Keep The Practice Quality High

To become a top level athlete, in particular squash, we need to learn how to push ourselves when our body or mind sometimes would rather take a break. As both an athlete and coach I have found this to be both interesting philosophically and invaluable to understand. If you or a kid your coaching is having really tired or just not feeling it that day we normally want to push them or ourselves to get going. We might be more flat footed than normal, have less energy in general and also have trouble focusing.
There's a common fallacy that we think quantity of practice and the 10,000 hours will help guarantee we reach an elite level and that the quicker we get to that level the better. As a squash coach for a number of years now you can sense the expectations from coaches and parents on their athletes and how we all want, hope and even expect immediate rewards. When someone isn't achieving the success we want for them we think they need to do more or work harder or make changes to their game. One problem with squash is how much we compare ourselves against other people and get so caught up in results instead of becoming the best possible player you can be and play at a consistently high level. I wanted to win as much as the next person, but I believe that if you focus on improving your own game and have the proper work ethic the results will come eventually.

What good will we get out of that session if we are only able to give 50% of what we normally can give? Is that really a productive session? Was there something else that we could have done that would have had more benefit? Perhaps some recovery rolling or stretching or easy biking? Maybe some video analysis or a look at our training plan? Maybe even some feeding with a ball machine or solo hitting would have been more beneficial and perhaps the next day we would have felt better and been more mentally and physically prepared to push ourselves closer to our limits.

See it's very difficult to push yourself to your mental and physical breaking point each and every day. Understanding that sometimes less is more is a difficult concept for an athlete and also a coach or parent to understand. We instinctively think someone is being lazy and demonstrates poor work ethic and a lack of desire. We are all human and finding this balance of when to push yourself when you feel flat or off that day and when to mix it up is important.

If we look back at the above example, but instead imagine we had a rough start and weren't feeling up for it, but someone once we got going we were able to get closer to 80 or 90% off our normal level that could be incredibly powerful for when we are in a tournament and aren't feeling great. In competition we have to play unless of course we decided to withdraw from the competition. But in a tournament, assuming there is no injury or illness we have to learn to play and not be fresh. At the US Junior Open kids were having 7 matches in 3.5 days; nobody is feeling good going into their last few matches. But if you know you can still get close to your best squash even when you are stepping on court with less than 100% in the fuel tank your mind might indeed be stronger than your opponent.

This mental muscle is a skill we need to be a good squash player and one of the differences I've noticed in Canada versus when I've seen kids train and play in other countries is that we don't push our kids as hard; right or wrong. Passion and letting kids have choices in what they want to do is not always a luxury all kids get. There are pros and cons to both side of this perspective, but coming from a Canadian point of view I've always felt that intrinsic motivation can get the job done. There is a lack of structural support and funding here compared to other countries, but if you can find a good coach and people to train with you can become a top class player with years and years of dedication.

 My final point on this topic is about the title, keeping the quality high. If a coach or parent is the one pushing a kid constantly at some point they are not going to want to step back out on court or they will not be totally mentally engaged in their practices. Some coaches simply try and push their athletes as hard as possible every single time they work with them, but harder isn't always smarter, especially on low energy days. I know a woman who is using a heart rate watch which gives her a red, amber or green signal each day to let her know if she is good to train depending on her average heart rate and I believe quality of sleep. Tools like this can be used to avoid risk of injury and decide on when to push yourself hardest and when to focus more on technique or quality and keep practice sessions high, and the hard ones hard.

In university I knew I couldn't physically push myself in every on court session daily, so I would solo hit 2-5 times per week so I could let me brain and body recover proper and still improve my racquet skill. It would have been nice to have fancy devices like the heart rate street light watch and some of this perspective and knowledge back in those days.

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Let The Coaches Coach and The Trainers Train

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about what I would do if I could go back and coach myself now knowing all that I know. I mentioned a number of things, but there is something I would add to that list. One are I would definitely like to go back and do is work with a personal trainer and even take some group fitness classes. When I was young I had a treadmill, stationary bike and a weight machine in my basement. Even though it was great to be able to do some cross training and certainly something is better than nothing, I really I had no idea what I was doing or how much to do of everything.

Even as I got to university I generally ran our team practices along with the off court training.  I would often take the team to run hills and do wind sprints by the squash club. On court we would do random drills and often finish with some court sprints. When I was a kid I just don't think any junior worked with personal trainers. Parents already invest enough money into lessons, camps and tournaments so what's the point of a personal trainer, especially on a weekly basis? At the university level we all knew the importance of off court training, but again we weren't specialist so we just did what we thought we should do. The idea of working with a personal trainer never even crossed my mind. At university I was on a very tight budget on I couldn't afford such luxuries. I always worked hard, but to get the most out of it that effort needs to be guided into the right direction.

