Squash Mechanics is excited to announce its latest Squash Club partnership with Hiscoes Health and Fitness, in Surry Hills, Sydney. Established in 1981, Hiscoes has been providing a unique mix of Health and Fitness options to its Sydney’s clientele, including Squash, which has been there for over 36 years!
Court 1, 2 and 3 at Hiscoes Health and Fitness.
“The Hiscoes facility is one of the warmest and welcoming clubs I have visited in Australia. I am extremely impressed by the recent facility renovations, and the Clubs rebranding is excellent. I am genuinely excited to work with the Hiscoes team in developing and creating new intermediate and advanced development pathways and coaching programs for the Hiscoes members.” Squash Mechanics, Managing Director, Peter Aitken states.
Squash Mechanics will be delivering their patented and proven club development and coaching programs to Hiscoes! With great success at various clubs across Australia, their systems focus on increasing participation, skill development and enjoyment for players of all levels.
Programs include:
Individual coaching Group Coaching Training Squads Internal Competitions Tournaments
For more information on the great programs being offered from Hiscoes please visit www.hiscoes.com.au or to book a lesson with Darcy at Hiscoes please contact him @ darcy@squashmechanics.com or 0488 909 305
Squash Mechanics are currently going through a massive expansion in the Squash Industry in Australia. Armed with new trademarked systems, processes, and programs The Mechanics are revolutionising Squash Clubs around the country. Squash Mechanics high-performance coaching arm, The Sydney Squash Academy, are delighted to welcome Matthew “KILLER” Karwalski to the team.
“Killer” turned pro in 2007 and won 4 PSA titles during his career. He achieved a career high ranking of #49 in the World in Dec 2013. Matthew represented Australia at the 2013 World Teams Championship and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He also trained under ex-World #1 and multiple World Champion David Palmer in Orlando for 3 years.
“Matthew is a massive signing for Sydney Squash Academy and Squash Mechanics.”Jake Ebeid, Managing Director of Squash Mechanics states. “His international experience, representative background and ability will ensure we develop the excellence we are striving for.”
Matthew now has a renewed focus on helping and developing the next generation of junior and professional players. “Having grown up locally in Newcastle playing Squash before becoming a touring professional, I’ve played at Squash centers all over the world and seen the recent growth in Squash facilities in the US and Europe. Now that I’ve retired from the Professional Tour and settled down in Sydney, it’s wonderful to see Squash Mechanics and The Sydney Squash Academy with a vision for growing and developing the sport in Australia. Their holistic approach to management ensures that facilities, coaches, and programs are in place to deliver value to their clubs and members. I am truly looking forward to working with Squash Mechanics and The Sydney Squash Academy to help add value to their coaching team”, state’s ‘Killer’.
Matthews services will predominately be running from Lane Cove Squash Club and Willoughby Squash Club. He will be working directly with Sydney Squash Academy’s junior and senior professional touring players. To get in touch with ‘Killer’ contact him on 0402 372 921 or Matt@squashmechanics.com
Darcy is well known in the Squash scene in Australia both as a player and coach. The Tasmanian-born professional made the move to Sydney in 2013 chasing his dream of becoming a Professional Player. In that time he has worked under and with some of the greatest coaches in the World including RMS head coach, ex-World #2 and World Champion Rod Martin. Darcy is currently ranked #9 in Australia and #208 on the PSA World Rankings. “Darcy is an amazing coach” Ian Aitken, Willoughby Squash Club’s owner states.”His ability to connect with his students, his attitude, personality, and skills are amongst the best I have encountered in more than 40 years in the industry.”
“Willoughby Squash has a huge junior player base, many of who have just competed in the AJO in Darwin.” Darcy states “I can’t wait to get on court with all the juniors and help them get to the top of their game. There are going to be a lot of changes at the clubs and I am looking forward to seeing all the kids continue to improve.” Sydney Squash Academy will also be developing Junior programs at its other venues Lane Cove Squash and The Bondi Waverley Squash Club.
