ARCHITECTURAL RENDERING BY GBBN OF COURTS AT THE NEW STEEL CITY SQUASH FACILITY IN LARIMER | COURTESY STEEL CITY SQUASH

Steel City Squash, a nonprofit that empowers students through the game of squash and builds a community around academics and service, is about to open its first sports and educational center in Larimer. 

Not only will this $11 million, 19,000-square-foot facility serve a growing number of young people, but it also aims to serve the entire Larimer community.

“The idea is that this is going to be for the community,” says Brad Young, executive director of Steel City Squash, “so people should feel comfortable coming in and using it.”

The new facility at 624 Larimer Ave., which is set to partially open in July and be fully operational in September, will include six standard softball singles courts, one hardball American doubles court and a glass championship court. This makes Steel City Squash one of three facilities in the nation to have this level of squash play. 

Related: Pittsburgh’s Largest Indoor Pickleball Facility is Set to Open

Amenities include men’s and women’s locker rooms with private showers, private family and gender-neutral bathrooms with a shower, a fitness room, a wellness room, flex space for yoga and mindfulness practices, two classrooms, one for fourth- to eighth-grade students, and one for ninth- through 12th, study spaces, a kitchenette and certified professional squash and fitness coaches. The wellness room also will be accessible to nursing mothers. These will be free to the community. 

Steel City Squash fits in well with the mission of The Larimer Consensus Group, which aims to build a sustainable community through partnerships. 

PHOTO OF THE NEW SQUASH COURTS AT STEEL CITY SQUASH | PHOTO BY MADDY PERRY

“[It is] important to me to build partnerships,” says Donna Jackson, the executive director of the Larimer Consensus Group, which works to improve the neighborhood with affordable housing, economic development, social well-being and more. She says that the consensus group supports “…the education component that Steel City Squash brings along with introducing a sport that they can carry through life.”

Steel City Squash was founded in 2015 at the University of Pittsburgh by Young. As time went on, Pitt could not provide the renovations to the spaces they needed to continue operating there, so they decided to relocate. In 2019, the organization found its future home in the city’s Larimer neighborhood.

Young is very passionate about the sport and the education component since he volunteered at Street Squash, a similar program based in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, as an academic tutor and played at the college level. 

ARCHITECTURAL RENDERING BY GBBN OF THE NEW STEEL CITY SQUASH FACILITY IN LARIMER | COURTESY STEEL CITY SQUASH

“It’s a phenomenal community,” says Young. “We have excellent support.” 

Squash, a fast-paced racquet sport played on a four-walled court, originated in England and was based on the game of tennis. The game can be played with 2 or 4 players and the objective of the game is to hit the ball after it hits the front wall and bounces on the floor before it hits the floor twice. 

Because of the location in the Larimer neighborhood, Steel City Squash recruits students from Urban Academy and other schools in the area. Young is expecting that the facility will be used by Chatham University’s men’s and women’s Squash teams. The space was designed to be able to host any level of tournament that passes through Pittsburgh, including professional Squash tours.

The facility also plans to host the Midwestern Championship this summer for squash teams in Education Alliance programs. 

The organization’s main goal is to help students prepare for their future, whether it is college or starting a career. The Steel City Squash Academy is available free to students as early as fourth grade until they graduate college or find a job.  The facility will have fee-based memberships along with financial support for those who need it. The organization partners with Consensus Group and the Kingsley Association in East Liberty, which have provided extensive support to the facility. 

Their core after-school programming focuses on academic support including tutoring, in-house curriculum, study time and skill development while resume-building workshops and college counseling are available for players in college. The students also participate in various community service projects such as food banks, food distributions and cleanups. Students can also get volunteer hours on-site by working with the younger students.

Young is excited about the new community service opportunities the community will offer. “People have kind of said, ‘Oh, well, it’s a squash club. That’s not for me.’ And we’re hoping that people will learn that we’re so much more than that,” says Young. “Yes, we do have squash…but there are other opportunities to engage and experience what we’re doing as well.”

Steel City Squash is a member of the Squash and Education Alliance, a national and international organization with 22 members across the country and six international members. 

Memberships are available for people who want early access starting in July before their grand opening on Sept 7. The new facility also will be offering its first Summer Discovery program for youth in July.