Once, very long ago, I used to be a decent squash player. Not remotely a pro or a rep or anything of the sort, but pretty good. The thing about squash is that once the play is at a high enough level it is very difficult to hit a winning shot and the game becomes a war of attrition. So, if you’re sufficiently stubborn and simply refuse to give in then you can do pretty well. People may not realise this about me, but being stubborn and refusing to give in is kind of my forte.
Squash ended for me around ten years ago. An increasingly dodgy hip (from an old infection, not from pounding on the court), combined with busyness and young children, and the increasing scarcity of squash courts, all made it too difficult. I became spherical. Then, about three years ago, I had a hip replacement, which went absurdly well. After a few months of walking-reading rehab in the pool, I could contemplate getting back to some proper sport. Covid, combined with new habits of lethargy, made it difficult but a few months ago I began in earnest. Not with squash, alas. Squash is now pretty much extinct, akin to royal tennis. So, I went with the next best thing: badminton.
It doesn’t compare to squash but badminton is an excellent sport and there happens to be a very friendly club within easy reach. So, all I needed was the equipment. The racket was no problem, since I had a very good racket from a while back. Which turned out to be false: the other players stared in astonishment at my apparently weirdly shaped “antique”. Laughter subsided, I bought a new racket and then it was just a matter of the shoes. And that was obvious: Dunlop Volleys.
Volleys are a hilariously simple shoe, basically a bit of tent canvas glued to some tyre tread and with laces threaded through. Fittingly, Volleys were invented by a tyre company, the tyre company, Dunlop, in the 1930s. The photo above, from the shoe’s Wikipedia page, is perfect: Volleys are the faithful old dog of sports shoes.
Volleys are also a great squash shoe, by a mile preferable to any other. They are light and flexible, with very thin, barely padded soles and nothing around the ankles. And, most importantly and critically for playing squash, Volleys have incredibly good grip; the herringbone tread ensures the Volleys never slide, enabling you to stop immediately and to change direction. It also means that if your legs are at all fragile then the Volleys will murder you. But if your body is up to it the Volleys are a great, great shoe.
Dunlop Volleys were omnipresent in my youth, famously worn by Mark Edmondson when he won the Australian Open. Officially the shoe was then “Volley International” but the branded-plural name was standard. Since that time, of course, sports shoes have become very big business, and the Volley, spun off by Dunlop as its own brand, now rate so low it has been decades since sports stores have carried them. Fifteen years ago, I purchased my Volleys from K Mart, and now they have sunk even lower. Volleys are now available at Big W – the poor man’s K Mart – and online, and seemingly that’s about it.
It doesn’t matter. Volleys are still a great sports shoe, and it’s great to have them back on and to be playing again. I’m still ellipsoidal, with e ≈ 0.1, but we’re on the road.
Just check that they are of reasonable quality. My favourite shoe, the KT26, was also sold off by Dunlop, but they are now made by who knows and the quality has dropped.
I had quality issues with the Volleys twenty years or so ago, and the Wikipedia page suggests that, too. My two most recent pairs seem fine.
falling apart after 2 years of minimal wear!!!
Older pairs lasted 20 years.
Yes, you’re right, and I was wrong. (You heard it here first.) Not “two years of minimum wear” and “twenty years”, but I take the point, and the quality/sturdiness isn’t nearly what it was.
They still last pretty well for me, hammering then on the badminton court, and they’re cheap enough that it’s ok. But it’s frustrating.
Tyre company
Yeah I pondered that. Will probably switch.
Switched. Thanks.
Whatever I was wearing, and I cannot now remember and I’m sure (especially in light of the above) that I was not paying enough attention, my footwear failed me on the court that day when I was playing at MSAC with OP’s brother and others. One of said others had to drive me home while I writhed and groaned and otherwise admired the ballooning swollen tissues of my ankle. Apart from that, yes, badminton is an excellent game but I’ve never tried squash.