Stroud Squash Club have been well-established on the Gloucestershire sporting circuit for more than 50 years.

They were founded in 1972 and in recent times Tony Richmond has been one of the driving forces at the go-ahead club.

The 45-year-old is captain of their A team, who have claimed two Gloucestershire Squash League Premier B titles over the past couple of years, and he also does a lot of work behind the scenes.

He’s not the only one, of course, but he’s been a familiar face since joining the club in 2008 when he moved to this part of the world.

Originally from Plymouth, he has been playing squash for much of his life.

Over the years has played at a very decent level and there is one particular match that will always stand out for him.

“I was a student at Cambridge and played for them in the Varsity Match in 2001,” he said. “We beat Oxford and I received my blue. It was played at the RAC Club in Pall Mall and I was player of the match.”

Stroud Squash Club were a natural fit for Richmond, who lives on the outskirts of the town, although they weren’t the first sports club in Gloucestershire that he joined.

“I played rugby for Minchinhampton even though  I hadn’t played for 13 years,” he said. “Greg Fisher, who was captain of the Rams, was also captain of the squash club, so he was a factor in why I started playing squash for Stroud.”

In those days Stroud, who have more than 40 members, were playing their home fixtures at the town’s rugby club, but since 2021 they have moved to Wycliffe College in Stonehouse.

The club also have a B team. They are captained by club chairman Ewen Denning, who is also chairman of Gloucestershire Squash Rackets Association.

As well as playing their matches at the school, Stroud also host their club nights there every Monday, starting at 6pm.

The school has three glass back courts and Richmond says the Monday Night Club is their main recruiting ground for new members.

The club, who also play racketball, have a good relationship with Wycliffe, with several of their squash players being pupils at the school.

Wycliffe have been producing some very good players for a number of years now under the watchful eye of former world number 59 Jonny Harford.

Gloucestershire, too, have produced some very good players such as current player Nathan Lake, who had a career-best world ranking of 22, and Lucy Soutter, who was ranked in the top three in the world in the mid-1980s.

And Richmond, who lived in China for four years in the early noughties, is hoping that squash can enjoy something of a resurgence now that it has been included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Hopefully it will bring more people into the game, it’s such a good sport,” he said.

So what makes a good squash player?

“You need good all-round fitness,” said Richmond, who also plays for Gloucestershire Over-35s. “You need to be flexible but you have to have endurance as well as explosivity.

“You have to be able to accelerate and decelerate because you need to sprint, stop, sprint.

“You also require very good hand/eye coordination as well as very good court craft.”

And then there’s the mental side.

“A good player has a mind that stays alert,” continued Richmond. “You need a chess mind, you have to know where your opponent is and make the right choice of shot.

“You’ve got to be able to dominate the centre of the court and be in control of where the ball is going.”

That’s something that Richmond intends to continue doing for a good few years yet.

“My current level is as high as it has been in the past 20 years,” he said. “I’m focused on maximising my potential.”

For more information about the club, visit www.stroudsquash.org.uk/w/contactus