Harlem Squash Club: Cheapest Squash Courts in Manhattan

A 45-minute court at the Harlem Squash Club costs $22.50, and a full hour costs $30, which makes the eight international courts at 41 West 115th Street the best value in Manhattan for anyone searching squash court near me north of Central Park. The catch is the booking method: you enroll online first, then email academy@streetsquash.org to reserve, and courts close at 9pm Monday through Thursday and at 5pm on weekends.

The building is the SL Green StreetSquash Center, a purpose-built facility that opened in 2008 to house StreetSquash, the Harlem youth program that pairs squash coaching with academic tutoring and mentoring. StreetSquash is a member of the Squash and Education Alliance, the national network of similar urban programs, and its students use the courts and classrooms in the afternoons.

Harlem Squash Club is a separate venture operating in the same building. It sells court time, clinics and lessons to adults and outside juniors, and the money it raises flows back into StreetSquash programming. Paying $22.50 for a court here is, in a small way, helping keep a Harlem teenager on court after school, which is a better feeling than most gym receipts deliver.

Reservations are limited to two players per court, so this is a singles venue for drop-in players; doubles groups and three-person rotations need to look elsewhere. The club asks everyone to complete its enrollment form before booking a court or a lesson, and reservations are handled by email rather than through an app, so plan a day or two ahead rather than expecting an instant confirmation.

Timing matters more than at downtown clubs. Courts shut at 9pm from Monday to Thursday and at 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and weekday afternoons are when StreetSquash students are on court. The sweet spot for adults is a weekday morning or a weekday evening after 7:30pm, once the performance clinics finish.

For beginners, the Community Squash clinic is the entry point. It meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, costs $25 per session and is designed for people new to the sport who want instruction in the fundamentals in a social setting. Players who finish a few sessions are encouraged to move into the club's Skill-Level Box Leagues.

The box league is a self-scheduled round robin grouped by level, with three or four matches a month. It costs $50 and includes court bookings for all your matches, which the club values at $240. That is the cheapest structured competition in Manhattan squash, and it solves the hardest problem for a newcomer, which is finding opponents at the right level.

Squash Director Joanne Schickerling previously served as associate head coach for both the men's and women's teams at Columbia University and played on the South African junior national team; she holds a Level II coaching certification. Head professional Rick Penders won seven national junior titles in the Netherlands, reached No. 2 in Europe at under-19 level and was an assistant head coach at Trinity College.

Private lessons run from 3pm on weekdays in 45-minute sessions, with prices that vary by coach; you request one through the club's interest form. Our advice for a returning player who has not hit in years: book one lesson before joining a box league, because the coaches will place you in the right group and save you a month of lopsided matches.

The club's Performance Clinics are for juniors already playing the US Squash junior tournament circuit. They run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30pm to 7:30pm and on Saturdays from 11:30am to 1pm, mix match play with tactical, mental and squash-specific physical work, and cost $100 per session. Coaches keep the player-to-coach ratio low so each athlete gets attention.

Adults should note those time blocks, because performance sessions take several courts. A Tuesday 6pm court request is far less likely to work than a Monday 8pm one, even though both fall on a weeknight.

The center sits a short walk from the 116th Street station on the 2 and 3 at Lenox Avenue, which is also signed as Malcolm X Boulevard. Ten blocks north, Sylvia's at 328 Malcolm X Boulevard has served soul food since 1962, and the Apollo Theater on West 125th Street is another few minutes west. Heading south, the Harlem Meer at the top of Central Park is about five blocks away for a cool-down walk.

If you need a later game than 9pm or a weekend slot after 5pm, the two Open Squash clubs in Midtown and the Financial District stay open until 10:30pm on weekdays and rent off-peak courts to non-members. On the Upper East Side, 412 Squash at 412 East 90th Street rents courts to non-members up to six times a year.

The reservation rule of two players per court turns Harlem into a singles club for walk-in renters. Groups of three who like to rotate in and out of games, a common habit at gym courts, will need two bookings or a trip to a club that allows three per court. For a pair of friends, though, splitting $30 for a full hour costs $15 each, the lowest per-player price we found for international courts in Manhattan.

Bring non-marking court shoes, your own racquet and eye protection; the club does not advertise loaner gear the way the larger Midtown clubs do, so ask when you book if you need it. The courts are international singles courts, so the ball and the game will feel like tournament squash rather than a soft gym court.

The atmosphere is community-first, because the building exists for the youth program. New York Squash's club directory notes that StreetSquash volunteers receive free court access, so if you would rather give time than money, ask about tutoring or mentoring shifts when you enroll.

Address: SL Green StreetSquash Center, 41 West 115th Street, New York, NY 10026. Prices: $22.50 per 45 minutes or $30 per hour, two players per court. Hours: courts close 9pm Monday to Thursday and 5pm on weekends. Subway: 116th Street on the 2 and 3.