Squash is a great game and a fun way to get into shape…but like many things, it comes with a price tag. This article will tell you everything you need to know about the costs of playing squash.
Here’s the short answer. Overall, playing squash will cost between $500 and $1000 per year. However, there are many other potential costs for the sport, depending on how far you want to go in terms of training, conditioning and learning. Potentially you could spend $2000 or even slightly more.
I have done a lot of research, and come up with the definitive guide on how much squash will cost you. It really isn’t an expensive sport at all, but with a little investment you might find that you get a bit more out of it.
The Bare Basics
At the bare minimum, you will need goggles, a racket and squash shoes.
Goggles often cost around $25 while a cheaper squash racket should cost you around $50 to $75. Note that it is very important you have the goggles. Squash is far from a dangerous sport, but one risk it comes with is that an eye injury. Don’t take a chance!
As for shoes, you may think that having any pair of shoes will do, but squash shoes are a must as they do not leave marks on the floor and many squash courts will not let you in if they think you will damage their floor. In addition, squash shoes can help you with balance and let you turn much more easily. These shoes range in price from anywhere from $40 – $200, and on occasion may be even more depending on factors like size and brand. However, sticking with the lower end price-range when you start out will be absolutely fine.
If you are reading this page, there is a good chance you are a complete newcomer to the game. If this is the case, getting lessons would be a great start. On average, lessons are about $20 to $40 per hour. Finally, to pay for access to a squash court you are looking at an average price of 5 to $10 per 45 minutes of playing. However, this cost will always be split with your partner, so you will be paying half.
Dietary Costs
For any sport you take up, if you really want to excel, you may have to pay prices beyond just getting the equipment. If you really want to get good at squash, you will need to have healthy food and water. These might sound obvious, but you would be surprised at how many people do not put effort into their diets when taking up a sport.
Fortunately, eating healthy can be relatively cheap if you buy your food in bulk and pack it with you. Eating out, especially if it is healthy, can often become expensive. Combine a healthy diet with drinking primarily water, and you will shed the pounds very quick, helping you in your squash journey.
These costs will be referred to as dietary costs and excluded from the non-essentials list later on. The reason for this is that if you want to excel in squash you will need water and a healthy diet to stay in shape whereas the non-essentials that will be discussed later you may or may not need.
However, if you are only playing squash casually, you may not put the effort into your diet and still be able to play, albeit not as well.
Approximate Yearly Cost
So you’ve decided to take the plunge and dedicate yourself to squash. You’re not just getting the gear or playing once or twice, you’re going to dedicate yourself to it and put all the work in to become a force to be reckoned with.
Great! But how much will this cost? Going by some of the above costs, here are some basic calculations to have a rough idea how much you’ll be paying per year.
For Those Who Have Lots Of Time And Lots Of Money…
One-Time Costs:
- Goggles: $25.00
- Racket: $200.00
- Shoes: $200.00
Ongoing Costs:
- 3 45-minute sessions of Squash per week (times 52 weeks for 1 year): $1000
- 1 hourly training session per week (times 52 weeks for 1 year): $1500
Overall (Excluding Dietary Costs): $3000
For Those With Less Time And/Or Less Money…
One Time Costs:
- Goggles: $25.00
- Racket: $75.00
- Shoes: $80.00
Ongoing Costs:
- 1 45 minute session of Squash per week (times 52 weeks for 1 year): $300
- 1 hourly training session per month (times 12 months for 1 year): $320
Overall (Excluding Dietary Costs): $800 per year
Even More Ways To Improve Your Squash Potential
Now that you’ve figured out how much it will cost to play squash consistently, you may be wondering: how can I go even further?
Buying healthy food and having a water bottle to help you stay in enough shape to perform well at squash, but if you combine eating healthily and drinking water with working out at a gym, your body will become even more fit and enhance your performance exponentially.
For those with a bit of time and money to spend, one can buy a gym membership and do some cardio in addition to squash. On average, gym memberships in America cost $56 monthly but can rise up to around $100 in higher price areas.
