SEA member programs Access Youth Academy and Racquet Up Detroit have embarked on facility projects, building spaces that will serve as squash and education hubs in their communities and dedicated homes for their programs and students. Both facilities will have eight squash courts, educational spaces, and offices, and will enable the organizations to increase their enrollment and broaden their reach in the neighborhoods in which they operate.

Access Youth Academy
Construction on Access Youth Academy’s 21,000 square-foot center in San Diego has begun, with the goal of opening in in the summer of 2021. The program launched in 2006 and served 120 San Diego students this past year.

“Access Youth Academy is very excited about this new academic and athletic facility,” says Executive Director Renato Paiva. “It will serve as a resource for the entire southeastern San Diego community and allow Access to serve more first-generation college students, and provide community classrooms for educational, workforce preparedness and informational services. We also hope to increase awareness of and participation in the exciting sport of squash.”

Access Youth Academy was recently named an accredited US Squash Community Affiliate, a partnership that focuses on programs and activities that aim to increase access to and awareness of squash and support meaningful lifelong engagement in the sport.

“The success of Access Youth Academy stems from the twelve-year commitment mutually made between the program and each student from middle school through the post-college experience,” says Board Chair Blair Sadler. “Our new state-of-the-art education and squash facility will now allow us to expand dramatically the impact of our programs.”

Learn more about the facility and its progress here.

Racquet Up Detroit
In Detroit, Racquet Up is on the way to building its own 19,000 square-foot facility, equipped with eight squash courts and six educational spaces. “A new dedicated facility for Racquet Up Detroit is a dream, many years in the making,” says the program. “The construction of a world-class education and youth development center will not only enable more youth to enroll, but it will establish a neighborhood portal to college and career for decades to come.” Racquet Up Detroit enrolls 110 students from fifth grade onward and celebrated its 10th Anniversary this year.

Learn more about Racquet Up’s facility project here.