Now that I'm 35 and have had 1 knee surgery and many years of coaching under my belt, I've finally come to a realization that I have to regularly work with a trainer, see a physiotherapist and get a massage. It helps now that I can write off a portion of these expenses through my work medical coverage, but still it is a difficult concept spending a few hundred dollars per month of these luxuries. The difference now is that they are all essential, especially trying to deal with the decades of playing and coaching.

If I could go back to a child and coach myself I would very much like to work with a personal trainer and have someone help set up a training program for me. As a squash player you're never quite sure how much of what to do and parents are always cautious about their kids lifting weights. Squash is such a 1 sided sport so it's an essential part of self care and not only will it help your squash game it also will help you avoid long term overuse injuries which I have been dealing with the past few years.

I know from taking the level 3 coaching courses in Canada that squash coaches are expected to be able to plan out an athletes physical training. To me this is absolutely ridiculous because this is not our area of expertise. I never had an annual training plan when I played and I've worked with some pros that don't use one. I think they can help some people, but are not necessary. And what good is an annual training plan if we don't know when to mark up which type of training? I mean sure I know we need lots of cardio and agility and I can help improve your court movement. I know strength training is important, but not too frequently during the season. But how am I supposed to tell a pupil how often to do which exercises and which types of training are best at certain times of the year? They have people who are specifically trained to do this so why in the world would someone expect me to know how to do this as well as a trained expert on the subject? Surely I should I only be expected to know how to coach?

Most squash coaches can get you fitter. We can run you through some ghosting an court sprints and circuits. But knowing the specifics of the technique for each movement, duration, intensity and frequency is something personal trainers should handle. Learning how to lunge and squat properly is critical in training and for squash training. I don't know any professional sport in the world where the coach runs the conditioning part of an athletes training. I heard awhile back that the fitness and conditioning coaches in football are the most important parts of the coaching staff.

I believe that our kids would be better off with a personal trainer working on this part of their game and the coaches focusing on the squash side of it. This is the beginning of building a team around an athlete. Being a well rounded athlete is essential to playing at a high level of squash and avoiding injury. The only way we will optimize the hours we spend off court training is learning how to do it properly, so I am all for personal trainers/strength and conditioning coaches.

How young should kids begin working with a trainer? My trainer says around grade 8-9 is when a kid is most trainable and is a great age to start working with a trainer. Kids bodies adapt so quickly if they are working on the right areas with proper technique. I wish I had this opportunity when I was a kid, because I had the shots and racquet skill, but was quite small compared to the other kids so would get overpowered. I also dealt with some knee problems on and off. These are things no squash coach I had could have fixed. These are areas I believe that a quality personal trainer could have helped me with though.

It's so hard maintaining a high level of every type of fitness trait throughout an entire season. We shouldn't worry about slightly lapses in 1 area if we are concentrating on another area. I know I often stopped strength training during the season because I was on court so much, but this is another area i wish I had stuck with even just to maintain my strength and off season training gains. Being young and not having the money to fund proper training was a real issue for me. So how could I have changed this? I could have tried to get a group of 3 or 4 of my peers together and work in a group setting with a trainer. I could have also signed up for some group classes like a spin class or yoga. Sometimes in squash we think we can do it all by ourselves because it's an individual sport, but the sooner you realize you can't and shouldn't the better off you'll be.

If you fortunate enough to have a great trainer in your corner you'll know how much they're helping you for your game. Even now when I play a strong player, I normally have the shots to contend with someone, but it's the physicality of the squash at this level which I have trouble with. I know it's not genetics, it's simply a matter of proper training. Look no further than Paul Coll or Fares Dessouky to see how important off court training is. The way they can move on court and for how long is because of the off court training. As you get better in squash you should be spending more and more of your time training off court. Not only are you trying to get fitter, stronger and faster, but also avoid injuries. You've got to be healthy to compete and handle the physical demands to play at the highest level.

