If I Coached Nicol David Part 2

Today I'm going to talk about Nicol Davd yet again. In my last post I discussed what I would work on if I were coaching this current legend of our game. And for the record, I know this isn't going to happen! It's just fun to discuss. Nicol is only human after all and can still get better at her craft. 

My last post got me thinking further about all of the things that I would learn from Nicol if I did happen to coach her. I also started making a list of  many questions I would like to ash her. Without a doubt getting to work with a top player like Nicol would be extremely motivating and inspiring for a coach. Certainly she would be teaching the coach as much or more than we would in return. So here's a little list of what I would love to find out about Nicol.

Her training schedule: I think everyone wants to know the ingredients for the top players. What are they doing that allows them to become so great? How much of what is she doing and how has this changes throughout the years? How does Nicol stay fresh and hungry day in and day out?

Her mental training program and ability: without a doubt Nicol is one of the most mentally tough and consistent players. It seems like she never loses her focus and doesn't get involved with the ref. her psychological skill set is as good or better than any other area of her game. So how did she get to this point? Was it how she was brought up by her parents or coaching? How much time does she spend working on these areas of her game nowadays?

Solo hitting routine: anyone who watches Nicol in the knock up for one of her matches can tell that she has done a lot of solo hitting. She is so strong on the volley and hits such a clean ball. I think solo hitting is essential to becoming a great player. How much does Nicol do and what area does she focus on when she's doing this?

How has she been able to stay healthy: having a run like Nicol is at the top of the women's game is amazing. Not only because of her ability to stay so consistent with her form, but also because she's been able to stay healthy and on court. We all know the troubles that Ramy and many other top pros have dealt with. Does Nicol play through small nagging injuries or does she have an unbelievable physio and conditioning team to keep her on court and raking up ranking points?

What drives her: all top players have had long stretches of time where they were very motivated, but things change over time. It appears that Nicol has stayed hungry (and extremely hungry) and had an insatiable appetite for success. How has she dealt with low motivation? What keeps her working hard and wanting to be the best? Maybe if she writes a book when she retires we'll get to learn more about this side of her.

Her future goals and aspirations: what does someone want that had already done everything? If squash gets into the Olympics there's no doubt that would be her #1 goal, but what else does Nicol want to do on tour? And I'm also curious how much better she thinks she can get.

Her plans for post professional squash life: I'm sure Nicol will continue being involved with squash in some way after she retires. Does she know I'm what capacity yet? Does she already have some offers on the table? Maybe we'll all just have to wait until this day comes to find out. Hopefully it won't be anytime soon!

Her most memorable tournament and match: even someone as decorated as Nicol must have a favourite squash memory and a best performance. When did Nicole fee she played her most

complete match? What was her best victory? What is her favourite court? How much does Nicol feel her game fluctuates tournament to tournament?

What was your support like as a child: growing up a small girl there must be times when adults were trying to keep your dreams in check. What was her support like? Did people ever tell Nicol that she was too small? That she couldn't do what she's done?

When did she realize she could become a world champion: what age or at what poky did Nicol realize she could become world #1? Did she always believe this as she was growing up or is this something she only realized after she began getting some results? I'm sure she didn't get to where she is by accident!

Who is her favourite player to watch (past or current): who does Nicol learn from watching play? Or who did she grow up idolizing? I wonder if this person plays or played at all like Nicol does.

How has her game progressed since she was a junior: how did Nicol play as a junior compare to now. Mess she always so disciplined? Did she always win? Was she always so in control of her emotions?

Who is her favourite player to compete against: Nicol has a few good rivalries in the sport. Which player does she enjoy playing against the most? And which is the most challenging to play?

How does she keep balance in her life off the court: what does Nicol do outside of squats training and tournaments? Does she have any balance in her life? Does she play other sports? How much time off does she take to keep her fresh?

