Simon Parke, former British National Champion and world #3, played through several of the most intriguing eras of squash including the Jansher Khan era as well as the early days of the Power/Nicol rivalry. Simon talks about how he sees the game today and in doing so I selfishly request that he reflect back on his time on court which for me is a kid in a candy store scenario. We also talk about his recent and upcoming SquashTV duties which includes the Squash in Land event in Cleveland and the PSA's return to Egypt with Blackball. Great chat and check out what it means to grow the game at www.opensquash.org

The University of Pennsylvania won its first ever US Collegiate Squash National Championship (Potter Cup) a few weeks back with head coach Gilly Lane leading the way for the Quakers. Gilly talks about the big win and how some ups and downs this season and in recent seasons laid the groundwork. We also talk about his maturity as coach, butting heads each week with some of the games greats, how the college game compares to his days as a player while at Penn and much more.

For the past 15 years, the game of professional squash has been synonymous with the name Joey Barrington. Joey has been the lead commentator and face of PSA Squash TV for close to 15 years, and it goes without saying part of squash royalty, the son of living legend Jonah Barrington. Joey's youthful exuberance combined with incredible squash IQ is on display whenever he takes the mic, and it certainly brushes off on the stellar co commentating team Squash TV assembles for each event. Joey takes a look back at the early Squash TV days, the exciting men's and women's finals at Optasia, the upcoming London Squash Classic and this summer's JB PJ elite junior squash camps at the storied squash facility of Millfield School.

Squash's inclusion in the LA 28 Olympic Games has ignited an even greater fire within the squash community towards growing the game. This June alongside the British Open in Birmingham, the PSA Foundation Squash Summit will take place bringing together squash minds from across the board to discuss the way forward for our great game. Adriana Olaya is the Head of the PSA Foundation and she breaks it all down on Ep. 290.

Jethro Binns and the crew at SquashSkills were the first to go all in on a one-stop-shop for squash coaching for the entire squash community. Since then, he continues his effort to find the next innovation along those lines, and Jethro comes on to bring us up to speed in terms of Squash Levels, LevelTech and the DoubleDot AI Squash Coach. The fire burns like never before and we discuss these and other projects that we can look forward to. Check out Squash Levels at https://www.squashlevels.com/home, LevelTech at https://leveltech.io/ and our tremendous sponsor Open Squash at www.opensquash.org

After decades of failed Olympic bids, squash reached the promised land back in October of last year with its successful LA 2028 bid, thus injecting a newfound positive momentum that our game desperately needed. WSF President Zena Wooldridge talks about this historic moment for squash and what it means for the future of our great game. We talk about the bid itself, how the stars seemed to align, the WSF team and how they are knuckling down with their long term vision. In terms of growing the game, check all the great things the WSF is working towards at www.worldsquash.org as well as the sponsor of this podcast Open Squash at www.opensquash.org

The Canadian Open kicks off on March 3rd at a squash venue that has taken the city of Calgary by storm, the Bow Valley Athletic Club. Connor Turk is the head squash pro at BVAC, and it's great to finally get him on the pod. Son of Canadian squash legend Gene Turk, Connor's backstory is obviously an interesting one. We talk about Bow Valley, the Canadian Open and his first round match, growing up the son of Gene Turk and uncle Billy, and much more. Check our sponsor www.opensquash.org and also drop a donation to the pod via the paypal link :) . Great Chat!!!

RJ Mitchell has produced some of the finest squash journalism that we've seen in past few years during his tenure with Squash Mad. He's recently moved on to take up a new and exciting post with Squash Player Magazine, their new website in particular, which was recently taken over by the PSA. RJ and I discuss the excitement of the PSA tour this season and then he takes us into what we can look forward to on the soon to be unveiled Squash Player website. Please check out our great sponsor www.opensquash.org where growing the game and making it accessible to one and all is the OpenSquash mission.

We're back ! Episode 285 and our new segment, the monthly whip around kicks off with AR Proformance's Ahad Raza who will join me each month for a look at the pro game and then some. Many thanks to our Sponsor Open Squash and you can check them out at www.opensquash.org

Declan James made his return to the PSA tour last week in Qatar after being sidelined for 9 months due to a ruptured Achilles suffered in November of last year. Declan talks about how that all went down, and the perseverance, patience and self-belief it took to get him back to PSA playing shape once again. We also look back at his 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medal winning performance alongside doubles partner James Willstrop, and much much more.