River City Squash is developing an after-school program for at-risk and underserved youth in Kamloops. The program is based on the Urban Squash model, which combines academic tutoring, squash coaching, and community service opportunities. The main focus of the program is to engage students in grades 4 to 7 in weekly after-school sessions throughout the school year, and to encourage them and support them through to graduation from high school. Out-reach sessions are conducted with students from other schools and our community partners.

The Urban Squash Model
The urban squash model started in Boston in 1996 with a group called Squashbusters. The model has been successfully adapted by programs in cities across the United States with hundreds of inner-city youth. The programs combine squash coaching, academic tutoring, mentoring, and community service to benefit at-risk youth in after-school and out-of-school activities.

Growth of the Urban Squash program
There are now many programs throughout the world using squash to engage and connect with at-risk youth , in cities throughout the United States, Canada, England, and farther abroad in countries such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, and India.
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Our Progress:
October 2022 Update
Our program is still on hold at this time, and we continue to look for options and facility space.
​We suspended the program in March of 2020 due to the pandemic. The facility space we were using prior to that time has not reopened, so we are searching for facility space and options to run after-school and out-of-school sessions once again.

We are hopeful that we will be able to re-start programming soon!