Representing Australia VS Malaysia in a Test Match
Winning the Devonport Open 2012
Winning the Eastside Open 2 times
Won the Waipukaraw Open NZ 2012
Darcy will be actively running programs at the Bondi Waverley Squash Club, Willoughby Squash Club, and Lane Cove Squash and can be contacted on 0488 909 305 or Darcy@squashmechanics.com
Squash Mechanics Partners with the Bondi Waverly Squash Club
Bondi Waverley Squash Club is Sydney’s best located Squash Club, just a stone’s throw away from the iconic Bondi Beach. The Squash Mechanics team joined with Club General Manger Reinhard Wurtz on the 1st of January 2017 and are excited to implement new programs and systems to establish the club amongst the best facilities in Australia. Bondi Waverly Squash Club offers its members and guests 4 championship Squash courts and an amazing club bar and lounge area with pool table and dart boards.
Squash Mechanics will implement and roll out a number of patented and proven programs and systems at Bondi focused on increasing participation and enjoyment for players of all ages and standards including training squads, competitions, tournaments, membership models, school participation, junior development groups and much more.
“We are delighted to partner with the Bondi Waverley Squash Club” Squash Mechanics Managing Director Peter Aitken states. “The Club offers fantastic facilities and is situated in such an amazing location. Existing General Manager, Reinhard, is running a great club and has implemented some crucial and important changes. We are excited to roll out new programs to increase awareness and numbers at the club.”
Squash Mechanics secures Lane Cove Squash Club and guarantees its future for a further 3 years.
Squash Mechanics are excited to announce that they have been appointed to manage the Lane Cove Squash Centre for a minimum of three years. The club is conveniently located 15 minutes from Sydney’s CBD and it has been a Squash Hub in Sydney for decades. This adds another business in Australia to fall under the management of Squash Mechanics and once the team is onsite in January there will be significant physical changes and program changes implemented. The investment that Squash Mechanics is making will remove any of the lingering doubts over the facility being bulldozed by developers
“There is a big list of action items for Lane Cove Squash but we can’t wait to see the difference they make to one of the Squash Hubs on Sydney’s North Shore.” Squash Mechanics Director and co-founder Jake Ebeid states. “We will be bleaching the court floors, installing some additional lighting on the courts, making some changes to the change rooms and generally modernising the facility.”
Squash Mechanics will be introducing a membership program and 24hr access control to the facility introducing squash to an entirely new customer base in the local area and increasing the hours of operation for existing players and clients.
Squash Mechanics are excited to announce the “Squash Alliance” membership benefits program. Under Squash Alliance full members of any one of Squash Mechanics facilities around Australia will receive reciprocal benefits and rights to courts at partner facilities. “This will be a massive game changer in the industry” Squash Mechanics Managing Director Peter Aitken states. “The ability to pay the one membership but be able to play in multiple facilities will guarantee increased participation and foot traffic in all of the participating clubs. Squash Alliance Clubs will work together and introduce new competitions, programs, and social events all designed to increase player enjoyment and club atmosphere.
Squash Mechanics tenure at Lane Cove Squash will begin on the 5th of January 2017. All squash enthusiasts, current North Shore Lane Cove Squash Club players, and the squash community are invited to Lane Cove Squash open days on Saturday the 14th and 21st of January. The open days will showcase the facility, some of the physical changes at the club and open the doors to the surrounding community.
As we all can agree Sport is a very difficult market to earn money in. As a Sport business owner I know it takes serious effort just to increase small amounts of revenue here and there, but why is this? Well let’s explore the inherent problems in the first place – Sport is a recreation. It is normally a hobby or a just a fun past time for our customers to use. It is also LIMITED. In order to play a sport you need numerous things, for example, the initial skill to play it in the first place, then you have certain fitness levels, seasons, equipment, usually a team or a partner to play with.. The list can go on.
So now that we have hashed through the underlining issues with why sport is usually a difficult area to make money within the limitations of a small business / small facility we can then move forward and explore quick easy fixes to your business to either increase participation or current numbers using different proven techniques.
