

With a friendly attitude, bit of vision, insight and creative use of the 9 court centre.  I believe that it could be a very lucrative venture.   As there is a very large body of squash players in the region who would love to continue or start up playing again, providing there is a better atmosphere than that last bloke created.  

I've heard of and seen spare courts being used as:  Art galleries, movie theatres, consultation rooms, gymnasiums, half court basketball courts and for educational meetings or seminars.    I heard of one squash club, hiring out their centre to local government as a youth consulting/advisory centre during the day.   I could see the possibility of some of those clients finding their way back to try a hit of squash at night. 

I would have taken on the courts myself, but I don't have a head for business and would likely go too soft on debtors.

Sagey

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