Serious Squash Podcast Episode 3: Featuring Greg Hutner

In the most recent podcast I had longtime friend and college teammate, Greg Hutner on. Greg is a 3x Canadian Junior Champion and was 1 of the top players at Western University. He know runs one of the top junior programs in the country at Mayfair Lakeshore in Toronto. In this episode we discuss junior and college squash and have fun remembering some of our old squash days. Here's the link if you'd like to give it a listen: Episode 3: Greg Hutner

Here's a glimpse of the epsiode

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That's all for this week. Stay tuned for the next couple of podcasts as I have on some of the top coaches in the world. Also, consider subscribing to Squash Shots which gives you a weekly exclusive video. This week the video is on the front forehand corner when you have time and next week I look at the differences in this area when under pressure. Learn more at Patreon.com/SeriousSquash

The Serious Squash Podcast: Episode 1 ft. Rob Brooks on Junior Squash

Throughout the pandemic I've been listening to a bunch of podcasts and I've even been interviewed for a few squash ones as well. Last weekend I had the idea of creating a Serious Squash podcast. Instead of simply interviewing the backgrounds and stores of squash players, I've decided to focus on interviewing the top coaches and sharing their expertise. I may know a lot of things about squash, but there are plenty of things I still don't know.

I believe a lot of top coaches will be open to sharing their knowledge and ideas because together we can improve our sport as whole. Our sport is too small to do things on our own on a trial and error basis and a lot of us coaches don't have the luxury of working alongside great mentors. I also think that this information will be interesting to the squash players and the parents of juniors. 

For episode #1 I was fortunate to get Rob Brooks on. I've known Rob for over 30 years and he's one of the nicest, humblest, most passionate and hardest working guys I've ever met. He's worked with more top juniors over the past 30 years than any other coach in Canada and in this episode he shares his expertise on junior squash. Rob definitely ignited my passion for coaching and I know you'll enjoy some of his ideas and philosophies about coaching kids. 

Currently the podcast is only available on 2 platforms, but will be added to others in due time. If this sounds like an interesting topic to you feel free to have as listen and subscribe. I already have another beauty lined up for episode 2. Here's the link for episode 1: Rob Brooks on Junior Squash

Women In Squash

I thought this week it would be prevalent to talk about more than 1 subject. The first item on the agenda which will provide the majority of today's discussion is the lack of women in squash. March 8th was international women's day and it got me thinking a lot about why more young girls and women don't play squash. When I was young I confess I wasn't sure why we would celebrate a day for women, but never for men. When I was a kid there weren't any noticeable differences to how girls were treated versus us boys. As I got older I began to understand that women weren't always treated equal. A lot has changed, but it's clear that there's still a long ways to go.

Let's steer this back specifically towards girls and women in squash. Since I was young there has always been a lack of girls playing squash. That being said my home club had a woman as a coach and she helped me a lot. As this time I would estimate about 80% of all tournament participants and club members were guys. Does squash simply cater more to the the male demographic? Are women uncomfortable playing squash in front of a mostly male environment? I imagine some do, so as a coach it's critical that we do our best to create a welcoming and safe atmosphere for everyone. When I was young there were a number of all male clubs in Toronto. I'm not sure how many still exist to this day, but I believe there is 1 or 2.

As a coach I've always ran a lot of events for women. In my first year coaching with the legendary Rob Brooks I learned a lot because he would annually host an all female tournament and a weekly women's drop in. The numbers weren't as large as the other events, but I could tell these were always very important to Rob and to the female members. After I graduated university and I got my first head coaching position I followed in Rob's footsteps and ran a ladies Christmas tournament and I also offered a weekly ladies only clinic. The numbers again weren't huge, but I felt it was important to offer events and clinics that women could feel comfortable and have fun in.

When I moved to western Canada and began coaching at St. Michaels there was I believe 2 girls on our team. Eventually we got to the point where we had as many as 6 or 7 girls traveling and competing in tournaments. This was a large number compared to other clubs, but considering we had over 30 kids on our team this was still a small ratio compared to the boys.

