The HisToRy Of SquAsH

 

Squash is said as a game that is modified from a game called racquets, which was itself a modified version of at least five other sports involving gloves, racquets, and balls and rooted from France in the 12^th century in which is played by hitting a ball against the wall by using the hand. It was first played for fun and entertainment.

Around the year 1148, the French played le Paume which means the palm of the hand, which was then developed into Tennis.

The First Invention of Racquets

Monks of religious institution in France has developed the similar game, where they used webbed gloves to hit balls against a fishing net strung across the middle of the courtyards of the monasteries. This developed early racquets that is used in tennis and squash.

The Next Development of Squash

The next major development of squash took place in Fleet Prison. The game involved racquets and balls but the non squeezable ball was hit against wall instead hitting it over a net.

It became popular throughout UK in the 18^th century especially in Harrow School. At this time, there were only two racquets courts available and they become impatient, and improvised the game, practicing on any available wall with old balls.

The new court is made up with two side walls, and a front wall with a buttress, which is an effectively an enclosed court, known as ‘The Corner’. This street version of racquets required fast reactions and split-second decisions, and the boys who played it modified the standard racquet by shortening the handle and used a softer ball which did not bounce so predictably or ricochet so quickly. This may have been a rubber ball or a punctured racquets ball. The impact of the ball hit to the wall, produced the sound Squash and gave the rise to the name squash.

This more compact version of racquets took off, and purpose-built squash courts were a feature of Harrow by the 1860s. These were roughly a third the size of the racquets courts. By the late 19th century, squash was popular in public schools and universities throughout Britain, and in 1908, a squash sub-committee of the Tennis and Rackets Association was formed to oversee the sport. This version of racquets was called "baby racquets" or "soft racquets" or "softer". This game spread from UK around the globe helped by its simplicity and the fact that it is unaffected by the weather as it is played indoors. 

By the 1920s, the rules of the game had been codified and the British Squash Rackets Association had taken over administration of the sport by 1928. In 1973 (for women) and 1980 (for men), the categories of amateur and professional were abolished, so that squash became an open game. By the early 1990s, there were 12 million squash players worldwide, and today there are around 50,000 courts. Squash has a particularly strong tradition in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Egypt. 

Source: http://www.talksquash.co.uk/guides/history_of_squash.html 
           :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_%28sport%29
Images:http://www.titanium-racket.com/squash
           :http://4.bp.blogspot.com