Words: Nathan Clarke
11/11/24
For more than half a century, squash has been a sport tethered to the legacy of the British Commonwealth – where empires may have faded but sporting supremacy has not. From the early days of English hegemony to the artistry of Pakistan’s Jansher and Jahangir Khan, with Australia’s Geoff Hunt and Heather McKay squeezing their own era of domination in between, squash has always been a game with a distinctly Commonwealth accent.
Even now, as the torch passes to a new breed of Egyptian virtuosos – players from a nation that itself was once a jewel in the British crown – the sport’s lineage remains unmistakably colonial.
Yet in 2024, a record-breaking sixteen American juniors reached the quarterfinals of the prestigious British Junior Open – a clear signal that squash’s future may no longer be confined to its old citadels of power. Once the domain of Pakistani artistry, Egyptian brilliance, and English tradition, the sport’s brightest talents are now emerging under a different flag: the Stars and Stripes.
Fuelled by the lure of the Ivy League, the sport has been booming across the U.S., particularly at the junior level, where its appeal has stretched from coast to coast. Players like Amanda Sobhy and Olivia Weaver – now fixtures in the world’s top five – have become the embodiment of a system that is no longer playing catch-up, but setting the pace.
For a coach like Josh Taylor, one of Britain’s most promising tacticians, the allure was irresistible. With English practicality in one hand and American opportunism in the other, Taylor now finds himself stateside at The St. James facility in Springfield, Virginia, and at the helm of a project that he believes could be transformative on the global squash landscape.
“To start with the facility itself – it is utterly unique,” Taylor explains. “We have everything you could want under one roof – two ice rinks, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and eight state-of-the-art squash courts. But more importantly, we have a vision to grow the game of squash in this region and create a facility and a programme here that impacts squash locally and, hopefully in the longer term, globally too.
“The facility is unusual in that it is privately owned. Normally in the US you would only see these kind of facilities at an Ivy League school or one of the very top schools sports programmes – so The St James’ is unique in that sense.
“Anyone can be a member, you can access it as a non-member, and we are used by multiple schools in the area for example that use it as a facility for additional activities that they don’t have on campus. We have a school that comes and uses our courts, for example,” Taylor explains.
“The owners have built up their knowledge of sport through running successful programmes in the facility, and squash is the latest sport to become fully integrated. There was a first rendition of the program with former professional Alistair Walker. It went reasonably well, but then Covid really got in the way – so we’re essentially building on that and creating something new.”
After a career with England Squash, where he was pivotal in developing the junior talent pathway – guiding the national junior teams to success at European and World Championship level – Taylor brings to the States a wealth of experience at all levels of the game – experience that will be essential to make a success of the project.
Working under the banner of ‘Bee Squash’ and with the backing of Abir Ray – who has sponsored players such as Gregory Gaultier, Paul Coll and Olivia Weaver through his Expressions Network company – Taylor, and the Bee Squash Academy, aims to establish a complete developmental pathway, creating a unique model for growing the sport from grassroots participation to elite-level training.
“The college system has been great for the sport here, but I also want to inspire the next generation to think beyond college. I want them to aspire to be professionals, to play on the PSA World Tour,” Taylor says, and with pros like Danielle Ray based at the facility and others such as Finnlay Withington, Baptiste Masotti, Saran Nghiem and Joel Makin having already visited, it looks as though the elite aspect of that vision is already underway.
“It’s not just about teaching the game but about creating an environment where players can see a tangible future in the sport.
“We’ve had very quick growth in terms of the higher-level Junior program. We’ve got a few really good juniors in the area that have decided to come along with us and come on this journey and they’ve been performing well in JCT events already. So, that’s been a fantastic start.
“If we’ve got pros coming through, we’re making sure that there’s a visibility to that with the junior program, the adults, and the community as a whole. We’ve done quite a lot of master classes and stuff like that because I think there’s a big aspect in the US in terms of challenging the roadmap for their juniors and their aspirations.”
With Taylor’s links to the professional game guaranteed to see professionals drop-in to make use of the facilities between events, especially during the US leg of the PSA Squash Tour over the next month, there is another aspect of The St James programme that he is particularly excited by – navigating a pathway that integrates academic and athletic excellence.
The St James has already partnered with TPH Academy to offer academic flexibility alongside elite sports training in a number of other sports – a set up Taylor hopes can be replicated within the squash programme, creating a professional-grade environment similar to the famed tennis academies in Florida and Europe that would be the first of its kind within squash.
“My hope is that we can get a small group of squash players that have a high level of aspiration to come in and utilise that service we have in the building. Obviously, it’s worked very successfully in tennis where they’ve got their schooling literally on site and their tennis academy taking care of everything in the IMG model,” Taylor shares.
“It would be an entirely new offering within squash as far as I am aware, and would help foster an environment where yes, academic excellence would be encouraged, but where young aspiring players could be exposed to the kind of systems that have been so successful at producing professional players in other sports.
“In the US parents already see squash as a serious option as it can help their kids get into college – the next step is to show them that there is a path to become professional. It’s an exciting prospect, but it also comes with a lot of pressure and there’s a lot of work to be done across all aspects of the programme before we can get to that stage.” 
As for the long-term vision, Taylor’s project extends into uncharted territory. He hopes to develop the community engagement aspect, get more adults involved in the sport, and create an academy that provides a holistic environment for both junior and professional players.
“The goal isn’t just to produce good players – it’s to create ambassadors for the sport, individuals who can carry the torch and inspire the next generation,” he says.
For now, Taylor is focused on hitting those initial goals: getting more young kids into the game, growing the adult program, and establishing a home base for pros.
Once those goals are hit, Taylor could be at the forefront of an entirely new system that could reshape squash in the States in the coming years.
