Royal Artillery Win Army Inter-Corps Squash Championships

The Royal Artillery have finished on top at the Inter-Corps Squash Championships, winning the Division One title for the second year running.

The three-day event held in Aldershot saw many of the Army’s leading squash players take to the courts in a sport that has dramatically improved in popularity in recent times.

The boost has come from the Professional Squash Association and England Squash signing the Armed Forces Covenant which has resulted in playing numbers rising across the military services.

Junior soldiers are also able to develop their game thanks to the creation of the Army Squash Academy, which sets out to improve players and make them fierce competition for the Royal Navy and the RAF teams at the Inter-Services Championships.

The latest organisation to sign the covenant is 'Squash Skills', which provides soldiers with the ability to play wherever they are posted in the world.

She said: “We are lucky that we have done a lot of work with England Squash and with the Professional Squash Association and we're kind of building a support network for Army Squash.”

"I’ve used Squash Skills in the past so I knew it was something that could be of huge benefit particularly to those of us who are posted away, haven’t got other training partners to be able to access that resource remotely."

A huge factor is the ability of a squash player is their fitness and it becomes even more vital with Army sport. Current Army Squash President General Tyrone Urch, now in his fifties, is keen to stress the importance of a player’s fitness.

He said: “We are having a really good look, a scientific look, at the physical entry standards for the British Army both for those who are in and those who are about to join.

"The new conditioning standards we are going to set are going to be really, really good."

"It's not going to be easy to get into the Army, but we'll have a much better look at those soldiers.

"That kind of cardio-vascular, explosive sort of short, sharp exercise that you kind of get on [a squash court] is complementary to being able to put you bergen on and going and doing a six-miler. We need our soldiers to be able to do both, male or female, regular or reserve," he said.

“This is a team sport.

"You don't draw - you win or lose as a team.

"Of course it is all down to an individual effort on the court. You need to train hard before you come on. You need to be fit to play squash. Don’t play squash to keep fit."

“When you come off the court and you're not doing so well, one of your team will come up, have a word with you and tell you what you are doing wrong and how you need to improve.

"From that point, it is a genuine team sport."