Looking back at the old sign posted up in my squash club as a child, 'Get Fit To Play Squash, Don't Play Squash To Get Fit' holds more and more truth to me now. Back when I was a kid it was more about the endurance, Jonah Barrington insane level of endurance. I don't know how many of the top players lose these days because of aerobic endurance, it's more the intensity and pressure of the rallies, or even injuries. In hindsight it's easy now to say that Ramy is probably dealing with his injuries from major overuse, which is also a necessity to becoming a top squash player. How would things have been different for him if he had a top personal trainer working with him as a child? We rarely do proper training to prevent injuries until they begin to occur, but that doesn't have to be the case with squash.

How much of what you need to do off court to train for your level of squash depends a lot on your body type, genetics, your style of squash and your training history. I feel it takes an extremely experienced personal trainer to know exactly what is best for each person. There's simply too many individual differences one must take into account that it's unrealistic to expect a squash coach to have this wealth of knowledge. Training people in large groups as a squash coach can offer some overall strength or fitness benefits, but if you have lofty goals for playing at the highest levels you must seek beyond your coach for the strength and conditioning compartment.  It takes a team of special individuals to allow 1 person to succeed. They likely charge as much or more than you squash coach will and unless you understand just how important they can be to your success I doubt you will invest in one. Hopefully I've given you a few reasons to reconsider this.

Let the coaches coach and the trainers train. Coaches should be able to help you with your technical, tactical, mental and squash specific movement patterns, but the off court training does not fall under our realm of expertise. Squash Canada, like most other countries should change their coaching curriculum accordingly. I believe they should include more mental skills training and discuss about how to build a team and program to allow kids to succeed from the grassroots to pro level. I think they should also want coaches about doing too much physical training with their athletes when they are unqualified and their students could get injured. The challenge here is that if many of our athletes aren't already doing some fitness training outside of squash we feel we must include some in our practices. It's simple to include fitness training into a group session, but if it is exercises are done without the knowledge or ability to correct form there is not much good coming from these sessions.

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Mandating Annual Training Plans In Junior Squash

Today I should warn you I am going to go on a bit of a rant and it's a long post. I'm a true believer that squash should be fun and also that you get out what you put into it. If you love squash and want to get better you simply need to put in the time and effort and you will get to where you want to be eventually. If you don't have that drive you won't get to where others should think you should be. It's kind of like Matt Damon in the movie Good Will Hunting. I get the sense in squash that many of us are pressing our kids for results and unfortunately some of these kids end up dropping out of our great sport for this reason. I see this all of the time after kids finish grinding away their four years at college.

I feel that junior squash has become so competitive that it has zapped out a lot of fun from the game. Many countries have these robot type children all playing the same style of squash. Coaches feel pressure to produce top kids and often disregard the reasons the kids they have play squash. A big problem is that a major objective for governing bodies is to have elite high performance programs with elite and high standard kids they can stand from afar and admire and be proud of. Many kids themselves on doubt feel pressure to make certain teams or get accepted to a good university with a squash team. I have to admit that I'm guilty of this at times too. I have talented athletes that could achieve so much more, but in the end I have to remember that what they do with squash isn't my decision it is theirs. Squash can certainly open up a lot of doors for you and the higher the level you become, generally the more opportunities it will present to you. This is where I believe that motivation is the most important trait a coach can have. It doesn't matter how well you understand the game or teach the squash swing if a kid isn't intrinsically motivated to practice and get better.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a world champion. Yes I'm aware that didn't happen, but this can make it challenging to work with kids that have lower goals for their own squash games; especially when they have the skills and resources available to them. This is where I have to take a step back and listen to what the kids want out of squash and to how good they want to be. It's been an interesting challenge working at a school and starting up many of the kids from scratch. Most just come to practice and play for fun and enjoy competing while along the way have become pretty decent players. But these kids started playing just because we offered it at their school and they happened to be good at it or have fun playing. After 5 years running this program we do have some pretty strong players now and a few are keen to do independent training to become one of the best in Canada. 

At a school sometimes kids are just registered in a specific program and have the skills to be in a specific group. So even though there are different levels of kids within our system, there are many various motivating factors and aspirations for their squash careers. I feel this variety has given me a better perspective on junior squash as a whole. Not every kid is going to be a provincial or national champion, but that doesn't mean the kids can't all enjoy squash and play it for the rest of their lives. And for a select few of these kids that do have the potential and drive to become a top caliber player that we then have the ability to provide the guidance and program to facilitate this. Let's get back to our topic! 

I know this is a roundabout way to get to this point, but I wanted to give a clear personal perspective before I got into this topic. I hear that Squash BC and Squash Canada will soon be mandating that their recognized targeted athletes (as in being on a provincial squad) must have an annual training plan. At first I thought, well okay that seems reasonable for our top juniors. Then I started to think about this a little further. As soon as we have a policy that states a kid 'must' do anything the motivation moves from intrinsic to extrinsic. You can see how I immediately started worrying about this new policy and started to think it over further. 

