Championing inclusion at Northern Rebound

By England Squash | 18 February 2021 | TAGS: National Governing Bodies, LGBTQ+, Manchester, Stories

To mark LGBT+ History Month, Martin Cooper from Northern Rebound - one of Manchester's most recognisable LGBT+ sports groups - talks candidly about how the club ignited his passion for squash and makes him feel like part of a team, and not an outsider.

This month sees the annual celebration of LGBT+ history month, which to the vast majority of people won’t particularly mean anything (which is fine) but what it does mean to some is incredibly important and shouldn’t be underestimated.

I am a keen, amateur, not particularly good (however competitive I am) squash player from Manchester who took up the sport around 12 years ago, just casually playing with a friend. I’m proud to say that my game has improved somewhat since then, and I have since achieved certificates in Level One coaching and basic refereeing and marking, and developed a great relationship with my friends at England Squash who are luckily based at my ‘home ground’ - the National Squash Centre, which just happens to be a five minute walk from my apartment.

I’m also an openly gay man. Now, I don’t have to consider LGBT+ history to know how lucky I am in many respects. I live in a city which is internationally celebrated as a diverse and unified society, with people of all colour, creed, gender and sexual identity sharing a small space and living together in relative harmony.

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