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Voice Over: 2022 PSA World Tour Promotional Campaign
Boston-based Voice Artist Andy Taylor narrated the 2022 film “Home of the Greats” for the PSA World Tour. The Tour created the film for its subscription-based digital platform SquashTV, and to promote the sport on its social media channels.
Greatness Doesn’t Just Happen
The short film includes glass court footage, along with trophy lifts and training – featuring elite PSA World Tour players from the men’s and women’s Tours. Ultimately, it’s a respect-fueled tribute to professional athletes; recognizing the sacrifice, determination and work-ethic required to ascend to the top of any sport.
Hopefully, this spotlight will help motivate these talents to reach even loftier heights. Achieve goals once unimaginable. Dare to aspire beyond perceived limits. All the while, providing fans and future talents a window to the rigors of the disciplined world of successful professional squash players.
Overlooked, squash and its legacy deserves far more respect than it receives
Squash is hard. Always has been. Don’t believe me? Spend three minutes on court trying to maintain a 20-shot rally. Three lunges in, your legs and lungs will begin plotting your death. You’ll question all your life choices.
This sport swallows the fittest, strongest, most flexible, most confident competitors – and spits them out like bloody toothpaste. Athletes who try squash on a whim immediately wonder whether they can realistically refer to themselves as “athletes.”
Massive Respect: Voice Artist Andy Taylor’s brief history with squash
By 2017, I had been around tennis for 15-years as the Voice of the US Open in New York. Additionally, I had emceed several other professional tennis events the world over – including the ATP and WTA events in Doha, Qatar. That year, the Qatar Squash Federation asked if I could help elevate the production of their annual PSA Platinum event, the Qatar Classic Squash Championship.
Unexposed and unaware of the sport’s rich legacy and gladiatorial, theatrical presentation – I hopped a flight to the US Open in Philadelphia and became instantly hooked. The personalities. The rivalries. The raw athleticism. The camaraderie. The glass court. The lighting. The SHOW. It was an emcee’s ultimate fantasy.
Over the next five years, I hosted three Qatar Classic Squash Championships and the 2019 PSA Men’s World Championship. I witnessed remarkable feats of endurance, dozens of career-firsts, emotional victories, punishing losses – but mostly, exemplary character regardless of circumstance or outcome.
For the first time in 15-years, I experienced professional racquet-sport athletes as authentic human beings, rather than overly-marketed commodities and professional brand ambassadors. It was an experience made all the more rewarding when I began to understand just how much more difficult it is to succeed on a squash court versus its counterparts.
In the realm of racquets, tennis gets all the love
Since the rise of the Open Era, tennis has successfully marketed itself – receiving the largest share of attention, broadcast interest, and sponsorship money. That’s great. It’s a tremendous product. But make no mistake, when it comes to reflexes, reaction time, core strength, flexibility, conditioning, hand-eye coordination, split-second strategy — SQUASH, and its relentless pace, is hands-down the toughest task.
I’ve been around tennis my entire life. I’ve also hosted other racquet sports like the World Padel Championship. And I’ve been courtside at table tennis, badminton and Pickleball events. The truth? You haven’t truly met an “athlete” – until you cross paths with a gladiator who willingly steps inside the four walls of a squash court.
Mammoth respect to squash nation, and those who play all the time. Mostly, unwavering gratitude to these undervalued athletes who keep the sport’s rich legacy alive.
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A Look Back at Events I’ve hosted for the Qatar Squash Federation
