Duffield Squash and Racketball Club
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Duffield Squash and Racketball Club
Duffield Squash and Racketball Club is a long-established club with the reputation of being one of the finest squash clubs in the country . We are proud to celebrate our 80th birthday in October this year . Inviting past and present members to come and enjoy a celebratory day with us .
We share our site with our sister club Duffield Tennis Club , which has been in existence for even longer , in the village of Duffield located five miles north of Derby .
I was first attracted to the club because of its convenient location , high standard of play and great club atmosphere . I have enjoyed membership for nearly thirty years and in that time squash has moved on from being the sport for young and fit professionals to being one of the many ways that people of all ages can keep fit and also enjoy the associated social life .
We currently have a total membership of about five hundred , most of who live within five miles of the village and we do consider ourselves to be a real community asset . Our ages ranging from 6 to over 80 and we pride ourselves in welcoming everyone from school children , students , parents through to retired people like myself .
DSRC continues to thrive despite the attractions of many other leisure activities and the demise of several other local squash clubs . We are close to capacity membership . But we are certainly not complacent , however , and realize that we need to continually attract new members , in particular young people , to our sport .
We have always supported a formal youth policy with a full-time coach plus very attractive terms to encourage youngsters to join us . From 2017 we have enhanced this by opening a Youth Academy , focused on developing not only our more gifted young people but other young promising players from around the area .
We maintain close links with top professional squash players including ex-World Champion Nick Mathews , plus top-quality male and female coaches . Youngsters of both sexes are invited to join , and membership is free . The Academy is funded entirely by sponsorship with no additional cost to the club members . We have set ourselves the challenge of becoming the squash centre of excellence for this area .
To cater for our more mature members we introduced racketball fifteen years ago . This is a cross between tennis and squash and is played on a squash court with a bigger , bouncier ball and a shorter , stubbier racket . It is an easier game , the main advantage being that older squash players discover that racketball is much kinder on their joints than squash .
This helps many players to maintain their fitness levels and enables them to continue competing to a high standard . Both squash and racketball members can receive coaching , be a part of competitive leagues or just play on an informal , social basis . Of course , a club would not be complete without its social activities and DSRC is no exception . We support the whole village community by actively encouraging non-playing family members and purely social members to join us in our lounge and bar area . We also have a pool room and a large
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