Squash City is one of Amsterdam's largest squash venues — 13 courts in the heart of the city. In a mature squash market where the challenge is retention rather than recruitment, it uses ClubMatch's ladder and internal competition to keep players matched at their level and coming back week after week — sustaining a community of 560+ active players and close to 4,000 matches a year across its courts.
The club
Squash City is one of Amsterdam's largest and best-known squash venues, with 13 courts a short hop from the city centre on the Ketelmakerstraat. It has long been a fixture of the capital's squash scene, drawing everyone from lunchtime league regulars to newcomers picking up a racket for the first time.
The challenge: a mature sport where retention is everything
Squash in the Netherlands is a mature, stable sport rather than a fast-growing one — the national player base is loyal but not expanding the way padel's is. For a big venue, that changes the job entirely: success is less about recruiting a flood of new players and more about keeping the players you already have active, engaged and on court. The risk in any established club is quiet attrition: a player has a couple of mismatched games — a thrashing one week, a walkover the next — stops enjoying it, and drifts away. Multiply that across hundreds of members and a club's court occupancy slowly erodes.
The solution: ClubMatch's ladder and internal competition
Squash City uses ClubMatch to keep its community matched and motivated:
- A club ladder and internal competition — players continuously challenge others close to their standard, so every match is competitive and every result means something. There is always a next opponent to chase and a position to defend.
- Matches at your level — by pairing players of similar ability, ClubMatch removes the single biggest reason casual players quit: one-sided games. Win or lose, people leave wanting a rematch.
- A reason to rebook — a live ladder turns "I should play sometime" into "I have a challenge to play this week," exactly the behaviour a mature club needs to keep courts full.
How it works in practice
Instead of relying on members to organise their own games, Squash City lets ClubMatch do the matchmaking. A player logs a result, sees where they sit, and lines up their next challenge against someone they can genuinely compete with. Beginners are not fed to county-level players; strong players still get tested. The effect compounds: better-matched games mean more enjoyment, more enjoyment means more rebooking, and more rebooking means a busier club.
The results
The numbers show a large, genuinely active community. Over the past twelve months Squash City has sustained more than 560 active players and close to 4,000 matches — roughly 70 to 75 matches every week across its 13 courts. In a sport that is holding steady nationally rather than booming, that level of week-in, week-out play is exactly the retention a major venue is built to achieve.
Why it matters for other clubs
Squash City shows what ClubMatch is worth in a mature market. Where new players are hard to find, the winners are the clubs that keep the ones they have playing — and the most reliable way to do that is to make sure every game is fair, competitive and enjoyable. A ladder that delivers "matches at your level" turns occasional visitors into regulars and keeps a large court estate busy. For any established squash club facing a flat market, Squash City is proof that engagement, not just recruitment, is where the growth is.