A simple experiment That Could Challenge One of the Game’s Oldest Assumptions
How high can you make a squash ball bounce?
It sounds like a throwaway question. The kind of thing settled in a few hits before a club night begins - but it is one that could reveal far more about the sport than it first appears.
Because what if the answer tells us something fundamental about how the game is played - and who it is really built for?
A new nationwide experiment led by Girls In Motion is asking clubs across the UK to find out.
The premise is simple. Warm a ball for five minutes. Drop it from a set height. Measure how high it rebounds. Three attempts per player.
That’s it.
But behind the challenge lies a more serious aim.
Designed by student volunteer Claire, the project is gathering real data on how different squash balls behave when used by players of varying standards. The goal is to better understand whether the balls typically given to newer players - particularly the traditional double yellow dot - are actually suited to them.
The aim is not just to measure bounce, but to challenge a deeper idea: that the equipment given to beginners is actually helping them play the game.
Clubs are being encouraged to run the test as a quick, competitive activity - before or after club nights, during junior sessions, or as part of women’s programmes. The more players involved, the more meaningful the results.
There is a particular focus on female participation, a group often underrepresented in equipment research, and one that sits at the heart of Girls In Motion’s work.
The deadline for submissions is the end of April, after which the data will be analysed to build a clearer picture of how ball choice affects playability.
And that is where the experiment begins to matter.
Because if the results suggest that the traditional ball is not best suited to newer players, it raises a difficult but necessary question for the sport: Have we been making the game harder than it needs to be?
For now, though, the challenge is simple.
Head onto court. Warm the ball. Drop it.
And see what comes back.
Instructions To Take The Challenge
Send results to @girlsinmotion - and consider this as a quick activity before or after a club night, a junior session, or a women’s session.
1. Choose the ball
Select a brand-new or new-ish Dunlop squash ball of one of the following types:
Blue
Red
Single yellow
Double yellow
(Please record which type you used.)
2. Prepare the droptest setup
Tape a measuring tape vertically on the back wall of the squash court, with the 0cm mark aligned with the floor line.
Ensure the tape is straight, flat, and fully taut.
Marking the tape every 10 cm can make measurements easier.
Make sure the floor line is clearly visible.
3. Warmup procedure
Give the ball to two players of similar playing standard or SquashLevels or this
could be done solo.
Ask them to perform a standard warmup for 5 minutes, e.g.:
Straight drives, Volleys, General rallying to warm the ball as much as possible
4) Perform the Drop test
After a 5 minute warm up:
Hold the ball at the back‑wall out line, with the bottom of the ball level with the bottom of the mark.
Drop the ball without pushing or adding spin.
Drop it as close to the wall scale as possible without touching the wall.
Perform three repeats.
Record all three repeats in one slow‑motion video on a phone.
If one of the three drops is clearly invalid (e.g. the ball hits the wall, slips from
the hand, or is pushed), ignore that drop and perform one extra drop at
the end of the same video.
From the video, record the rebound height by reading the highest point
reached by the bottom of the ball on the wall scale, to the nearest
centimetre.
