Words: Nathan Clarke
Imagery: JH Squash
When Sally Archibald first picked up a squash racket as an adult, she encountered a problem familiar to many newcomers to the sport.
Where to start? Finding the right coach was harder than learning the game itself.
“I got into a beginners’ session, but it wasn’t what I needed,” she explains. “I wanted coaching that met me where I was and built my confidence in my own game.”
It is a frustration that has ultimately led Archibald to launch Courter - www.courter.co.uk - a new online platform designed to connect players with vetted female squash coaches across England.
Sally Archibald pictured
On the surface, Courter is a booking platform. Players can search for coaches, view availability at local venues and book sessions online in minutes. But Archibald sees it as something much bigger than a diary management system.
“That’s just the start,” she says. “That’s where the concept came from: wouldn’t it be great if this existed?
“A tool that gives players access to coached session when they need them as well as giving female squash coaches the flexibility to work part time around their busy lives — and gives venues and clubs a way to fill the courts that stand empty.”
The platform is the latest project from the founder of Girls In Motion, the charity and movement which has spent recent years creating new opportunities for women and girls in squash through leagues, festivals, research projects and community initiatives.
Courter, however, tackles a different challenge.
Female coaches exist in increasing numbers throughout the game, yet many remain largely invisible to potential clients. Players often discover coaches through word of mouth, club noticeboards or personal recommendations rather than through a centralised, accessible system.
Archibald believes that limits participation and choice.
Former Welsh pro Tesni Evans during a Girls In Motion session
“Female squash coaches are out there, and their numbers are growing,” Courter’s mission statement explains. “They bring an approach that makes players feel seen and supported. But they’re hard to find.
“We started with female coaches because they’re underrepresented and underexposed.”
Every coach listed on the platform is vetted, qualified and insured before being added.
Yet Archibald insists the wider ambition extends beyond coaching.
The launch forms part of a broader effort to reshape how women engage with squash and create experiences designed around what female players actually want.
“I think there is still a void for the women’s squash market that’s not fulfilled yet,” she says.
“There's a great opportunity for the sport to be a really female-focused sport, which would be such a change from when I started 10 years ago to what it looked like then. And the women that I speak to, this is something that they all want - they want this community, a sport that they feel is taking them into account.”
That belief has emerged through Girls In Motion’s work over recent years.
What began as a charitable effort to create opportunities for women to play has evolved into a series of successful events and festivals that have demonstrated genuine demand.
The most recent Girls In Motion Festival, delivered in partnership with Northern and the PSA, attracted strong participation. In the process, she believes women’s squash has revealed an appetite for experiences that extend beyond traditional competition.
“I was asked on that event, ‘Can we do a weekend away with squash in a hotel and a spa?’” she says. “So there's demand out there for wanting different things.”
For Archibald, those requests reveal a changing audience with one of the most successful aspects of Girls In Motion having been the growth of women’s leagues, which bring together players from vastly different generations and backgrounds.
Archibald believes that environment provides something unique.
“We’ve got 80-year-olds playing and we’ve got 11-year-olds playing, and they’re all together,” she says.
“Everyone can see that next stage of life.”
The impact, she argues, stretches far beyond squash itself.
“My daughter’s 11. She comes with me now and she gets to talk to 20-year-olds about things that I don’t understand,” she says.
“I think it’s just lovely. If you take her to a sports club and put her with other women in that team environment, she’s going to get different conversations.”
That same philosophy underpins Courter.
The platform is not simply about booking a lesson. It is about making female expertise more visible and more accessible, while helping coaches build sustainable businesses and players find mentors who understand their experiences.
“I’ve had coaches contact me to join in the morning, and by the afternoon they’re live on Courter — dashboard set up, ready to take bookings at multiple venues.”
The same can be said for leisure centres and squash clubs with empty courts.
“When I speak to venues, there’s loads of court time hidden from view,” Archibald says.”Courter works with venues and committees to find a solution that works for them. The venue gets more footfall through the door and a relationship with female coaches.”
Archibald believes the timing is right.
“I think the days of women not giving themselves as much time for leisure and spending money on themselves is changing” she says.
“Women are investing more in their health and fitness now, and a platform like this gives women more control over how they experience the sport they want to participate in. It allows them to have that ownership that hasn’t historically been there in the game - and whether it’s through finding a coach, finding other likeminded women in the same area or being connected to a group, it’s all about helping give women a positive experience in squash.”
For squash, that shift represents an opportunity. For Archibald, it represents a challenge worth building for.
Courter may begin as a coaching platform, but she already sees it as the foundation for something larger: a female-led ecosystem of coaching, events, travel experiences and community.
For now, though, the immediate goal is simple.
To make finding the right squash coach as easy as booking a table, a hotel room or a fitness class.
And in doing so, make sure the next woman who picks up a racket does not have the same experience that inspired Courter in the first place.
