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PST Responds to PSA Attack

The Pro Squash Tour (PST) regrets that the Professional Squash Association (PSA) has unilaterally decided to ban its member players from participating in the Pro Squash Tour. In so doing, it has singled out the PST while permitting the PSL, BSPA, ISDA and myriad other tournaments/exhibitions in the world to go forward.

This action targets the livelihood of the very athletes that we all admire, emulate and hope will become household names in the coming years as the game of squash grows in the United States.

The Pro Squash Tour will continue to support the players and the growth of the game in the face of this unconscionable attack that violates the Professional Squash Association’s own policy that allows member players to compete in any tournament that does not take place within seven days or 50 miles of a PSA-sanctioned event.

As most players will max out playing 13 tournaments a year with the PSA, it is a dangerous precedent for the PSA to begin restricting how players may make a living during the other 40 weeks of a year.

Although we hope the Professional Squash Association will live up to its stated goal of acting with honor and integrity and lift this ban on athletes who it purports to represent, the Pro Squash Tour is evaluating how best to protect the players who have partnered with us to introduce a new and exciting brand of squash to the United States.

As we do so, we hope the friends and fans we have met during the past year will continue to support the players and the game we all love. More than 150 years old and played by more than 20 million people in 185 countries, squash has shown sustained growth in the US in recent years. The US based Pro Squash Tour was founded in 2009 and coordinates a tour with stops across the United States. The season begins in September and runs through April.

Posted on October 15, 2010
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