Why Access Courts is not a glass court — and why that changes everything

Rik Zwikker doesn’t speak like a disruptor. He doesn’t talk about “reinventing squash”.

He talks like a player — one who has spent nearly 30 years on court and still plays three times a week, competitively.

Squash, for him, has always been the constant. Among dozens of sports — windsurfing, kitesurfing, volleyball, basketball, running, swimming, padel — squash is the red thread.

“It’s the sport I always kept. Everything else came and went.”

What he values most is efficiency. Time. Intensity. A full physical workout. A mental duel.
What he calls “physical chess.”

The frustration

During COVID, when indoor squash courts shut down, Rik turned to outdoor padel just to stay active. But the feeling wasn’t the same. The pace. The rhythm. The pressure.

“I missed squash.”

Standing on an outdoor padel court, he noticed something else — something structural. Padel had escaped buildings. Squash hadn’t.

“Squash courts are incorporated into buildings. Padel courts are outdoors.”

That distinction changed everything. Squash, he realised, wasn’t losing ground because of the game itself. It was losing ground because of where it lived.

“Squash is undervalued. Not because of the sport — but because of its infrastructure.”

A critical decision: not your usual ‘glass court’

At that point, one path might have seemed obvious: adapt the professional glass court and bring it outdoors.

Rik deliberately chose not to go that way.

“Glass courts are designed for professionals and events. They are temporary, exclusive, and not meant for everyday players.”

Instead of modifying an existing squash concept, Rik did something far more radical: he abandoned squash infrastructure altogether — and looked elsewhere.

The inspiration came from Padel’s modular logic: steel frame, freestanding structure, glass walls, artificial floor — a court as a relocatable product, not a permanent construction.

“That was the starting point.”

Engineering a court for real life – Beating the Noise

Squash, however, is unforgiving. Ball speed. Kinetic energy. Sound. A lot of sound. A lot of noise. Which is creating a lot of problems for Padel, actually.

“With squash, the noise doesn’t come from the racket. It comes from the glass.”

Early prototypes proved the sceptics right. The harder the players hit, the louder the court became – far too loud for parks, schools, hotels or residential areas. Thicker glass didn’t help. Alternative wall materials didn’t work.

Only after months of testing did the breakthrough come: a specific laminated glass with a tailored interlayer, capable of absorbing vibration and dramatically reducing sound.

“That was one of the most difficult parts to solve.”

Once that barrier fell, everything changed. What emerged was not a glass court, but a new category of squash court:

modular
freestanding
relocatable
weather-resistant
quiet
playable by everyone

“We didn’t want something only professionals could use.”

Visibility over prestige

This distinction matters. Professional glass courts are spectacular, host elite matches, then disappear. Access Courts were designed for daily life, not television. For clubs. For schools. For multisport venues. For people who have never held a squash racket.

“If people can see squash, they can discover it.”

That visibility is, for Rik, the missing link in squash’s growth.

Changing the pathway of the sport

From the very beginning, Rik believed that changing the court could change squash itself.

“If we change the structural concept of the court, we can change the pathway of the sport.”

By placing squash next to padel courts, basketball courts, gyms, parks — not hidden behind walls — Access Courts introduces squash to new audiences, organically.