How long does it take for her to get over a loss: Nicol doesn't lose often, but when she does how long does it take for her to get over it? Does she dissect the matches she loses more than the others?

I'd also be curious about how many matches Nicol plays outside of completions? And does Nicol play men or strictly women since that's who she competes against? What are her favourite drills and condition games? What shot is she working on most these days?

As I mentioned above it would great if Nicol could just write a biography and answer a lot of these questions. She's such an asset to our sport that I hope she isn't going to give up her squash racquet for book writing for a long time to come.

To become the best in the world at anything requires a complete dedication. Certainly Nicol doesn't have some unbelievable genetic athletic quality to explain her success. It's more about her drive and what's between her ears. This is why Nicol is an excellent role model for all of us. If we really want something and commit to it fully we can do anything we want and be successful. There will always be tough times where we doubt our own ability or desire. I'm sure Nicol has had to deal with these challenges along the way. Yet somehow Nicol has managed to overcome the odds and become the most successful player of all time.

It's easy to tell that Nicol would be the ultimate athlete to coach. She always gives 100%, is extremely driven, mentally tough, and of course has all the skills to be able to do anything you

ask. Undoubtably her supporting cast is extremely important to her success, but I'm sure Nicol is in control of her daily training routine. It also appears that Nicol is humble and grateful which is a unique trait for someone that's had so much success; this is likely why Nicol David has so many fans all over the world. 

I think the biggest thing if you got to work with someone like Nicol David is that she would make you better at what you do. It's not often you get to work with an athlete who is as or even more driven than the coach! Besides all of the questions I'd have about her training it would be her daily routine and personality that would be the most fascinating. Just as I've learned from other top coaches, it's by being around them on a daily basis that you pick up little tidbits here and there that set them apart from the pack; I think there would be a lot of these moments in Nicol's camp. 

If I Coached Nicol David

Today I am going to discuss what I would work on if I coached Nicol David. It seems like a fitting topic since I'm heading to Malaysia soon. Obviously she is doing almost everything at the absolute highest quality, but even for one of the greatest players there are things that can be improved. I'm sure this is what keeps her motivated year after year. Many people want to find out just how good they can be? Not very many of us actually achieve our true potential. It takes not just many years of hard work, but a dedication to your craft for a major potion of your life.

I could go on and on about what Nicol David does so well. Her consistency, focus, mental toughness, work ethic, determination, her length and fitness are the major qualities that I really admire. Not to mention that she is a brilliant role model not just for young girls, but any squash player. She also appears to be extremely humble and has a great smile :-) It makes you wonder where her will and determination come from. David is proof that you can be small and succeed in squash. But this post is heading in a different direction. It's time to talk about how David can become an even better squash player.

David has been on the tour for a long time and is getting near the twilight of her career, but has yet to shows signs of slowing down. I believe that David can continue improving her game for years to come. When you get to an elite level as David has, what she can improve is much less obvious than any amateur, but after watching most of her matches at the recent British Open you could see some of her opponents were able to really work her around the court. I don't remember her opponents looking so comfortable against her a few years ago. I guess this is naturally what happens when you're on the top. Everyone has a team strategizing on how to take you down.

Although David is extremely fit and fast, she is still relatively small in stature. So when someone holds the ball or attacks well with a boast she has trouble covering. I thought Laura Massaro had a lot of success with her forehand attacking boast on David. I think David is well aware of this fact and is why she really concentrates on keeping her opponent behind her until she has a golden opening. If her opponents are stuck in the back they won't be hitting many winners from there. David has such great length on the glass court that this almost always works, but if her opponents equal her great length she's normally in trouble (yes, as we all are!). I think that David will never be easy to beat because she has such a solid base to her game. She makes very few mistakes and hits good width and length. But I do feel that she could be more aggressive and clinical on her volleys.

