About My Gosh

Even now, although there are a few Squash rankings and gradings systems available, there is still no one system which can immediately set your playing standard accurately against others.

The other trouble is, all of these systems have gatekeepers, usually sports associations who have a vested interest in restricting availability to try to increase their membership. 

Although I have nothing against sports associations, they tend to focus on what's good for them, not the individual players themselves. And not everyone belongs to a sports association.

So we have been waiting for a simple, accessible handicap system to come along.

Until now.

Simple Squash Handicaps Are Here

You can play a MyGosh match anytime, anywhere. It can be a social match against a mate or acquaintance or it can be in a competition organised on MyGosh or a related platform.

All you have to do is register the match on the platform, used the handicap provided, then record the result.

Once the result is confirmed, every future match in the system will have the handicaps updated automatically. You will get a notification of your new handicap.

You can use popular open source scoring apps to record and register the result if you like.

If you are playing in a registered MyGosh competition, your matches will be automatically registered, and the results adjust your handicap automatically.

See below for the finer details.

All This For Free

It will not cost anything for individuals to register and play matches on MyGosh. You are only limited by how fit you are and how many competitors you can find!

Competition organisers will be able to register one competition (at any one time) for free as well. Organisers will be able to register more competitions for a small subscription fee.

How it Works

The basic idea behind MyGosh is that most squash players want to have a competitive game. This handicap system tilts the playing field somewhat, depending on the relative handicap levels, to make sure both players need to go at their hardest to win the match.

• Experience has shown that up to a 10 point handicap differential (HDiff) will provide a really good contest when games are played point a rally (pars) to 15.
• A 15 point HDiff is the point at which the contest ceases to become truly competitive, although scores may be close at the end of each game.
• The HDiff is divided by 2, then players start the match with the higher rated player at a negative score and the lower rated player with a positive score.
  • In the case of an uneven HDiff, both scores are rounded down.
• The maximum positive score is +5 so that a HDiff of, say, 12 scores would start -7 vs + 5.
• The MyGosh system automatically provides the starting handicaps for any match.
• The MyGosh system will automatically adjust handicaps for different scoring endpoints (eg 11, 15, 22 etc) at the start of each match.
• The results of the match, when recorded in the system, then recalculates the handicaps of the players and adjusts any future matches that may be in the system and all new matches.
• The MyGosh site will be full of stats and history so you can track your handicap.
• The system will apply to male and female players equally.
• You will be able to search for playing partners in the system based on location.
• Tools will be available to contact potential playing partners through the system.

MyGosh Roadmap

The task to get MyGosh to go global will be huge! So we believe it will take 2 to 3 years to establish itself as a genuine handicap system.

Over the next few months we will be contacting players and clubs to tell them about MyGosh and encourage registration and participation.

So please register now and tell your friends and playing companions. The more players involved, the better it will be.

• The first goal is to get some more local compeitions going and establishing relative interim handicaps between those players. (we have been trialling the system with local players already)
• Over time we will establish relativity between different groups based on a range of factors
• When we have a handle on relative playing levels, we will apply local adjustments to bring everyone to the correct level relative to each other
• Top quality male players, in high quality amateur leagues, will have a handicap of 0 (zero)
• We estimate top quality female players, in high quality amateur leagues, will have a handicap of around 20 (tbd)
• Out trials have indicated that rank beginners, with little sporting experience, are likely to have a handicap of around 100 (tbd).