Category Archives: Squash

Return of Competitive Squash July 2021

Squash

Dear Dean member, 
The club committee is delighted to confirm that competitive squash is now allowed as of tomorrow, 19 July.We now invite those squash members whose membership has been held in abeyance over the last year or more, to rejoin and make use of the squash courts.  You will have received a recent message from membermojo indicating that your membership will be expiring shortly, and there is a link there to enable you to log in and rejoin.  
Things are not completely normal; the attached documents describing how we would like members to use the facility are in line with the club’s risk assessment and guidance from Scottish Squash.  We would be grateful if you could comply. 
Ron anticipates running a new round of squash minileagues from around 09 August, all being well.
Any questions about use of the squash courts or the clubhouse, please direct to Michael or Jerry
Any questions about renewing membership, or from other members wishing to amend their existing membership to include squash to me please
Any questions about squash mini leagues to Ron please.
cheers, David

Return to Squash from Monday 26th April & Subscriptions

Squash

Dear Dean member, 
We are pleased to advise members that, in line with guidance from government and Scottish Squash, we are able to re-start the process towards playing squash at the club.

 The squash courts will be open from Monday 26 April for solo squash exercise, one to one coaching, and normal squash for those of you lucky enough to be part of a household with another member.  

Return to full squash

On the basis of the Scottish Government’s current timetable for moving out of lockdown, we can anticipate all restrictions on indoor sports to be lifted towards the end of June. As soon as we have a confirmed date, we will be in contact again about that, and confirming costs.  The fee to be paid will be based on the 2020 subscription rates reduced by the proportion of the full year remaining before the end of March 2022.  

Subscriptions

  • Squash members and full members who paid in advance for the 2020/21 season and those who joined or re-joined last autumn last year can use the courts without any further fee.
  • Squash members who did not pay a subscription in 2020 but want to start playing again under the current restrictions should contact us to have your booking rights restored for squash. We will let you know of any cost for this.
  • Tennis couples who may want to play squash as well should contact us so we can amend your booking ability and membership category, and advise you of the revised fee.
  • Squash members who have switched to tennis during lockdown may take up this option for limited squash during this coming period without any further fee. They will need to contact us about their options (single sport or full membership) once full squash is resumed.

 Minimising infection risks

We remind members of the basic rules to minimise risks from COVID for those that wish to take up this option

  • Only play on a court that you have booked
  • Come to the Club changed ready for squash other than for your shoes; you must change to indoor footwear before you go on court
  • Do not use the changing rooms other than for the toilets and hand washing facilities
  • Use hand sanitizer on entering the Clubhouse and before leaving (this is available in the lobby area)
  • Wear a face mask in the Clubhouse other than on the court

A revised version of the return to squash protocol will be available on the noticeboard in the lobby area and on the website

 All members are advised of the need to sign any guests in, on the noticeboard near the entrance, and that a £4 fee will be charged to the following year’s membership fee for each guest occasion.  

best wishes

David

Squash restart

Squash

Dear Dean squash member,

A few days ago Scottish Squash announced that squash clubs could reopen from Mon 31st Aug, but currently to a very restricted extent, and only if relevant additional restrictions and safety procedures are in place to minimise risk of transfer of infection.  This means that for now, play will be restricted to a single player on court at any one time, for exercise and practice. Two players from the same household may play the standard game.  1:1 coaching is allowed if the coach is not on court.  Full squash is also allowed between under 12s.  

The current guidance to clubs and players is attached below:

https://www.scottishsquash.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/COVID-19-Guidance-for-Squash-Clubs-Players-Coaches-and-Competitions-in-Scotland.-Phase-3-–-Published-26th-August-2020-version-1.pdf
It is our intention to reopen on Thursday 3rd September. This is to give us few days to work through the guidance and put procedures in place to make sure we can comply.  The club’s protocol for use of the facilities will be provided to members by then.   
Initially reopening will be restricted to evenings and weekends as there are contractors in the building redecorating the clubhouse (this had originally been timed to finish before squash reopened, but the Scottish government brought forward the date by 2 weeks).  Refreshing of the courts themselves has already been completed.  It is likely we will have to restrict some of the booking slots to minimise cross-traffic from members arriving and leaving. 
Squash members will now be asked to pay their subscription for the 2020/21 year.  When tennis restarted at the start of June, we decided to move the year end date to 31st May 2021.  We will make this the end date for squash membership too, so it will be a 9 month year for squash.  The subscription will be reduced in proportion to the number of months lost, and because of the restrictions being placed on squash activities, the proportion for September will be discounted.  So essentially the cost will be 2/3 of the full year cost.  Members will have received renewal messages from membermojo recently, and the ability to renew will be enabled before Thursday.  

