Aberdeen Squash and Racketball Club are looking forward to returning to the Scottish Squash National League when they host the event on Sunday.
This is the first time since the 2016-17 season ASRC, who play on Cranford Road in Mannofield, have entered a team into the Scottish National League.
Some of Scotland’s best players feature across a National League season, such as men’s number one Greg Lobban, who hails from Inverness.
Committee member and player Lindsay Ackers, 31, is delighted to see the ASRC mix it with the country’s best again.
Ackers said: “The standard will be incredibly high. I’m by no means expecting us to come away winning anything, but I feel an immense sense of pride for the club.
“It was incredibly disappointing to see the club not represented at this level anymore.
“We are the premier club in the north-east of Scotland. We’re a single-sport club who are completely dedicated to squash, whereas other clubs have tennis or have multi-purpose venues.
“The club are former European champions, so not to be represented at national level anymore was disappointing. I just took the bull by the horns to help change that.
“There had been a drop in numbers since Covid, which is certainly not unique to our club but hopefully now have the club back in the league we see a bit of a boost.”
ASRC set to have women’s team compete in league for first time
Alongside the men’s section of the club, ASRC have also entered a team into the Women’s National League for the first time.
Ackers added: “I used to be a member of the club when I was younger before I moved to Glasgow where there is a lot more players and there is a lot more going on in squash generally.
“I came back up here for family reasons last year and just thought it was a crying shame that the club was so underrepresented.
“I rallied a few of the female players and here we are. We’ve got a good team of six of us.
“The women’s side of the club is smaller than the men’s and I want to do anything I can to bring up female participation.
“I did the same when I was in Glasgow and started up a local women’s league team for exactly the same purpose.”
Hosting high-profile events can help profile of squash in Aberdeen
By hosting a high-profile event like the National League in Aberdeen, Ackers hopes local people will feel more encouraged to watch and take up squash.
She said: “It is unbelievably important. We’re a single-sport club and it’s so important that we get recognised by governing bodies like Scottish Squash to host premier events.
“We’re lucky because we’ve got seven courts which is a lot more than some of the other clubs, who only have two or three courts.
“Having a good relationship with Scottish Squash really does open Aberdeen up to more of these sorts of opportunities – and we will be hosting the Scottish Junior National Championships in a few weeks’ time.
“It’s really important to showcase what is available up here because when I was a junior I often had to travel down to the Central Belt.
“For our juniors to see high-profile players in the city will be so important. I remember being genuinely blown away watching the players I aspired to be when I was younger.
“If you are someone who is looking to get into squash or don’t know much about the sport, I would encourage them to come along on Sunday and see what it is about.
“To exactly see the athleticism and the style of the sport, but to see the real sense of community which exists within it, too. It is a really fantastic sport to be a part of.”
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