If you have more money and the time to spend on the gym, why not look into getting a personal trainer? Personal trainers are great for teaching people how to exercise, eat healthy and stay in shape for sports or just for the benefits of doing so.
In the case of squash, if you can find a personal trainer who can help you with endurance, flexibility and agility, these traits will definitely help you on the squash court.
Personal trainer costs vary immensely from gym to gym. However, a rough estimate for an average gym is $80 to $125 per session. The fancier the gym or the more equipment, the more likely you will be paying more.
Either way, personal training is definitely something worth looking into, especially for those who are getting into squash but are currently out of shape and don’t have much knowledge on exercise.
Another way to help you get better at squash is studying.
In most topics and hobbies, studying can help you learn all kinds of things that you may not have known before. In the age of Google, you can find many resources online to help you for free.
This site itself obviously can help but if you prefer to read physical books, there are also many great books on the topic of squash. Naturally, the price of the book varies, but it is always helpful to do some reading on any topic you want to learn about.
Just remember that although it will help you to read up on squash, it is no substitute for actually playing squash. For best results, read up on squash as much as you can, including the great tips from this site, and put the hard work in of getting into shape and playing squash as much as you can.
Preparing For Issues That May Come Up
We’ve already discussed the costs of everything you need to do for squash and even costs of things that will help but aren’t absolutely necessary.
However, sometimes costs can come up for issues which may or may not happen. Obviously, no one wishes for bad luck to fall upon you in your journey to become great at squash.
But what if it does? Then it’s always best to have planned beforehand. Here are some common issues for squash players, both new and experienced.
One common issue is that squash racquets degrade over time from wear and tear.
It is possible that your squash racket won’t break down but with each time the ball hits the racket, the chance goes slightly up that the strings will break down. Once the strings fully break, you will either need to string the racket yourself or take it to someone who can string the racket for you, unless you want to simply buy another racket.
Fixing the strings yourself can get costly as the machine to let you do this can cost anywhere from $100 to $1000, depending on the quality of the machine. That’s not including the cost of the strings which cost $6 to $8 on average pet set.
It is much safer and probably cheaper to get your strings professionally fixed, which costs about $20 per fixed racquet. Professionals can obviously do a much better job fixing a racquet than someone who has never strung a racquet before. It can take many years to attain the skills to properly fix a racquet to the strength and form it was originally, so your best bet is to pay the professionals.
Speaking of fixing things, what about fixing your body?
If you get injured, you’re going to need pay medical costs. A good first step is hiring a physiotherapist, especially if you can get one who specializes in sport injuries. Don’t do this unless you have to though, as a physiotherapist can be quite expensive over time.
On average, costs for 7 to 10 physiotherapy sessions can be about $882 to $1260, excluding any benefits that can lessen the price. If you have healthcare benefits, there’s a good chance you can use them to lower the price of your physiotherapy.
As long as you wear your goggles and shoes as well as train properly, there is a very minimal chance that you will get hurt seriously enough to go to the hospital. But it is best to save some money in case that happens, whether due to the sport or just an unhappy accident.
Hospital bills range in price so that will not be covered here, but just know it’s always a good idea to have some money socked away for that potential problem.
Going Pro
For beginners to squash, playing in a tournament might seem impossible.
But the longer you work hard at playing squash, the more your skills will improve. Eventually, your skills may improve to the point where you could play in a tournament. But how much do tournaments cost?
Well, fortunately, they tend not to cost too much. Obviously, tournaments vary in price, but here is one example. A 2019 tournament called the New York Individual Championships (which required registration in 2018) cost $60 to register.
What if you simply just want to watch professional tournaments for inspiration or entertainment?
In that case, the price varies from cheap to somewhat expensive. Usually, these prices change depending on the quality of the seat for the tournament and the importance of the match (for example, finals often are more expensive to watch than the beginning of the tournament).
