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Elevating squash experience by connecting players, coaches, venues and federations
A mobile app, web admin panel, and embeddable widget that seamlessly bring together squash players, coaches, and venues.
Product
When I joined Squashly, the MVP was already live
At its core, the app allowed players to explore venues, book courts, and manage reservations. While it solved a logistical problem, the app didn't yet support the deeper needs of the squash community like finding game partners, tracking progress, or streamlining communication between players and venues.
My role was to expand on that foundation. I interviewed venues, coaches and players to understand what was missing. Based on their feedback, together with the team we built a roadmap designed to shift Squashly from a place to book courts to a digital home for the squash community.
Helping players get started with confidence
One early problem stood out: new players downloaded the app but often stalled after sign-up. Some didn’t know what to do next, and a pattern of drop-offs emerged.
To solve this, I designed a guided onboarding flow. Instead of overwhelming users with features, onboarding nudged them toward their first meaningful action – filling out profile, connecting with friends, or creating their first game.
This turned a confusing first experience into a clear entry point.
Streamlining venue management
Venues told us they were managing their communities on Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats, and email lists. Updates were scattered, and players often said: “I didn’t even know this thing was happening.”
We responded by adding community tools directly into Squashly admin tool: announcements gave venues a broadcast channel right in the app; events allowed venues to run socials without relying on external tools; passes simplified recurring access and enabled the members-only approach.
Players can see announcements, join events, and buy passes using the mobile app. This gave venues a digital voice and created more reasons for players to return.
Elevating coaching into the core experience
Coaches often serve as the entry point for new players, yet in the MVP, they were virtually invisible. We introduced coach profiles that showcase their bio, skill level, availability, session types, and pricing. This empowers coaches to spend less time managing logistics and more time focusing on coaching.
One of the biggest challenges was designing the pricing screen. Coaches have widely varying pricing approaches, so the goal was to make it flexible enough to accommodate complex cases while still remaining simple and intuitive for those with straightforward pricing strategies.
We made it possible for players to browse coaches just as easily as they browse venues, allowing them to book sessions directly. To keep the experience familiar, coach availability slots were designed to mirror the court booking grid, so players could interact with them without having to learn a new system.
Making discovery easier through a better widget
Venues want a way to reach players outside of Squashly, so we offer a widget they could embed on their own websites. As we added events and coaching, the original widget needed an upgrade.
The new version extended Squashly’s reach while giving venues more control over how they promoted their offerings, making it easier for them to attract and engage players.
Polishing the small things that matter
Alongside major feature work, I focused on the everyday frustrations highlighted in feedback and observed in Smartlook. Admins found some interactions clunky and slow, while players struggled with certain steps.
I addressed these pain points with small but impactful UX improvements like clearer confirmation states, simplified navigation, more informative error messages, etc.
Though subtle, these tweaks strengthened trust in the product and made the experience feel more reliable.
From booking tool to community hub
Step by step, Squashly evolved. Players can now onboard with confidence, stay engaged with announcements, discover events, book sessions with coaches, and use passes to stay active. Venues gained a direct channel to their members. Coaches became discoverable and bookable.
What started as a simple booking MVP is becoming a platform that reflects how squash really works: through people, connections, and community.
We are now focused on continuing to build out the roadmap with new features, and also pitching for additional funding to support the next phase of growth.