Let’s begin with the good old participation problem, let me begin by first saying please leave all arguments at the door about the fundamental issue with participation which would be national interest. Let’s focus on the smaller more relevant issue at hand – TARGET AUDIENCE! Who are we chasing? For example I personally come from the Squash world, having worked in business owning and operations for years within the niche market of Squash I can tell you I’ve seen what ‘tough numbers’ actually looks like. In just the last three years the sport has lost over 100,000 participants or a decline of 25% of its overall players. OUCH… And don’t even get me started on the world wide decline since the 80s, it make me sick even thinking about it… but back on topic! How do we target the correct audience to maximize your numbers and sports capacity?
It’s simple! Start young. Approach every nearby school and do not stop pushing for attention until you have at least one class out of each school listening to one of your top coach’s talk about the coolest parts of your sport! With the same logic, this helps to increase junior interest in your sport which is of paramount importance when you play the long game – which is what your business should be about. THE LONG GAME!
Okay cool so now you’ve got a few school groups coming into the facility allow your staff to use your lead conversion system (Information can be found within our services page) once you allow that to turn into its own self-sustaining system with trained staff you can focus on where the immediate source of revenue should be coming from – adults! And they shouldn’t be referred to as customers from here on in, NO. They are should be called members. Your overall goal is to set up a membership system within your sporting facility that allows for your ‘Current customers’ to be converted into your ‘Membership’ Scheme (Again you can view different types of membership scheme and how to effectively set them up within our services page). So you have successfully converted existing customers into fully pledged athlete members in your facility but let’s refocus on the big NEW PLAYERS which ultimately should be every business owner’s focus. New faces through those glass doors. How do you do this? MARKETING. How many times has a new customer walked into your business and said ‘OMG I didn’t know there was a Squash Centre here’ with your response being ‘This business and me for that matter have been here since the 60s…’ in which they would normally fluff their hair and wander off… You need to create an aggressive effective marketing plan and IMPLEMENT IT step by step. This is the part you’re going to roll your eyes and hate me. You have to SPEND money to MAKE MONEY… BUT… Spend money smart, don’t just go down to the Star casino and throw it all on black.. Create a clear and concise budget on how much your business can afford to invest over each quarter and do what we all hate… HIRE a marketing guru. NAH you don’t need a guru, you just need an experienced marketer that is able to apply industry skills and techniques to any given applicable scenario. Which I guarantee there are plenty out there… for more information on this refer to our Services page.
Okay well, let’s hit the nail on the head and leave out YOU being the biggest asset you have. And hopefully, the next jump down would be your land / building / lease. These are all obvious assets that don’t really need to be highlighted in red… Your biggest asset are your customers! They are your income. You are constantly selling your product and services to people, your target audience etc… But how do you convert an asset to a benefit – To a money growing success allowing you to finally buy that place in the Hamilton islands…
STATISTICAL LEAD CONVERSION – don’t forget that.. this is how you change the way your customers see your business and the way they access your products and services. Your biggest asset is your customers but you can’t grow a business entirely on existing customers otherwise, it will never grow. Instead, you need more foot traffic through the door. The easiest most effective way you can do this is through your current clientele and marketing to nearby locations. On the assuming you a running a small business you need to investigate what you do for your customers that keep bringing them back in the through the door. An unbelievable service will obviously do this but as we all know business is never perfect and you are basing a lot of your customer time on your employees, ensure that they are well trained and equipped to turn a lead into a conversion.
Have you ever wanted to play squash without having to work up the biggest sweat of your life? I know I have… Well without further adjure I’d like to take the time to introduce you to squash in virtual reality. That’s right developers have moved to create a video game where you can play as your favorite PSA players and see if you can unlock their full potential.
PSA squash has recently funded an exhibition to create Squash in virtual reality. Such players that will make an appearance in the game are Nick Matthew, Amr Shabana, Gregory Gaultierand the list goes on.
Considering squash is somewhat struggling with its publicity around the world,Alternative soft has taken the challenge to put one of the healthiest sports in the world into a video game.
With the continuing development of virtual reality and technology finally being able to be used in a more physical sense with VR headsets creating for more immersive games, this Wii interactive creating could really hit the interest for the younger generations and therefore repopulate the sport.