I saw the draws for the recently completed British Columbia Junior Provincials and there were only 33 girls in the event compared to 88 boys. There was no girls under 19 and only 3 played in the girls under 13 division. There are some amazingly strong girls in BC, but the numbers are as disappointing as ever and surely there is more we can do to improve this.

When International Women's Day happened on March 8th, I saw lots of squash players and organizations make posts to celebrate on social media. It got me thinking about why women's participation is still an issue. I realize some countries still don't have as many young girls competing in sport as they do boys. There is no professional NHL or MLB for women. PSA Squash is doing a great thing showcasing their women and offering equal prize money in many of their events. Still we don't see a lot of girls and women playing squash. Will that change over time as this equal prize money is still a moderately fresh concept? If the WNBA was on sport highlights and the players paid as much as the NBA stars would more young girls play basketball? It's tough to say how much this would change things, but I'm sure it would help a lot.

As someone who has coached a lot of young kids I can say that in general girls are more coachable, care more about the social aspect of sport, but boys are usually more competitive. Seeing that squash isn't normally a team sport perhaps that is why more young girls don't play?? I also believe part of it is because girls have to practice with some boys who they find immature and annoying! Whatever the case it would be great to see more girls get into our terrific sport and play competitively. I recall many times at my club back in Victoria we would never get women signing up for tournaments. 95% of them just didn't enjoy tournaments and only wanted to play their friends or take lessons.

Anyways, on to the next topic. I don't want to be jumping on the media crazed band wagon about the coronavirus, but seeing all of these daily emails I'm receiving and hearing about all of the sport cancellations it's hard not to mention it. Just yesterday US Squash announced that they are cancelling all of their remainder national squash championships for the season. As of now in Canada they have not taken such a drastic measure, but things could change.

On one hand it's hard to stop living your life because of this, but on another you understand that organizations are all about risk management and they don't want to get sued if a large breakout takes place at one of their events. When on court the sidewalls are generally covered in players dried up sweat so maybe changing your preserve routine is a good idea, but besides this I hope the events in Canada don't get cancelled.

In the NHL I hear the San Jose Sharks might be forced to play in an empty arena in their next home game on March 19th. This is something that could begin to flush through the league and extend to other sports. If the MLB has to play with nobody in the stadium that isn't going to be good for business and most noticeably the owners. Even if the coronavirus was more deadly and widely spread it's hard to imagine a large corporation being okay with taking on and accepting such financial pandemonium unless they were forced to.

This might not compare exactly, but I've traveled to areas in the world where some mosquitos have malaria. There is always some risk in life, even just in travelling to somewhere and I'm not one to hide for the fear of something going wrong. I think if people are sensible and stay home when they're sick and everyone else just washes their hands we can and should go on living life just the same. Maybe I'll delay my trip to China for a the time being, but other than that life goes on. Here in Turks and Caicos tourism is almost the entire economy and if people decide they don't want to travel anymore that's not going to be good for the country and could lead to a lot of other bigger problems.

I'm not a doctor and I don't have all of the facts, but I thought it was worth mentioning because it is all you see nowadays and it is starting to have a major impact on sport. Coronavirus has already impacted all of our lives and for some reason more than anything I can recall in my lifetime. It almost  feels like we're at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. Let's hope the worst is behind us and we can get back to competing and cheering on at our favourite amateur and professional sporting events.

