(This story was corrected since it first appeared.)
Had squash been an Olympic sport, Vancouver-based coach Shauna Flath would have kept playing in pursuit of the podium.
If squash becomes an Olympic sport, junior athlete Zach Leman can keep playing his way to something his coach never had a shot atan Olympic medal.
Flath, formerly ranked sixth nationally, has represented Canada as a coach at the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Championships and the Pam Am Games. She now coaches up-and-coming squash players, like Leman, at the Jericho Tennis Club.
Flath said the Olympics are crucial in building athletic drive. Right now, the Pan American Championships and Commonwealth Games are highest level of international competition for a squash player.
All that may change.
In July, the International Olympic Committee announced squash as one of eight sports being weighed for induction into the 2020 Olympic Summer Games.
"It would be so cool if I could be competing at this level," said Leman, 17. "It's been a goal, not just of mine, but of every high-level squash athlete."
Flath, who's been coaching Leman for four years, understands. She said she retired from international athletic competition because, somewhere along the way, she lost the mental drive to grind it out at that level.
But would she have reconsidered her decision if squash had been a part of the Olympics? "No doubt about it if I knew there was an opportunity to get to the Olympics, she said.
Squash organizations had put forward a bid for a spot in next year's 2012 London Summer Olympic Games but failed to make the roster at the IOC vote in 2005. Same story for a slot at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games.
This timehoweverwill be different, said Squash Canada executive director Danny Da Costa.
Da Costa said the World Squash Federation has hired the communications strategy firm that led rugby into the 2012 Games and, remarkably, helped London, Rio, and Pyeongchang, South Korea win their Olympic bids.
"For us, this is the biggest spectacle in the world," Da Costa said. "I think the exposure that the Olympics bring is huge. The potential for people to become interested in squash is huge."
The sport, Da Costa said, appeals to players of all ages and skill levels.
"Everyone knows how to hit a ball against the wall," he said. "It's a great cardiovascular workout."
Yet, since the sports rise in the 1970s, it's been flying under the radar, Da Costa said.
Forbes magazine ranked squash as the No. 1 healthiest sport. On a list of 10 sports, squash was followed by rowing and rock climbing.
In Vancouver, the sport holds a following for people who want to play, be it for recreational fun or more competitive action.
"We're all amateurs, and we're playing because we love the game," said Robert Pacey, the coordinator of the British Columbia Honda Vancouver Squash League.
The Vancouver Squash League comprises 15 clubs in the Lower Mainland and six in Vancouver, drawing players from clubs such as Vancouver Racquets Club, Jericho Tennis Club and the Bentall Centre Athletic Club.
Players do need to be members of a club to play in the Vancouver Squash League and there are affordable options for the more casual or, in some cases, less well-heeled player.
Three community centres have squash courts, including Dunbar, the West End and Champlain Heights. There are also courts at the Langara YMCA and Robert Lee YMCA and one on campus at UBC. Some apartment towers downtown have courts built into their buildings.
In total, Pacey said there are more than 50 courts at locations around Vancouver.
It costs a team $190 annually to join the Vancouver Squash League. Pacey said teams playing out of public centres are welcome to join; one important requirement is that they must have access to two squash courts at their location.
At the Champlain Heights Community Centre on Maquinna Drive and the Dunbar Community Centre on Dunbar Street, it costs $10 to $13.95 to drop-in and access a squash court. One of two courts at Champlain Heights is used as storage. As is one court at the Langara YMCA.
A private club such as the Jericho Tennis Club, by contrast, requires as much as an initial membership fee of $22,000 and $16,500 for a spouse, according to information from the club. Annual fees then cost members $1,700 to $1,300.
Gaining an Olympic audience will almost certainly bolster the sports popularity.
"There's such a concentrated effort to get [squash] into the Olympics because once they see the games at that level, people will catch the bug," Pacey said.
For Leman, a top-15 junior B.C. player, his generation isnt familiar with the racquet sport.
"Lots of people have asked what squash is, to be honest," he said. "I've taken my friends out to play for a first time and they come back with smiles on their faces and they absolutely love the experience.
Leman, who ranked first at the 2010 Canadian Junior Squash Championships under 17 event, has major Olympic potential, said Flath.
"Not just Zach, she said. If and when squash gets into the Olympics, it would be an honour as a coach if I had one of the athletes that I personally coach as a junior brought as young player to represent Canada at the highest level arena in squash.