I also began to think about if an actual yearly training plan is always appropriate for all kids just because their good at squash? Are the being kids identified in British Columbia and Canada talented and dedicated enough to all benefit from being on an annual training plan? Are we going to be pushing them at too young of an age because of the pressure WE feel for them to play at a higher national or international standard? When I was a kid I would have loved this, but only if it was optional and I had this option available to me because I was a top player. If I was told I had to do this or that I don't think it would have gone over too well. 

From my coaching perspective at the school the program has grown every season, but even for some of our top kids we're still working on getting them to want to train without saying they must do it. One of our biggest steps was helping the tops kids develop their own off season training program for this summer. But even this summer training program was made optional. I gave them suggestions and said it would greatly benefit for their games, but I realize not all of them are super keen to focus on training for squash year round. They are kids after all so who can blame them.

Without a doubt if these kids were on an annual training plan and stuck to them they would become better squash players in the short term. If the kids continued on this plan for a long period of time they would definitely benefit from it, but is this reason enough to implement a mandatory annual training program?

I feel most of these kids are not ready for this level of commitment. I will likely have 2-4 kids that must have an annual training plan for next season. I feel this is a sign of the sport becoming more professional at the junior level. If we want our kids to get a variety scholarship or make a national team a training plan would be great, but how many of these athletes have these goals? Would it not be worth finding out their goals and motivation first?

From a sporting government body I get it completely. We want to do better at the world stage at both the junior and senior level. As adults we know what's best for our kids, right? So mandating annual training plans is clearly a necessary requirement to producing stronger high performance pathway? Maybe they should listen to some of the coaches and athletes before they go ahead and implement this policy. 

I always like to think about things from different perspectives and creative angles. I've already discussed a few of the issues I have with this protocol, but here are a few of my pros and cons of mandating our top kids to annual training plans. 

Pros To Forcing Kids To Have Annual Training Plans

- the kids will be fitter, faster, stronger

- the governing bodies will meet their funding requirements

- scheduled rest time in the year 

- emphasis is placed on peaking for larger tournaments 

- you have a plan and goals and feel in control of your development

- it keeps you on track by helping you get into a routine
- this helps you stay on track over the season
- our kids will get a glimpse of what a professional squash player's life is like
- this is an effective way to guide a highly motivated athlete 

Cons Of Forcing Kids To Have Annual Training Plans

- makes playing competitively more serious and less fun
- increased dropout of sport
- you can become overwhelmed and immersed by the quantity of data and your training load and lose focus on what is most important, which is the quality of your training on that particular day

- motivation for playing and training can becomes extrinsic

- putting a focus on fitness means kids will develop their shots and tactics slower and could be prone to playing less attacking squash (which I feel is the current and future of the game)

- I feel like the biggest improvement most kids can make in squash is by improving their tactics and skill set. I bet there are some top world class players that never had an annual training plan when they were kids and instead of spending time in the gym lifting weights they were on court hitting the ball! 

- not every kids is mentally or physically ready for an annual training plan

- some kids are fine physically and need to focus more on learning the squash part of the game (technical and tactical) and annual training plans in my opinion should be more geared toward physical training

- I believe that increasing importance of specific competitions puts extra pressure on the kids. I believe in continually improving your own game regardless on the time of the season

- training plans generally call for less technical focus prior to competitions, but there are so many competitions for kids that unless it's a few days before a tournament I will always take an opportunity to improve someone's knowledge or swing. My first couple of years coaching I would avoid changing things before competing, but the kids are constantly competing so that didn't work

- isn't the best way for someone to get better to either play a match or solo hit? I know other things are key, but for me I'm always wanting a kid to do these things first before any other additional off court training is scheduled 

- If a kid does want to start an annual training plan shouldn't certified personal trainers set up these routines? Seriously, aren't they more qualified than the squash coaches?

- I've seen some pretty detailed and outrageous annual training plans that I know were not adhered to whatsoever. So really, what's the point of designing some amazing plan if it isn't going to be followed?
- how do you follow a kids plan when they train as part of a larger group who may've different training objectives? 

