Squash Without the Ceiling

NEW YORK — Though the first games of squash were said to be played outdoors, against a wall of the Harrow School in England in the 1830s, today squash is known as an inside sport.

But two centuries after that open-air beginning, a public outdoor squash court has materialized in Manhattan. Several days after it opened, on a hazy 60-degree Sunday, a steady flow of enthusiasts wandered up to the curious structure, in Hamilton Fish Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, grabbed rackets and stepped on the court. Danielle Brown, 37, a stylist, said she picked up the sport during her divorce and usually plays at an East Side Equinox. She was hitting with her boyfriend, Justin Colon, 24, a tattoo artist who had never played squash. “It’s amazing being outside,” Brown said. “The sun hurts your eyes and I have a migraine, but the whole community has been dying for this. I like it better than playing inside.”

Typically associated with elite colleges and private clubs, squash can be expensive and difficult to play in New York, with hefty court fees and a limited number of courts, as former courts are converted to more lucrative uses, like spin studios or locker rooms. The nonprofit behind the Hamilton Fish court, Public Squash, spent two years raising the $120,000 cost, made up of private donations and a crowdfunding campaign. (This reporter kicked in $60 in 2016.)

The court is part of the Adopt-a-Park program, in which organizations, companies or artists launch temporary installations in public parks, said Crystal Howard, director of media relations for the New York City parks department. Beginning in late March, a German company called ASB installed the court on top of a handball court (which has similar dimensions), working with a local contractor and architect. Built for all seasons, the court’s grippy foam floor allows rainwater to drain and minimizes slipping.

Standing to the side of the court on its first weekend in action was Marvin Perelman, 79, a retired life-insurance salesman who lives in his childhood apartment on Avenue C. He wore a Brooklyn Dodgers cap and said he used to play in the 1970s at Columbia University. “I think it’s a fabulous sport for young people with no cardio problems,” he said. He thought the court would draw people new to the sport. “It’s not that different from handball or racquetball.”

Benjamin Garrett, 44, a software developer and tournament squash player, was lending rackets, balls and sneakers to those who needed them. He said he loved the court, but he thought a net would prevent the small, black squash balls from soaring over the back wall. He said the increased visibility might help popularize squash, which according to the Sports & Industry Fitness Association is the 12th-fastest-growing sport in the United States. “This is a sport with B-level popularity that should have A-level popularity, like tennis,” he said. “When someone says, ‘What’s squash?’ I just have this deep pain.”

Hamilton Fish Park, just down the street from the Samuel Gompers Houses public housing complex, was chosen because of its recreation center, which will have rackets and balls available for use, and its popular swimming pool, from which Public Squash hopes to draw the community. To that end, Public Squash and the City Parks Foundation are planning free Saturday squash clinics for local children beginning in mid-May.

“We’re setting up these clinics to make sure it’s not just the Spence kids who come,” said Alex Wessner, a director at Public Squash, referring to the all-girls private school a few miles up the East River from Hamilton Fish. “We’re trying to get people from around here.”

The court is open daily from 6 a.m. until the park closes, usually between 10 and 11 p.m., but there is no online reservation system, as there is for popular public tennis courts. Instead, “street rules” apply, also known as “I got next.” A sign on the door states, “Please limit play to one hour.” Ryan Wall, also of Public Squash, said the no-reservations system was chosen to make it as accessible as possible.

“People who are forceful will enforce the time limit by speaking up,” said Garrett. “It’ll turn out the way basketball courts do — if there was one public basketball court in all of New York City.”

On one of the basketball courts adjacent to the squash court, Amadou Sylla, 20, a student, had arrived with four nephews and a niece in tow. They tossed a basketball around for a few minutes before the children wandered over to the squash court. “I thought it was for volleyball,” said Moussa Sylla, 7. “I saw them putting it up.”

Wessner asked if anyone wanted to play; he soon had four takers, ages 2 to 11. He gave them rackets and had them swing at a racquetball ball, larger and easier to hit than the lychee-size squash ball. The most enthusiastic player was Magata Doucoure, 3, who shouted, “I did it! I did it!” when she connected. After the kids left the court and Wessner asked for the rackets back, Miss Doucoure said sadly, “I have to play later.” Abdoulaye Sylla, 2, wept as he rejoined his uncle on the basketball court.

A young man approached with a smartphone, took in the court and said: “It’s beautiful! This is sick!” He turned out to be Nima Olumi, 23, a digital marketing executive who volunteered at SquashBusters in Boston, a youth development program, and later played at Bates College. He had come to the park to play basketball with his cousins and check out the court. “This doesn’t solve squash’s elitism problem,” he said, “but it definitely helps. It gives access. It’s like a public golf course.” As the afternoon got warmer he removed his shirt and hit rail shots bare-chested on the squash court, an act that would surely earn an ejection from the Princeton Club in midtown, where he plays. The sight of a shirtless squash player on an outdoor court, a stone’s throw from the East River, seemed to encapsulate New York’s past and future at once.

Wessner of Public Squash said that in recent weeks he has received emails from people in São Paulo, Paris and Los Angeles asking for courts in their cities. The Adopt-a-Park arrangement in New York runs through Oct. 30. If the parks department considers the court successful, Public Squash may be able to open more. “Our goal is 20 public courts in the city by 2020,” Wall said.

To handball devotees afraid of a squash takeover, Wall had this to say: “There are 2,009 handball courts in the five boroughs. If we take a hundred of them, that still leaves a lot.”