Karakal kit bag and £250 grant lures clubs to sign up to WSD
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

A big shout out to England Squash for launching a significant and successful development project in partnership with Karakal to encourage clubs to sign up to attract new members on World Squash Day.

In what is set to be the most successful World Squash Day to date in England, Karakal will provide kit bags featuring 18 rackets to the first 100 England Squash-affiliated clubs who sign up to become a delivery partner and stage a World Squash Day event.

At the time of writing, more than 70 clubs had already signed up to join the fun and promote the sport on World Squash Day.

Mark Williams, Director of Sport at England Squash said: “World Squash Day serves as a springboard to inspire the nation to pick up a racket and we are thrilled to have Karakal’s support to grow the game in England.

“This year, we’ve set the ambitious target of engaging 5,000 players through World Squash Day events in England and we are encouraging clubs to sign up and help showcase our fantastic sport to their local communities.

“Delivery partners will receive a host of incentives including the Karakal kit bag and a £250 grant to grow their programmes.”

Steve Gallienne, Global Sales and Marketing Manager at Karakal, said: “We are delighted to partner with England Squash for World Squash Day and encourage clubs to stage events. For Karakal to play a part in inspiring new players to get on court is extremely rewarding and aligned to our strategy to increase participation.”

As co-ordinator of the World Squash Day campaign, it is heartening to see a national federation like England Squash support WSD in such a solid and committed fashion in partnership with a major brand like Karakal.

Our global goals are to encourage clubs to invite their local communities to step inside on World Squash Day to see what a fantastic sport we have… and to try it out.

We aim to promote the well-documented health and well-being benefits associated with squash.

In short, we want squash to be the sport that provides community health benefits to fight epidemics such as childhood obesity.

It requires clubs to think outside the box and plan strategic partnerships with health providers to make an impact on local communities.

We aim to provide more information on this aspect of the project during the build-up to World Squash Day, which is now just over nine weeks away.

Find out more about World Squash Day at englandsquash.com/worldsquashday

Clubs worldwide can download a Toolkit from the World Squash Day website containing a multitude of ideas for events on the big day: www.worldsquashday.net

For further information on the England Squash scheme, please contact Donna Helmer at [email protected] 

Clubs in the UK can order World Squash Day shirts from Pete Smith at Recognition Sports. Please email [email protected]