Squash Urban Education Programmes Under the Spotlight at J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions Inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal

A record estimated 250,000+ people have been exposed to squash during nine days of high-intensity competition at the 2019 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - the first major squash tournament of 2019 - which took place inside New York’s iconic Grand Central Terminal last week.


Not stopping at bringing the sport where tens of thousands of commuters pass by each day, with many stopping to enjoy the action, the organisers were also keen to give the opportunity to some of the disadvantaged communities around the New York area to enjoy sport first-hand. In addition to the world's best players, local children from New York’s Urban Squash programmes, CitySquash and StreetSquash, also had the opportunity to experience playing in one of the sport’s most famous courts as they tested out their skills against some legends of the sport - including former World No.1s Peter Nicol and James Willstrop.


One of the most popular tournaments on the PSA calendar, the Tournament of Champions is amongst the most unique sporting events in the world courtesy of the all-glass court, which is constructed annually inside Grand Central Terminal’s extravagant and beautiful Vanderbilt Hall – demonstrating the sport’s unparalleled ability to showcase a city’s iconic locations during alive sporting event.


"It is exciting to be able to present the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in such a popular and well known public location as Grand Central. The ToC gives the whole sport a big lift in the USA," said Tournament Director and Founder John Nimick.


“Encouraging grassroots participation from all backgrounds is one of the key objectives for squash and involving young people from squash’s urban education programmes in such an iconic tournament on the PSA World Tour helps inspire these young talents towards a brighter future. As squash is vying to be included in the Olympic programme, we hope to be able to share our experience in this field,” said Alex Gough, PSA CEO.



The CitySquash programme – based in the Bronx, New York - aims to help talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds fulfil their academic, athletic and personal potential. Meanwhile the mission of the StreetSquash urban programme is to provide consistent, long-term and reliable support to the children, families and schools in Harlem and Newark to help each child realise their academic, athletic and personal potential.



Both programmes are part of the Squash and Education Alliance (SEA) which launches and leads youth programmes that combines squash, academics, mentoring, travel, college support and career readiness. Their programmes enrol more than 2,500 children in 22 U.S. cities and five locations abroad with 95% of their U.S. graduates go to college.



The SEA is a concept that is now spreading to other parts of the world and continuing to grow, this is shown through the likes of the Rackets Cubed programme, which is based in London and supported by the Professional Squash Association’s charitable arm – the PSA Foundation.