BUFFALO, N.Y. — Squash is an indoor sport played with a rubber ball. It can be played with two or four people, and you get a point per rally. It's one of the two sports that will be played in the 2028 Olympics for the first time.

Steven Joyce has been playing squash for 49 years. He started playing squash when he was about 10 years old and continued to play in high school, college and onwards. He’s also played in national tournaments.

"It's fun and it's a game. It's a great network of people. And anywhere you go into any city, you have somebody that you can reach out to and play and set a match up. And it's really a nice blend, kind of a social and cultural aspect to it as well," Joyce said.

Brian Donaghy also played squash in high school and college but took a break after that — until he met Steve. Steve encouraged Brian to play again, and now he’s the president of the Buffalo Squash Rackets Association. He says squash being added to the 2028 Olympics shows that squash is coming of age.

"Squash has been proposed to be the Olympics like the last eight times. That it's coming in America is really cool. It says a lot about the momentum that's happening with U.S. Squash, which is the governing body for squash in the United States. And it's just become a very global game," Donaghy said.

Steve says players from all over the world have different styles. He hopes the addition of squash will bring a rise in players.

"I mean, pickleball, well, is a very ... there's almost no learning curve. You know, anybody can pick up and start to be pretty proficient at it. It has increased people's awareness of racket sports, and so anything that gets people out exercising, doing something with a racket in their hand, I'm all for it. I just happen to like squash," Joyce said.

Brian believes we’re going to see more access to the sport as well through the addition of courts by organizations like U.S. Squash. He says one of the drawbacks to squash is that it requires a set court, unlike tennis or pickleball where you can put a court anywhere.

"Countries will do what they can to increase the caliber of play in their countries. I think it's going to happen in the United States as well, through access and through training programs and those types of things. You know, squash athletes don't get paid very well. They're not compensated a ton. And so I think the Olympic movement will help to fill in some of that gap," Donaghy said.

Both hope to see the U.S. medal in the 2028 Olympics.

"You know, I think that you know, I think from the women's standpoint, we have had much greater success," Joyce said.

Brian says it’s tricky to guess what’ll happen, though, because most of those playing now likely won’t be playing in 2028 and we’ve yet to see what the new talent offers.

"But six years is a long time from now and there's there will be momentum to play squash. You know, it's already getting talked about at club level and it's getting talked about. You’re here asking about something that’s happening in six years," Donaghy said.