Squash courts management by the government

Published: 08 Oct 2016 - 01:40 by apastephen

Updated: 08 Oct 2016 - 01:40

Subscribers: Log in to subscribe to this post.

Hello, I am a new comer in Hong Kong. I like to know more about how foreign governments manage the public squash courts. In Hong Kong, there are many public indoor sports centres managed by the government department that quite a lot of squash courts are available. More than 10 years ago, the government adoped a policy to open up the squash courts for other uses such as table-tennis and taekwondo classes (as function rooms) because of low usage rate of squash courts. It not only make squash courts chaotic but most angry thing is other users can spend cheaper hiring fees (consist with the rates of table tennis tables and function rooms). This in fact discourages the public to play squash. Squash players are also needed to compete with other users in peak hours. I have complained with the govrenment but the reply is that the usage rate of squash courts even in peak hours are not full, it shows that the present situation can still meet the demand of squash players.

For me, the policy for open up squash courts for other uses are not professional in sport and facility management and unfair to squash players. So I would like to know more of how the other courtries are managing their squash courts facilities. Grateful if you could share your experiences and opinion. Thank you.

fyi, peak hour hiring rates for squash court - for playing squash = HK$54/hour(HK$27/half of hour), for playing table-tennis = HK$14/hour, for activity rooms = HK$38/hour