WARRNAMBOOL'S once-abandoned Timor Street squash centre will re-open early next year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Warrnambool Squash Club (WSC) officials are months away from reviving the six-court facility in what shapes as a major boost for the sport.
The closure of Action Sports Centre in January left squash players without a home and forced them to travel to Terang for weekly pennant matches.
But the club has come to a rental agreement with the owner of the Timor Street centre and hopes are high for a rise in player numbers.
"We're in the process of getting the power hooked up at the moment," Warrnambool Squash Club committee member Peter Molan said.
"In the next couple of months we hope to have it up and running. We won't be able to start a pennant season until the kids go back to school."
Molan said the rent would come from the club's coffers, meaning player numbers will determine how long the arrangement remains viable.
About 80 people contested squash pennant at Action. But since the closure, only a dozen are regularly travelling to Terang to play.
"We're only renting it...we've talked the owners into a rental agreement," Molan said.
"As a club committee, we're organising ourselves to get it up and running. We've got a little bit of money in the bank to keep us going for a while.
"We had 70 to 80 members (at Action). If we could get those numbers, we could keep our heads afloat before we can get something more permanent."
Molan called on Warrnambool City Council to help ensure the future of squash in the city by commiting funds to running a centre.
Potential options include buying the existing Timor Street courts or building new courts elsewhere in Warrnambool, with the Arc a possibility.
Squash courts in other south-west regional centres, such as in Hamilton and Colac, are incorporated into council-run recreation centres.
But Molan said WSC committee members had a meeting with the council earlier this year and "they weren't really interested to be truthful".
"The problem is we've had two private enterprises, Timor Street and Action run squash. The council, it's never been on their radar," he said.
"We're hoping we could talk the council into putting four courts in at the Arc, put everything in one bundle, which is what Hamilton and other centres have done."