During the British Open I thought David let her opponents off the hook numerous occasions on the volley. There were plenty of times where her opponent was stuck behind her and she just hit it deep again. David appeared to be set up and in position to bring the ball in short. Of course if she goes short and the shot isn't high quality she puts herself in trouble as she again is not that big and many of the top women are deceptive when given time from the front. Obviously this isn't her style, but I'd like to see her play more aggressive on the volley. Not be afraid of making a couple of errors. This brings me to my next point.

Watching David play I feel that her opponents can read her very well. It's just a matter of wether David's shot execution is precise enough or not. If your opponent always knows where the ball is going you're looking at very long rallies. She does have a deceptive backhand trickle boast and I would like to see her work on one on the forehand side. I'd also like to see her try some more drives down the middle of the court. She hits such immaculate length that this is definitely something that would make her even tougher to play.

I think David could also improve her attacking boast. Some of the top women shape up and look like they are going to drive and then play a 2-wall boast. Some of these women have excellent delay on their swings. Since David has such great length and hits deep almost every time she's in the back if this shot was at all deceptive she would set herself up for a lot of easy points. But of course this leaves her exposed at the front and is a bit more risky than the style she normally plays.

The last area I think Nicol David could improve is her serve from the right service box. She does get the ball nice and high with her lob serve, but rarely hits the sidewall. If she hit the sidewall consistently on the 4-wall glad court this would set her up for a lot more quick points. Again, this may appear like a minor-adjustment, but I do think it would make a pretty significant impact to her game.

Nicole David is one of the greatest of all time. I almost feel unworthy to write an article about how she could improve. But I thought it would be a fascinating topic. I know one could ask, 'why fix what isn't broke?' And yes I get it and agree. But I believe this is how the greatest athletes think. Elite athletes are never satisfied with where they are and are constantly looking for ways to improve and add new dimensions to their craft. Nicol David isn't going to transform her game into an Egyptian stye. But if we look at Nick Matthew the past few years he has become much more attacking and clinical with his short game. As the competition get stronger I think you need to get them off court sooner so you can be fresher for the later rounds.

It would be interesting to know exactly what Nicol David thought of her own game at the moment and what she is currently working on. If she keeps on doing the same thing she should continue to do it slightly better and better. There is no doubt about her work ethic. But with everyone nipping at her heels I'm sure she is thinking of subtle adjustments she needs to continue to make so she can continue to stay at the top. As we saw at the British Open there are a number of women that are capable of beating Nicol on any given day. If feels like the tides are slowing changing. How much longer will David be able to be world #1? I think the one thing she has going for her is that there isn't another dominant person on tour. I think there are a few that are very strong, but the don't get the consistent results that David does. Until one of them do David should be safe at the top of the heap.

If I was coaching Nicol David it's safe to say that I would learn a lot more from her than she would from me.

Analysis Of The British Open: Glass Court Issues

Watching the British Open this week, I've decided that today I'm going to discuss some of the great parts and not so great parts of the 4-wall glass show court. The glass court is much superior for viewing, both on TV and live. It is also incredibly unforgiving if you are missing your targets. While on the flip-side it can be equally rewarding for well executed shots.

As I've been watching the British Open this week, it's evident to see the difference of people with more experience on glass courts. Of course there have been a number of upsets on the women's side, but most of those have been on the traditional courts. I've watched at least parts of 5 or 6 women's matches on the glass court and this is what I've decided to discuss today.

As I mentioned above, the glass court is not very forgiving. If you're not hitting your targets the ball will be squirting out loose. And I've noticed that for the most part in the women's game that this has happened very early in the rallies; often after 2 or 3 shots. The challenge here is that once the court is opened up I find that in the women's game the rally is rarely ever reset. The women are too good at finishing off the points and in general the women aren't as explosive as the top men to make up for a poor shot. So I've found a number of the women's matches thus far to be one sided. I've felt embarrassed for some of the women out there. They are top 20 or 30 in the world and losing games in 5 minutes or less. It must be quite frustrating and a blow to their confidence.