That's it for this week. If you haven't heard there is a new Serious Squash instructional film available in the shop for just $5. It's titled 'Advanced Back Corner Solo Drills.' It contains 4 episodes of Squash Shots, including an episode on my 10 favourite core exercises. It's available to stream at https://serioussquashshop.com/collections/coaching-videos/products/advanced-back-corner-solo-drills

If you like the film and you'd like to subscribe to Squash Shots you can do so for as little as $3/month. Next week is episode 44 which contains 2 of my new back corner advanced solo drills. Learn more at Patreon.com/SeriousSquash

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School Squash

As a Canadian squash coach and someone who has participated in the Canadian junior squash circuit many moons ago, I feel like I am in a good position to be able to discuss today's topic. I know I could easily be talking about the reffing controversy and the videos from Sobhy and Elshorbagy, but I don't have all of the details behind these stories and the facts I have gained are from a variety of people on social media who may or may not know what the backstories are.

Perhaps when the Windy City is done and the dust has settled I'll write up a post about it all. I am pretty excited for the finals tonight though. I feel like both finals should be great and I would not be surprised to see an upset from Coll over Farag. They are the 2 best movers in the game so it should be a great match. While on the women's side Raneem and Sherbini have the best racquet skill on tour.

Let's get on to today's topic; school squash and in particular in North America. When I was 1 young I played the U.S. Junior Open a few times and won it once and I think came 2nd another time. There were almost no strong American players back at this point in time. My how things have changed...

After my junior years Squash Ontario started up an annual summer tradition called Battle Of The Borders where the top junior players from Ontario would compete against the best American kids. That's right, a single province versus all of the U.S. In the early days Ontario was stronger, but now things are very different. Canada now sends their top players from the entire country and we almost always lose and it's not even close. The depth of talent in the U.S. now is so much greater than in Canada and I think it's pretty obvious why.

The U.S. has more courts, more coaches, more money and they really love and support their sports, but the main reason I believe that the U.S. has taken off in squash is because of their school squash programs. The College Squash Association (CSA) is basically the minor league system for the PSA World Tour now and the level of play is substantially higher than when I played (2005-2009).

Another school squash area is in the middle schools and high school levels. In the U.S. there are over 1,400 kids that participate in the High School Team Championships and I don't the exact numbers for the Middle School Team Championships, but there were 4 boys divisions of 16 teams and 3 girls divisions so the numbers was likely in the high hundreds.

As someone who has worked as a head coach for 8 years at a Canadian private school I'm well informed to discuss the Canadian school squash system. There are a few schools in Canada that have squash courts on campus. In British Columbia I believe there are 3. I has a full time squash coach the other 2 hire part time coaches. In Ontario I don't know the exact numbers, but there are a handful fo schools that have courts and none of which I'm aware of have a squash director or coach.

Over the years whenever I've looked at the current job openings on squash websites I most notably see U.S. schools looking to hire qualified coaches. Almost half of all of the jobs I see nowadays are for American schools. It's no wonder that the US has such a large crop of strong juniors and the numbers at their school team championships demonstrates the priority the country has placed on their squash programs. You really can't compare what the U.S. is doing to Canada or anywhere else for that matter.

Having courts, a program and a strong coaching staff at your school is an amazing resource I wish I had when I was a kid. Schools with programs are a terrific breeding grounds for growing our game and I wish more Canadian schools would step up to the plate and support their sporting programs and realize that investing in a squash program can benefit the school in numerous ways. It makes me wonder how the U.S. middle and high school system got to the level it's currently at...it must be the CSA.

Even at the university level Canada cannot compare to the states whatsoever. Western is the only school that competes in the CSA. I went to Western for this reason and when I was there I only played 1 home match in 4 years and we drove 2 minivans to each of our other matches. Normally I was one of the drives and we would drive for 6-12 hours and sometimes have a match that evening, sleep and then play 1 or 2 more before heading back. One weekend I remember driving to Cornell (6 hours), playing against Yale, driving to Toronto after the match to play 3 Ontario University Association (OUA) matches on the Saturday. I recall another time sleeping on the floor of a frat house at Cornell on the way to team finals because we were on a tight budget. Oh and did I mention that we didn't even have courts on campus and our coach was unpaid? I don't know how much things have changed at Western since I graduated, but that was what it was like just over a decade ago.

