DropShots WISPA

Nicol David (front) and Natalie Grinham
Nicol David (front) and Natalie Grinham

Full Steam Ahead for WISPA World Championships

The wheels on the bus go round and round.” And in the case of WISPA, they don’t seem to stop. WISPA recently signed a three-year partnership with Dutch management company Stolwijk & Eichorn (S & E) to back the Women’s World Championships from 2009 to 2011. The next five Championships are now in place, with Madrid playing host this October and Manchester in 2008.

S & E will stage and promote the event, which will have a minimum total prize fund of nearly half-a-million dollars for the three years, and will include an investment of $1.5 million.

“This wonderful continuity for the ‘Worlds’ means we can really begin to plan a strong long-term calendar of major championships,” said WISPA President Natalie Grainger. “These are really exciting times for WISPA.”

“We can’t wait to announce further details regarding the first championship in 2009,” said S & E partner Arno Stolwijk.

WISPA’s New Board

 Grainger
Grainger

The WISPA board has taken on a more masculine look. For the first time two men were elected to the Board. The WISPA Annual General Meeting was held in mid-April in conjunction with the Qatar Classic, and former Trinity player Blair Keller joined Antony Lee, a former vice president of the Malaysian Squash Racquets Association, as the first men to be elected to the board. World No. 21 Jaclyn Hawkes of New Zealand is the other newbie on the board. Retaining their positions are WISPA President Natalie Grainger of the US; Ireland’s Madeline Perry; England’s Jenny Tranfield and Ingrid-Lofdahl-Bentzer, a former professional squash player who has been active in the International Tennis Federation.

WISPA and WSF Undertake Surveys

WISPA and the WSF want to know more about you. No, they don’t want to know your personal information so they can start flooding your mailboxes with junk mail or so they can sell it to every paying organization in the world. They want to know what your squash playing habits are—in WISPA’s case, what you think about the organization—and more, so that the associations can help promote the sport. WISPA has posted a survey on their website–www.wispa.net–that is open to everyone, and will be available online until May 27th. It takes only minutes to complete.

“It will probably become the widest and most detailed ever survey of squash enthusiasts,” said WISPA Chief Executive Andrew Shelley. “We regard it as important to have fuller data for the sport as a whole. We suffer from having fragmented information and WISPA hopes to address this in support of general WSF collation. When we talk to prospective sponsors and the media, we want to have the best possible marketing and general information to present to them.”

To take the WSF survey, go to www.insightexpress.com/s/Unit116029?&. It takes slightly longer to complete, but will greatly help the WSF.