In one first round match between Nicol David and Tesni Evans this trend seemed to be continuing, at least for the first 2 games. As Evans adjusted to the court she really played some excellent squash and pushed David to 4 games and it was highly entertaining. It demonstrated that the slightly lower ranked women can adjust and compete with the top ranked women and in the end entertain us; which of course is the objective for us watching. We don't care if it's men or women if we see good, hard fought rallies.

So how can the WSA improve the quality of their glass court matches? Obviously the biggest thing is experience. The women that are lower ranked have to battle through qualifying and rarely get a match on the glass court. I'd estimate under 10 matches on a glass court per year for women out of the top 15 or 20. If you compare that to David, she probably gets 50+ annually and also gets more practice on one back in Malaysia. Imagine if Evans has the same luxury? Imagine if all the women had that luxury? Certainly that's part of the experience that is so valuable on tour. The game is much different on a 4-wall glass show court.

In the end, the WSA, (well now joined with the PSA) is a business. If they want to improve their product they need to make glass courts more common place for all the women. This may mean making a push to have glass courts in countries where all the top women are from. This may mean not overlapping men's and women's events so that all of the matches (including qualifying) are played on glass courts. This could at least be done for major events. They could also have 2 glass courts at major events. I know it's getting expensive now. But I feel some of the matches so far on the glass courts have been pretty poor quality. I know the women are super talented, but they aren't able to play to the best of their abilities on the biggest stage (excluding the top few). It's a shame really.

You see this with the men as well. Canadian legend Shahier Razik is a perfect example of someone that as always struggled adapting his game on the glass court. The difference is that Razik can at least get more balls back and have some rallies even if he does go down.

I think glass courts are the future of the game. Hopefully we get more permanently built into squash clubs in the world. Surely if someone wanted to play professional, they would benefit from spending extra time on these types of courts. But of course they first have to make it through smaller tournaments to get a high enough ranking to play in the big events which have the glass courts setup.

I'd like to think the better player will win regardless of the court, but we can see from the first round upsets in the women's draw that the court does make a bid difference. I highly doubt there would have been as many upsets in the first round if all the matches were played on the glass court.

I think as we get further into the tournament the caliber of the women's matches not the glass court will dramatically increase. David and any top Egyptian is always an entertaining spectacle. I want pro squash to look like pro squash. I know it will improve with time and experience, I just hope it doesn't do more damage than good for some of the women that have been steamrolled thus far.

Women's World Team Championships

Today I'm am going to discuss the Women's World Team Championships. I am very late getting around to this topic, especially seeing they are being held here in Canada! The are playing at White Oaks in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. I am heading to that club next week for the Canadian Junior Open, but that's another post. I have to say the glass court looks great and the club is steaming matches on 3 courts in total. You can tell they got a good deal of government funding to run the event.

You can watch the matches here http://www.sportscanada.tv/index.php/upcoming/444-2014-women-s-world-team-squash-championship or on SquashTV on HD here www.womensworldteams.com/squashtv. I'm unsure if SquashTV will be showing all of the matches, or just the semifinals and finals now.  SquashTV is trying a new 2.0 HD stream and it does look really good. It's also been fun listening to Jonathan Power commentate.

I've only been able to watch a few matches with the time difference and my work schedule. As usual, I have a few comments though. Why do they play the 3rd match in the knock out round? If a team wins the first 2 matches they are through, but they still play the best of 3 for the last one. I saw some of these scores and times and they were only about 10 minutes in length. What's the point? That's not helping the event or women's squash. They shouldn't have to play, or they can play their alternates if they want to get a match in for the audience. I really can't understand this one. I get it earlier in the box format where every match counts, but in the knock out rounds this match is meaningless and nobody is going to put in a great deal of effort because they have a match the next day.