- promotes early specialization. I believe a lot of these kids that would be on this program would be better off just playing a 2nd or 3rd sport of cross training and for fun. This isn't just geared towards the junior national team players and trickles much further down the rankings and age groups

Okay, you get the point. You can see I can think of many more cons than pros for this argument. But clearly we are following the lead of other counties or even other sports. Why don't we come up with our own intelligent and creative way to assist our kids? Of course if you're a rower or in a purely endurance based sport a training plan and pure athleticism is key to success, but in squash there is so much to learn and know and just by playing we get fitter, stronger and faster and I think it should be treated differently. 

I'm sure I will get some criticism for my points here. I have to say that I am not against training programs at all, just against forcing teenagers to have them simply because of their provincial or national ranking. When I've worked with some professional players we would work month by month and adjust as necessary. If someone need more work in a certain area we keeping working on it. How often are people with annual training plans adjusting them based on how they're developing? At least for most of the kids I work with, I've been concentrating on getting them to understand different types of training, how it benefits them and most importantly to motivate them to want to do it and see the benefits of training. 

It will be interesting to see how things develop. It reminds me of my interview with Wee Wern Low and how she said she felt forced to go work with a 'better' coach, but she trusted her instinct and did what she felt was best for her and she kept the coach she had since she was 12. There are also similar rules stating that someone has to have a certain qualification to coach an athlete that they already work with at a provincial or national event and of course the Olympics. These rules are meant to help the athletes and get the coaches to spend time working on their certifications, but this system doesn't always work. 

I really enjoy people that think like Wee Wern Low as they kind of beat the system and show us that we shouldn't be so focused on say, how hard a pitcher throws a baseball or a squash player hits a ball or the certification or experience a coach has. Because really a squash player isn't going to get very far without the tactical, mental and technical skills. All of these other 3 skills are things that I am always talking about and working on with kids, regardless of the time of season. 

This topic also reminds me of a book I recently read titled 'How Bad Do You Want It' by Matt Fitzgerald. He made an interesting point about the best endurance runners. Fitzgerald discussed evidence that the top runners were comprised of a mixture of slightly lower V02max and more efficient running styles while others had a higher V02max, but because of this they always had less efficient running styles. This hits home for me in squash about how retrievers fail to develop shots or attacking tactics while those that have to because they are not as fast or fit do so. So I do think there is something to be said for learning how to play squash and developing your shots and tactics before becoming too fast, strong and fit and just winning because your run everything down. If a kid wins simply because he or she overhits or outruns their peers they are most likely to have a setback in their development of the tactics and shot making skills that their peers must have. Do you agree? 

For elite and experienced players, squash is an art form. Do you think famous artists were ever on a training plan? And did that ever stop them from being their best? Of course not! If an artist is getting ready for a show they may implicitly know they have to do a bit more to prepare and get ready for this. If a squash player is playing a big international event the more they will practice without us telling them they have too. We already know all of this implicitly and do what it takes to prepare properly. If we get to the event not as prepared as we would like we learn from it and try and do better the next time. Isn't this how preparation for squash competitions should be like, more like artists that put in the hours preparing because they are working at perfecting their craft, not because they are told too? 

What do you guys think? Can you think of anymore pros and cons I missed out on? Are annual training plans necessary for kids? If we were a stronger squash country at the junior level I may agree with these terms for a select few of the top kids, but in my opinion we're just not there and I actually think we have some very athletic kids already. We don't have enough kids competing and doing well at the international events in any age group. I think we should concentrate on being more competitive with our younger kids and hopefully they will be physically and mentally prepared to have a training plan when and if they are ready to do so. Some kids may be mature enough to go on a plan at 14 or 15 well others maybe not until they are in their 20's. And really if a kid never wants to go on a training plan, but loves squash and plays it all his life what is wrong with that? 

Currently I don't see many (if any) Canadian juniors that are going to make a living playing squash. I still feel my biggest beef is that wouldn't an annual training plan be better suited to a kid that wanted to do it, but didn't necessarily have too? Shouldn't we simply have access to the best trainer in the country that can set up an annual plan for those targeted that ask for it?  Wouldn't this be more progressive and keep the motivation for those on a plan more intrinsic? Maybe we should try and simply monitor how much of what our athletes are doing? I bet many are being pushed into doing too much for how little of years they have been training. Clearly if I was given a vote on this I would vote 'no.' I've played a high junior level and coached all different levels of kids so I feel I have a good set of experience to make my decision. I know that if I had a son or daughter playing and they were on one of these squads I would never force them to train and be on an annual program if they didn't want to do it. Sorry for the lengthy post, hope it was interesting to you! I'm guessing if you made it all the way to here it was :)