In the U.S. most of the school competing in the CSA have top notch facilities and world class coaches. They travel on team buses, have athletic trainers and even their equipment and uniforms are high end. Obviously most (if not all) of the U.S. schools have much larger endowment funds than Canadian schools, but I don't believe this is an excuse for having such a underwhelming school program here.

Do Canadian schools just need more money to have proper squash programs? If so is this something that Squash Canada or the provincial squash associations can assist with? Is it too late for Canada to learn from the U.S. system and try and mimic it on a smaller scale? As a coach, squash lover and someone who wants to see Canadian juniors flourish I sure hope we can figure this out.

I know a lot of squash clubs struggle to pay their bills. Squash courts take up a lot of space and the courts are generally only ever used at lunch and in the evenings. Schools however have the space, own their land and can make use of the courts all throughout the day. Let's hope in a decade from now we'll be able to look back and see more school squash programs not only in Canada, but all over the world.

It may sound like I was compiling today, but I really am thankful for all of the opportunities that Canada has presented to me. I'm just passionate about squash and I wish we as a country could do more to support the game at the junior and collegiate level and I believe the way forward is through school squash.

Did you know that Serious Squash has a new instructional film? It's a combination of 4 episodes of Squash Shots, 3 of which are on back corner solo drills and the final one is an episode of my 10 favourite core exercises. It's a 20 minute film that you can stream for just $5 at SeriousSquashShop.com

Enjoy the finals of the Windy City Open tonight! Who's your money on? I'll take Farag in 5 and Raneem in 4.

Why We Should All Purchase A Squash TV Membership

A couple of blog posts ago I wrote about the troubling state of squash in many countries across the globe. Today I'm going to write about a way that we can all pitch in to make the game a little stronger and that's by purchasing a Squash TV membership.

I should start off by stating that I do not work for Squash TV nor am I associated with them in any way whatsoever. In fact I've been trying to get some footage from them to analyze for Squash Shots and have offered to pay for this, but I haven't heard back. So my opinion in this post is purely my own and the only interest I have is in promoting squash and to see it flourish. I have had my own Squash TV membership for as long as I can remember and some years I watch it more than others, but I will never cancel it.

I recently did a poll on the Serious Squash Instagram account and only 40% of the people who answered it had a current Squash TV membership. I'm going to try and do some research and figure out why the 60% don't have one. My guess is that they don't want to, or can't afford to spend the money. Or perhaps some people get enough squash from Youtube or don't care about watching full pro matches and tournaments. I know there's a few things about professional squash and Squash TV that could improve and if more people subscribed we would be doing our part to make that happen.

The quality of the production and the amount of matches filmed on Squash TV is quite impressive in my opinion, especially considering how limited watching professional squash was when I was growing up. The commentating is clever, well informed and easy to listen to. The caliber of the players is also amazing and the game is constantly evolving because of the filming production and ease of access. Players, current pros and up and comers are able to make better game plans and analyze squash in a way that was not possible prior to Squash TV. But it's not only for those keen on improving their squash that I believe should purchase a Squash TV membership.


I haven't had cable in over 8 years. It's too expensive and I don't want to sign a contract for an over priced service. All I would normally watch on cable was sports and much of that is now available online. I mention this because I know a lot of people don't want to pay the monthly or annual costs associated with a Squash TV membership. Some people may even share accounts because their interest is simply in saving themselves a little bit of money. But by doing this these people are not supporting our game at the highest level and we all know there is not enough publicity or money in the pro tour.

I don't know the statistics, but if the Squash TV membership somehow doubled I imagine it would allow them to majorly increase their production value and it would be more appealing to potential sponsors and tournament hosts. Squash has always had a tough time getting on television. As as small close knit and supportive community, we basically have our own channel and by not supporting it we are also not doing our part to give back to our game and to help it flourish at the pro level. If there is no professional circuit, or a less funded one it is bad for the entire sport; I truly believe there is a trickle down effect right to your home club and for many of the members in it. Imagine if they took away the NBA, NFL or NHL and what type of impact that would have on their respective sport and the kids who look up to their role models?

