Squash, racquetball heat up when outside weather cools

BOULDER — Fall’s first few cool winds already have flowed over the Flatirons, and for the athletically inclined, that means one thing: indoor sports. Two indoor sports to get you into the swing of things during cooler weather are racquetball and squash.

In the Boulder area, there are some choices when it comes time to hit the courts. Flatiron Athletic Club, Rallysport Health and Fitness Club, and the Mapleton Center YMCA all offer options for play.

Flatiron Athletic Club has five courts that can be used for both racquetball and squash, while Rallysport Health and Fitness Club offers three racquetball courts and one squash court. According to Heather Vossler, director of member services at Rallysport, both sports “are going well.”

“I’ve seen a little decline in them, but the ones who are involved in both of the sports are passionate about them to say the least,” Vossler said. “I’d say there are several hundred racquetball players and probably about 100 squash players.”

The Mapleton Center YMCA at Mapleton and 28th Street in Boulder has four racquetball courts.

“Summer is our slow time for racquetball, but it picks up in the fall and winter,´ said Suzanne Harp, member services coordinator. “But lunch time and from 4 to 7 p.m. is pretty busy no matter what time of the year.”

The YMCA does not offer lessons or host tournaments, but it does have a system to match players, Harp said. “We can help match people who are looking for a partner to play with.”

John Fasullo is a local squash enthusiast who played tennis for Cornell University in New York and began playing squash on the side.

“I made a slow transition to squash and really started to prefer it for practical reasons,´ said Fasullo, who now gives private squash lessons. “I could play it when the weather was bad, and it is much more of an intense workout than tennis.

“It offers much better conditioning, and it’s more physically demanding. I actually prefer squash to tennis now,” he said.

When he took up squash, Fasullo, who teaches in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said he immediately noticed that it required more lower-body and cardiovascular strength.

“I would say squash is probably equivalent, in terms of a workout, to vigorous bike riding or cross-country running,” he said. “You play for about an hour, and you’ll feel like you’ve been biking or running cross country.”

He also said there are “more dimensions” to squash.

“In racquetball there’s not a lot of defense,” he said. “Everyone tries to hit that one small spot on the corner of the front wall that’s impossible to return. But in squash, if your offense is readable, you’ll likely lose.”

Fasullo said squash takes longer to learn than racquetball. “There’s a smaller bounce to the ball, only three to four inches when you first start playing,” he said. “It gets higher once the ball warms up, but it’s different and a little harder to get used to.”

He estimated that for a tennis or racquetball player, it might take two weeks to get used to squash. For those who’ve played neither tennis nor racquetball, Fasullo said it might take a month to acclimate to squash.

As for interchanging tennis and squash, “It’s difficult for most people to do successfully,” Fasullo said. “The swings are different. Squash’s swing is much more compact. And footwork and your general movements in squash are different, too.

“You need more balance, more flexibility. There’s also more strategy in squash,” he said. To learn the finer points of the game “could take years,” Fasullo said.

Of course, equipment is helpful in getting down those finer points. Steve Vorhaus, owner of Rocky Mountain Racquet Specialists in Boulder, said the changes tennis rackets have undergone have also been seen in racquetball and squash rackets.

“I’d say the hitting areas of squash and racquetball rackets have increased by 10 percent to 20 percent,” Vorhaus said. “The rackets have also gotten lighter, stronger and offer more power. And in racquetball, there’s no downside to power.”

Vorhaus, who offers more than 20 models of rackets in each sport, warns customers not to be misled by titanium labels.

“Most rackets that claim to have titanium have it, but less that 1 percent is titanium,” he said. “It has some strengthening qualities, but most racquets are made primarily from graphite.”

Vorhaus said racket sales for both sports have been healthy.

“Squash has seen a steady national increase over the last several years, but there are fewer players in squash,” Vorhaus said.

Fasullo said about 100 people play squash at Flatiron Athletic Club. “I’ve seen interest rising in the sport over the last eight years,” he said.

Fasullo charges $25 per session, and a session lasts 45 minutes. Those interested can learn more about Fasullo, his lessons and squash at his Web site at www.fasullo.com/squash. Fasullo said he has about 100 students for his squash lessons.

Rallysports’s Vossler said there are challenge nights for racquetball players and a ladder for squash players. Players can sign up for the Rallysport courts in one-hour time slots four days in advance.

on Facebook on LinkedIn