For example, the U.S. Open Squash Championships for 2019 cost $10 for ground passes on the first round but for the finals, there are no specific ground passes and instead the lowest price is for general admission, and that cost is $55. On the opposite end of the pricing scale, back wall seating for the first round is $140 and back wall seating for the finals is $250.
Whether you choose to watch tournaments or participate in them, watching professionals play squash is a good way to inspire yourself to reach as high as you can in the sport.
It’s also just a good way to enjoy yourself. But if you work hard at the sport, then you can play in tournaments, and who knows? Maybe one day, you’ll be good enough to participate in professional squash tournaments! The sky is the limit.B
Budgeting For Non-Essentials In Squash
Earlier, we discussed the costs of the essentials in playing squash for beginners, be it the gear you need or the training you require. We also discussed a couple of other costs to help you be able to continue playing the game such as diet or getting a water bottle.
However, all those costs were for things you need just to play to the best of your initial ability and not the prices for the potential emergencies or items that can expand your abilities in squash.
Below is another list of some estimated prices for the items and procedures that have been discussed above. Although many of these items already have prices discussed above, they are compiled here for ease of reference.
After these costs, there are also some calculations combining the previous packages of necessary things to buy for squash with the items listed here, so you can have an overall idea of just how much it will cost to get everything you need to do well in squash.
Again, like before if the price varies, a higher price will be recorded in the list below, so that way you can plan to have more money than needed rather than find yourself with not enough.
Fixing Squash Strings: $20 per racket needing to be fixed
Gym Membership: $100 per month
Personal Trainer: Varies from trainer to trainer, but a good assumption for many gyms is $80 to $125 per session
Healthcare: This cost varies immensely depending on the nature of the injury or issue that needs to be treated and many other factors, so this price will not be recorded.
Physiotherapy: $1260 (on average for a set of 10 sessions)
Squash Books: The cost on this varies depending on the book and how many you want to buy. However, you can use the internet to get information for free. If you have to buy books on squash, it might be smart to set a budget of no more than $100 for this, so you don’t end up constantly reading about squash instead of playing squash.
Registering For Tournaments: The price varies from tournament to tournament, but many amateur tournaments are $100 or less per entry.
Buying Tickets To Watch Tournaments: Price varies from $10 to $250 on average per ticket, depending on factors like the game, location, seat, etc.
Overall Approximate Price For The Non-Essentials: This price is excluding the costs of healthcare (since that varies), assuming you are buying everything else only once (though the book budget is based on the $100 price and not the amount of books as well as that you are buying 10 physiotherapy lessons).
It is also assumed you are paying the maximum for each item mentioned above, and only registering yourself once into a tournament and only buying one ticket for a tournament. The price is $1855.
It should be noted that obviously many of these prices can vary, depending on if you want to buy more than one of each.
Advice For Those Who Might Be Struggling Financially
Squash really is not an expensive sport, and not much equipment is required to get you started. However, for some the costs involved in this article may make them feel that squash sounds too expensive for them. Is there anything that can help reduce costs?
There definitely is! Here are some solutions to help you through the steps on getting started, without breaking the bank:
- Borrow or rent a racket. You may have a friend that is willing to lend you one.
- Buy preowned rackets and other equipment online. There are many people that regularly sell their used gear, and you can pick things up at a fraction of their market price.
- Join a squash club. This always cuts down the price of court hire.
- Attend ‘mix-ins’. These are held by many clubs, and are a designated night when many members attend the club and play mini-matches against each other. The price of these mix-ins is always considerably less than the price of normal court hire. Plus you get the added advantage of playing a wide range of opponents of different ages, styles and techniques.
Conclusion
With this knowledge, you can now budget yourself for just about any issue that may come up for squash.
Whether you are starting as a beginner or already have some experience, hopefully this article gave you some good advice and maybe even inspiration to aim as high as possible in your squash journey.
Remember that no matter how much it costs financially, taking care of yourself is always worth it, and squash is a great way to get your body in shape and find a passion that could last the rest of your life. Good luck and remember to squash any doubts holding you back and aim for the top!