The purchase of the Bradfordville premises from which Shape Squash and Fitness operates placed a cloud on the multi-court facility’s immediate future.

However, on the day business owner Damien Collins informed regular players a 2012 competition at the centre was unlikely, the premises’ new owner granted Shape Squash and Fitness a 12 month lease extension.

The future of the game in Goulburn has been secured.

For the next 10 months at least. Collins and his partner Dee Frew are knuckling down in preparation for the new season, scheduled to start on a date that occurs once every four years – February 29.

“Everyone was told we were shutting down,” Collins explained. “

We told all our regulars we were shutting down. Then on the day of handover, we found out we got the lease.”

The battle for the couple, already busy raising their children Lili, 2, and Lani, seven-months-ofage, is generating awareness. “From our point of view, we’re trying to build interest back up.

We want to tell people we’re not closed. We’re still here,” Collins said. Collins and Frew plan to open the doors of the six-court centre with an attached gymnasium to the public on February 25.

The open day, free of charge, is an opportunity for budding squash stars and accomplished players alike to register for an upcoming Goulburn-based competition.