Using a wooden portable backwall in a racquetball court

This is a great low cost and low risk way to introduce squash to your racquetball club. It is portable so you can set it up in any racquetball court to show people what squash is about. Once you get a following, then you can approach your club to build a more expensive moveable glass back-wall system.

Believe it or not, but this system is able to replicate 95% of squash. It is definetely better than a US hardball court which is only 18.5 ft wide compared to the 20' wide racquetball court. An international court is 21 ft wide. If you think about it, good players only hit the ball to the back corners. So as long as there is something there for the ball to rebound off, the rally will continue! If the ball does go through the middle, which rarely happens more than once per game, then just play a let.

We used 4' high by 6' wide and 1/2" thick. The ball doesn't rebound well off 1/2" thick so I recommend at least 1" thick next time. Also 4' high is not high enough to play desperation shots off the backwall, so 6' high is better. Regulation height is 7', but players rarely hit the ball that high off the backwall.

6' wide is ok, but a lot of serves seem to hit the side-wall then go through the opening. So at least 8' wide is better. There is really no need to build the wall all the way accross, since in squash the ball rarely goes through the middle third of the backwall.

Recommended wall dimensions

Of course this wall system is not designed for human impact. The players using it must use caution and not run into it. Also it is neccessary to round all corners with genereous radii and chamfer all edges. SquashClub.org assumes no responsibility for any liability issues that may arrise should a player get injured using it. As long as it is well designed with no sharp corners and players take care not to run into it, then it is very safe.

Sue Lawrence, the former US Women's #8 player, uses a pair of these walls to play squash in Vero Beach, Florida.