Reigning champions ACS(I) get off to good start in squash nationals

An open letter to all the athletes of the squash fraternity:

In my time here on Red Sports, I have seen comments by squash-ers asking “why no coverage of squash” on the site. After Monday’s shoot, I came to realise why and I’m here to explain, not defend.

I’m quite sure the reason why people want coverage of their game is so that they can see pictures of themselves / friends in action. There isn’t much coverage by the local media, and many schools’ photography clubs don’t tag along to inter-school games hence the lack of photos. Consumer digital cameras also have difficulty shooting sharp pictures with respect to the indoor sports. So Red Sports seems to be the place for atheletes to see photos of themselves.

But why no squash? A quick search of the word in Google will return several pictures, but most of them show the back view of the players. We have discussed several times on whether to cover squash, but it just seems like a Herculean task to produce quality shots. Here at Red Sports, we want to showcase our nation’s athletes. Therefore a clear shot of the face must be there. There wouldn’t be much of a purpose if we posted pictures of the athletes’ backs would it? Judging that some of the athletes look quite alike especially from the back view, who would know which photo is which?

Unless the squash court had some see-through wall at the side (which Kallang Squash Centre’s court 1~5 don’t have), we can’t really cover squash. Not only that, we cannot enter the playing zone as you’d most probably have to call a “stroke” (i think). Not only that, you would be hitting your shots straight at us. I’ve been hit by squash balls before and I know it really hurts especially if coming at full speed.

Yes, you might argue that the photos on top show that squash can be covered. Indeed I do not deny that squash can be covered on Red Sports. But don’t you want to see a variety of pictures from different angles, taken in different manners? Taking a look at the pictures from the other sports, the vast perspectives that are seen from the photos make the sport look interesting. So far, it seems that the only decent, unobstructed photos that can be shot is when the player is serving. If we were to snap photos of everyone at every game doing this, would squash be more about serving instead? Certainly it would bore you to death seeing photos of people serving all the time. Wouldn’t it?

Not only that, the thick glass from the back court affects the quality of our images. Even if we do manage to get a shot of the player turning, it certainly ain’t of good quality. In order for a photo be be “passed”, we at Red Sports believe that the photo must be sharp (esp. the face) and in focus, blurred background if possible as well as have the ball and racquet all in one image. As our photos of squash do not necessarily meet this criteria, we find it hard to cover squash.

Red Sports does acknowledge squash as a sport in Singapore and the world. However, the issue now is not about the willingness to cover the sport. Rather, it is more about the ability and feasibility in covering the sport. I am not finding an excuse for Red Sports. But this is really the case for us. If you can find alternative ways for us to cover the sport (esp. in shooting pictures), do drop us an email to let us know. Most important to note, reader submitted stories are more than welcomed. Red Sports only has a few volunteers working and it’s just impossible to cover every game. We actually depend much on reader generated stories. You need not accompany your stories with photos. Just the key notes of the game (i.e. who won, score etc) You may feel free to submit the game reports to us after the game. You send it, we post it.

Hence I hope you will understand why squash is not actively covered at Red Sports.

Regards,
Jun Wei