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Members of Fish Hoek Squash Club celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the club on Friday night, 13 May.
Going through memory lane Frank Guthrie, one of the founding members and chair of the club in 1972, said it initially took eight months for plans to be approved for the building of the first two squash courts.
“When we first wanted to try and start the squash club, it took us eight months to get the plans passed through the Fish Hoek municipality at the time because there was one councillor who said that it would never last. Then the motion went through and we were given this area in the sports complex to build a squash club.
“We’ve had so many players from overseas that came and stayed with us, played at various premises and that’s really what got the club going and people interested.”
Carollyn Guthrie, also a member of the club from 1972, recalls initial resistance for the club that has now grown to be much loved and popular.
“The residents said the squash club would be a white elephant if we built it. So we had resistance in the beginning but Howard Wood, the mayor of Fish Hoek at the time, supported it.
“They decided to go ahead and the municipality actually gave them a loan and they started building two courts and it just took off.”
“It’s now one of the most popular clubs in the Fish Hoek area and of course it just grew. There were times we had the top players in the country playing here.
“We started off with one men’s team and one women’s team and in those days it was five people in a team.”
Margie Barker, one of the first women to play in the women’s team , said her late husband introduced her to the sport.
“My husband invited me right at the start of the club in 1972. He told me about this game that you play with four walls and I was a tennis player and I said crazy, you can’t play with four walls and he said come I will show you. So, he showed me and we came once or twice and then one of the ladies saw me playing and asked me to join the ladies team. I said well I can’t score and they said they will teach me how to score.”
She added that her late husband also strung rackets for the members.
“My husband also played and he has strung rackets until his death three years ago. He was also a provincial squash player right up until his late 70’s.”
Barker added that she loved everything about the sport.
“What I love about squash is that you can play it any time, you don’t have to depend on the weather, you can play any level and you can have lots of fun.”
