Open Squash women celebrate the summer with outdoor squash

—By Ciara Richards, Women’s Community Manager and Assistant Coach. 

More than 30 women came out to play and socialize at our first outdoor squash event in collaboration with Maspeth Squash.

Did you know you can play outdoor squash on a court made of steel in Maspeth, Queens? Even more so, did you know that you can get over 30 women of all ages and abilities playing on an outdoor squash court made of steel in 100 degree heat on a summer’s day in June? 

Well, that’s just what we did over a recent summer weekend!

We hosted our very first outdoor squash event in collaboration with Maspeth Squash to bring our thriving Women’s Community to their one-of-a-kind steel court, heralded by one of our own members, Vera Galvez, who serves as the Executive Vice President at Maspeth Steel.

“We never imagined we could have this many women out here playing at once! This makes us so happy to see!” said Vera, as she watched over 10 women on court at once playing together. 

Outside the court, chef and player Hope Johnson, who catered the event, was serving her delicious food made special for the event. Next to the food was (yes, really…) a live DJ set, with our very own member Abigail Arader, former NYU player, on the decks.

Open Squash coaches Ciara Richards and Thaisa Serafini oversaw the event, making sure everyone was comfortable on court, and giving everyone their a bespoke pink Open Squash x Maspeth Squash sunhat to wear. 

Like our other Women’s events, this was just as much about squash as it was socializing and learning to love the game through friendships and new experiences. 

“Open Squash is ace at organising women’s events,” said Becca Marcus, an avid player and member of our community. “The women’s community has grown so much and it’s wonderful to be out on a beautiful summer day meeting women playing squash and having a blast!”

We were also joined by Maspeth-sponsored athlete, and world ranked#64, Alina Bushma, who treated our women to some professional-level squash. Alina played in the game of ‘three-quarters’, where everyone gets a chance to play each other and rotate on and off. 

“What an amazing experience to get to play squash like this outside!” said Alexa Marymor, who came from Open Squash FiDi for this event. 

Many people also chose to show up just to experience the party-like atmosphere, and meet new people. The steel court itself is a spectacle to behold.

“This is amazing. I've never seen this before!” said Open Squash member, Helen Wu, as she laid her eyes on the court for the first time. 

Five hours later the squash finally began to wrap up as the sun was dropping, and we reflected on s an incredible event. We are all about bringing women of all experiences, ages, and levels together through the love of sport. 

We can’t wait to host more events like this in the future. 

If you have any ideas, questions, or want to get involved, feel free to reach out to our Women’s Community Manager, Ciara Richards, at ciara.richards@opensquash.org