Any questions, please forward to me, Jerry and Michael.  Thanks for your patience and we hope you are looking forward to getting back on court
best wishes,David, on behalf of the club committee.

2017 Squash Finals

Squash, Tournaments

On Saturday 25th March 2017 Dean held the annual squash tournament. For a change, a Monrad system was used this year. Play started at 10 am and finished around 4 pm. It was an entertaining, sociable and tiring afternoon for all of the participants but at the end, Paul DeMarco (in green top below) managed to retain the trophy he won last year. Some photos from the day:

   

Squash Court maintenance

Racketball, Squash

I’m pleased to announce that the squash courts are getting refurbished in the new year.

Court 1 will be out of action from Wed 6th Jan – Fri 8th Jan inclusive

Court 2 will be out of action from Wed 6th Jan – Tue 12th Jan inclusive

The booking page has been blocked out on these dates

Appreciate your cooperation and hope you are looking forward to playing on the shiny new courts once they are done!

Dean Junior Squash Club – Information for parents 2015

Club Events, Coaching, Juniors, Squash

The Junior Squash Club is formed from the junior membership of the Club. It meets on Saturdays and provides coaching and supervised play. Its aims are to introduce children to the sport, to help them develop their skills, and to provide them with an opportunity for supervised play.

Information on the dates, prices and details can be found on the Application Form.

Coaching Sessions

These are held on Saturday afternoons starting October 31st. There will be 14 coached sessions on Saturdays (6 before Christmas and 8 after). The Juniors are divided into groups on the basis of age and playing ability. The youngest players start at 4 pm. The exact arrangements will be decided once we know the total numbers.

Junior Club night

We will hold a Junior Club night if there is enough interest and willingness to participate by children and their parents. Supervision is required by volunteer parents. It is open to all junior members giving them an opportunity for further games.

Volunteers

The coaching sessions are organised and coached by Amanda Jones and professional coach Don Wilkie. We rely on parents who can give some of their time to help both for the coaching sessions and any Junior Club night. It is not necessary for you to be able to play squash but we would particularly encourage squash playing parents to volunteer their services.
Please contact Amanda if you can help in any way, even for a few sessions.

Eye protection

It is the policy of Scottish Squash that children participating in any squash tournament wear eye protection. Although eye injuries are very rare, we have to recognise that the risk is greater with younger and less experienced players. We cannot ignore the advice of Scottish Squash and children must use eye protection whilst playing at the Club.

Protective goggles cost between about £15 and £25. We provide goggles for the Junior Squash sessions but we need to make a charge of £5 to be added to the Junior Squash Club fee. If your son or daughter is interested in team squash, we recommend that they buy their own equipment.

Footwear

Shoes worn on the squash courts should be of the non-marking variety (in general black soled shoes should not be worn). They should be free of dirt and grit and should not be worn outdoors. In particular we discourage the use of shoes which have been worn on the tennis courts due to the sand that they carry onto the courts making them slippery and dangerous. We ask parents to ensure that children have appropriate footwear.

Supervision

The Club welcomes junior members. We want to provide them with an opportunity to develop their interest in the game and to develop their skills. However, we have to be concerned about their safety whilst playing and with the security and care of our premises.

We want to remind parents that there is nobody employed to monitor the activities in the Club. It is quite normal for the Club to be empty, particularly on Friday or weekend evenings and during the daytime on weekdays. We would not be taking proper responsibility either for the safety of our members or the security of the clubhouse if we permitted young children to use the facilities without any adult presence.

Junior members under the age of 14 may only use the squash courts when they are with a responsible adult. We regret that this decision may restrict the opportunity for Junior play. However, we believe that this is an inevitable consequence for a Club which employs minimal staff and which relies on the volunteers for its management.

One of the reasons for forming the Junior Squash Club is to provide an opportunity for younger children to play whilst being supervised. We would like to encourage parents to extend the playing opportunities for juniors by bringing their children to the Club at other times.

We hope that you understand the reasons for these cautions which are designed both to protect your child and to protect the interests of the Club. We do hope that your children will take this opportunity to be involved in the sport and enjoy the game.

If you need any further information, please contact Amanda Jones.