My next comment is about having 3 players per team. Do 3 players really represent which country has the best squash talent? At the varsity level in the States the top 9 positions count. In Ontario it's the top 6.  In Toronto squash league it's 5 per team. I would love to see more people on each team. I think this would make the tournament a lot more interesting and would provide more validation for the top country for women's squash! Not just who has the top 2 players! I know this brings the cost up dramatically. Hopefully if squash gets in the Olympics all the countries will get more funding and we can improve events like this.

My next comment has to do with the well documented absence of India's top player, Dipika Pallikal. How could India's top female squash player not know that the Women's World Team Championships was being hosted at this time. I read a few articles documenting this. From what I read, Dipika was emailed and asked to respond by a certain date and didn't. And when the national coach followed up and told her that her funding was dependant on it she declined to play. Saying she didn't know about the event. I don't know exactly how it went down, but this is good Canada! As we beat India today mainly because of Dipika's absence. Thanks Dipika! I know there is no money on the line and there isn't much money to be made on the WSA tour, so who is really to blame here? All of the other top women are here. Is it because they need the funding? Most probably love this event I bet. It's not very often you get to represent your country. It's what most kids dream about. The good thing about squash is that we are a small sport and I don't expect our top players will ever all decide not to participate; like what often happens at the World Basketball Championships. After playing a long NBA season, not all of the players want to risk injury and do more travelling. They want to enjoy some time sleeping in their own bed; I can't blame them for that and the can certainly afford to take the time off!

While I'm on the topic of the WSA, what do you think about the merging PSA and WSA in 2015? Will this help professional squash? Will it make any difference? When I mentioned this to the kids I coach, some asked if they were combining the rankings and if they would have to play one another!! Who knows, maybe one day. But I do think that it will help with the calendar of events. Hopefully they will align more of their competitions. I think the men would like having the women around. They want to impress the women with their squash ability, the very few women that would be impressed by someone's squash game. I know it sounds silly. But I do think this would improve the vibe at events and the camaraderie between the players. I have only ever played 1 PSA event and watched a few others, so I know there are people that are much better qualified to give their opinion on this topic. I'd be interested to hear what the men and women think. Do they prefer the events where they have both, is it a bit distracting, or do they not care either way?

I don't know how else the PSA and WSA will change the professional tour. Time will tell. I'm assuming that this will ensure the women will have a world championships ever year now! And hopefully they will get more coverage on SquashTV. I know some previous events they've showed the women but didn't have any commenting. They just basically left the cameras rolling. I've also said before that some of the women are less experienced on the glass court so sometimes the matches are lopsided and the rallies are quite short. This will continue to improve with more exposure. I think most amateurs appreciate good squash, man or woman, it doesn't matter. We can all appreciate good shots, retrieving and a good taxi!

The merger could pave the way for more young female junior squash players. They need role models to look up to, someone to aspire to become. For a long time the men have had all the spotlight, which yes is the highest level of squash in the world, but we all want to see more women and in particular young girls play. This may be a step in this direction. I know things have changed already since Nicol David, but I haven't heard of any young girls watching WSA matches online, or having their idol's poster in their bedroom. It's much different for boys. We have Jonathan Power Harrow or Shabana Dunlop racquet, or a Palmer BK frame. We have posters or got an autograph at some point. I know I'd like the young girls I coach to have role models to look up to and aspire to be. The women's game is also slightly different tactically and watching the top women play will help them lean and then this means the future of the women's game will continue improving year after year. I feel that SquashTV has dramatically improved the quality of the men's game and I'm sure it will do the same for the women's.

Last point. Does anyone else find it strange that Squash Canada is introducing 3 of their men into the hall of fame at this event? Shouldn't this event be focused around women's squash? We've had some great female squash players and coaches. Maybe one of them could be inducted instead..just a thought. But maybe since the PSA and WSA are about to merge it's not too big of a deal.

Alright, that's enough. I hope you're enjoying the Women's World Team Championships! Go Canada Go!!