Squash Stars will be delivered twice each year, the first intake of the year will be between February and April. The second intake will be between October and November. Clubs will be provided with a 10 weeks window to host their sessions but each clubs must deliver their first sessions in the first month of the intake.

The next intake will start in February 2023 and clubs will be able to create their sessions between 30 January and 2 April.

Registrations to run Squash Stars is open throughout the year but will close around five weeks before the start of the programme to allow time to process the registration and advertisement of sessions. To join us as a Squash Stars delivery partner please fill in our form: Register now

The deadline for the February 2023 intake is 28 November.

There is no charge to your club/venue to run Squash Stars.

When a parent enrols their child onto the programme through squashstars.co.uk, they'll pay £42 and receive a t-shirt and kit bag which includes a racket, a ball and goggles. The kit will be send directly to the child's home address.

All clubs and venues running Squash Stars will receive full support from England Squash including:

• training on how to successfully deliver Squash Stars
• a website to add your sessions and manage players
• a starter kit including Leaders t-shirt and a pop-up banner for the club
• marketing support including promotional materials that complements the wider national marketing campaign

Clubs will be provided with either a 9 or 10 week window to deliver their 6 Squash Stars sessions.

To deliver Squash Stars Leader must have a valid Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and hold a safeguarding qualification, you must also complete the Squash Stars online training course.

If you're delivering Squash Stars at an affiliated club, the club will need to have a qualified first aider present at the sessions and a Welfare Officer in place. Unaffiliated clubs/venues will need to have a Safeguarding Lead and First Aider.

England Squash do not currently have any grants/funding avaible to clubs to deliver Squash Stars. Many Local Authorities or Active Partnerships offer grants to help community activities get started that clubs and coaches can apply for. Take a look on their website to find out what's availbe near you.

In the block decided by England Squash, clubs can decide the day and time they run their six sessions. To make it cost effective you could look to run your Squash Stars sessions at the same time as your existing junior sessions if you have enough Leaders and court space.

Currently there is no funding available through England Squash to help clubs deliver Squash Stars. If you are looking for funding you could contact your Local Authority or Active Partnership; Sport England also often have grants you can apply for.

ClubSpark is a booking management platform that is used by many NGBs to deliver activity programmes. All clubs must upload their sessions to ClubSpark as part of Squash Stars.

ClubSpark have written a number of how to guides, from how to create your sessions to how to inviting contacts to register for Squash Stars.

You can find their how to guides here.

During the Squash Stars sessions Leaders can deliver beginner friendly, group junior 101 activities. Session plans will be avaible after completing the Squash Stars Leaders course, download and save the activity cards after completing the course.

Yes, all children booked onto the sessions will be covered under the England Squash insurance policy.

When on court the kids must wear the goggles provided. When possible they should also be wearing their Squash Stars t-shirt.

After the 6-week programme try to have in place a pathway for those who have completed the programme. Why not plan to have a block of Junior 101 sessions starting the following week, or plan to have your Squash Stars sessions at a similar time on the same day as your junior sessions so they can jump straight into those sessions after the six weeks.

During the programme, it also brings parents to the club, think about offering Squash 101 and Squash Girls Can sessions alongside the junior sessions to further engage more people in the club. You could also run family taster days to engage the whole family in the same session.

Amazing if you have loads of interest! If you are unable to accommodate the interest you are receiving, see if there is anyone else who would be able to help out and train as a Leader. If you also have junior sessions running, direct parents to them as they may be interested in joining them as well.

You could also take note of the parents email address and email them when your club next delivered Squash Stars.

Once sessions have been uploaded to ClubSpark parents can sign their kids up to the session. England Squash will launch a national campaign for Squash Stars around 8 weeks before sessions starts.

For the February 2023 intake a campaign focusing on social media advertising will start 27 December.

48 hours after a parent books their child onto a Squash Stars sessions the ClubSpark website notifies DMC Sport of the booking and to send the kit. The kit will be delivered 3-5 working days after DMC have been notified of the booking.

The kit will be send directly to their child's home address that they enter when booking their place.

If a child attending your session has a received their kit and their t-shirt is too big please ask them to email into participation@englandsquash.com and we can exchange their t-shirt.

When they receive their new t-shirt please ask them to post their old t-shirt back to England Squash, National Squash Centre, Manchester, M11 3FF.

If a child attending your session has received their kit and their is an item that is damaged, please ask them to email squashstarskit@dmcsport.co.uk with a picture of the damaged item. The team at DMC Sport will be able reissue the item in 3-5 working days.

All leaders must:

• have a valid Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
• hold a safeguarding qualification
• complete our Squash Stars Leaders online training.

If you're delivering Squash Stars at an affiliated club, the club will need to have a valid First Aider present at the sessions and a Welfare Officer. Unaffiliated clubs/venues will need to have a Safeguarding Lead and First Aider.

For your sessions you will be provided with a Squash Stars Leaders t-shirt, you can then wear comfortable and appropriate trousers/shorts and shoes.

To deliver your Squash Stars sessions, Leaders will be sent one branded Squash Stars t-shirt. A branded feather flag will be sent directly to the club to advertise the sessions once the sessions have been uploaded to ClubSpark.

The Squash Stars Leaders course is a mandatory course all Leaders must complete prior to their sessions they will be delivering starting. The course is all online, takes no longer than two hours and can be completed in the learners own time.

By the end of the course you will have:

• Understood the elements of a Squash Stars programme and timeline for creating a course.
• Developed knowledge of the skills required to deliver sessions on court.
• Learnt how to create and deliver Squash Stars sessions to engage and excite young players.
• Familiarised yourself with the platform to develop and manage blocks of activity.

Coaches Club Members can sign up to the course here.

Non-Coaches Club Members can sign up to the course here.

(Make sure you are logged into your England Squash account before you click on the course link).

If you have received your Leaders t-shirt and it does not fit please email participation@englandsquash.com and let the team know the size you would like to be sent out and the delivery address.

Please then return your old t-shirt to England Squash, National Squash Centre, Manchester, M11 3FF.

If there is a fault with your t-shirt please email squashstarskit@dmcsport.co.uk with a picture of the faulty item and the team will be able to send you out a new t-shirt.

A marketing toolkit has been created for all clubs to use, in the toolkit you can find assets for social media along with pre written posts. There is also a venue poster and leaflet you can print out.

We have noticed that clubs who have a good relationships with local schools have the best sign up numbers. If you do not already have a relationship with any local school try calling them and introducing yourself, let them know about the sessions and ask if you can email them with information they can provide parents with.

The more promotion you can do the more likely you are to have higher sign up numbers. Share a link to www.squashstars.co.uk or to your session's page on:

• Club/venue's social media - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
• Club's website
• County's website
• Local community social media pages/group
• Local WhatsApp groups

Print out leaflets and leave them in:

• Club/venue noticeboards
• Local supermarkets/newsagents
• Schools
• Activity Centres/Leisure Centres
• Ask club members to take into their place of work and put up in staff room

Share a copy of the leaflet and session information to:

• Local schools
• Member newsletters/mailing lists
• Town/Village newsletters
• Local press

For each Squash Stars intake, we will deliver a national advertising campaign across Google, Facebook and Instagram specifically targerting parents. We are also targeting regional press (TV, radio, papers and local listings) where there is a high level of Squash Stars activity. Furthermore, we are engaging influencers across the sport to amplify the message on their channels and encouraging advocates such as players and coaches to spread the message as far and wide as possible.

We are specifically targeting parents aged 24 to 45 years across all Squash Stars locations.