Hopefully you can agree that the simplest way we can support the PSA World Tour and the professional players that are trying to make a living playing squash is by buying a membership. We can't all attend or sponsor a pro tournament, but most of us can afford to purchase a Squash TV membership. If you don't have a Squash TV membership and you're reading this I'd be curious why not. You're clearly into your squash if you're reading a squash blog. So I'm making a plea for the good of our sport to give Squash TV a try. Even if you don't want to use it this is putting money back into our sport and potentially you can purchase it for someone who would love to have an account and watch all of the matches. It's my understanding that Squash TV is run by the PSA so by supporting it you are also supporting the tour. If the PSA World Tour thrives over the next decade and beyond I have to imagine the state of our game globally will be in good hands.

Here's the link for those that want to purchase a Squash TV membership: https://psaworldtour.com/squashtv
I know it's not cheap as the monthly subscription is more than my Netflix bill. But I also have an MLB annual pass which is higher than both. I know we could all do with saving a bit of money and cutting out unnecessary expenses, but I believe this is a good cause that goes beyond our local squash club and unifies us all. If Squash TV made an extra million dollars I highly doubt it would just go into the pockets of anyone in particular, it would go back into the sport and the service and make it all that much more impressive. If Squash TV had more paying members than the Tennis Channel or NHL season pass I have to believe this is something that would get big corporations on board for sponsors and may potentially impact a future Olympic bid. We may not have the vast majority or numbers, but we can be the most dedicated and passionate!

Another great part about Squash TV is that you can go back and watch replays of matches and tournaments. There are also some old school matches featuring some of the best from the last decade. Some of my favourite players to watch are Shabana, Power and of course Ramy.

 You can subscribe to this blog by email to be alerted for future blog posts. Also, you can find Serious Squash on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram for the most regular posts. Plus there is a Patreon account where subscribers receive exclusive weekly videos for $3/month. You can check it out at Patreon.com/SeriousSquash but if you are only going to subscribe to one, pick Squash TV :)

Is Squash Dying A Slow Inevitable Death?

It's hard to believe it's been over 3 months since my last blog post. I've still been quite active on the video side of Serious Squash on other platforms, but I do feel I need to get back to the blog more frequently in 2020. I'm going to start this trend by talking about the current state of squash.

As someone who has been a part of squash for 3 decades I have seen a lot of improvements and also some worrying signs for squash. The job the PSA does now filming the top events and interviewing the players is world class and has brought our sport forward by a substantial amount. When I was young we had a few expensive vhs tapes that we had to order and we'd watch these over and over. This was the only way you were able to watch professional squash back then.

The style of squash is something that has also improved greatly. Back in the 80's and 90's the racquets were heavy, the scoring promoted fitness and the higher tins meant the rallies and matches were generally long and boring; it was a battle of attrition basically. This began to change at least from our vhs player with players such as Rodney Martin and Jonathon Power. Chris Dittmar was also a favourite who just couldn't seem to crack the steady Jansher Khan (pictured below).

As squash players become more explosive, equipment improved, the tin was lowered and the scoring was changed, attacking squash began to become a fixture in the game. All professional sports have spent a lot of their resources recently to speed up play to keep viewers tuned in and interested. This is something squash has done quite well in my opinion. That being said squash gets little attention on sports news shows or on tv. Although I haven't had cable in about 8 years now, squash is failing to reach the mainstream. Would things improve if it got into the Olympics? Probably a little, but I don't think by a lot. There are lots of sports that don't get much airtime during the Olympics and which people don't ever consider playing anyways.

Squash is possibly the toughest sport on the body. To play at a high level you not only have to maintain an insanely high fitness level, but you also need to be healthy and have good mobility. For someone who is 38 now I know the challenges of this. I can only imagine how difficult it is for the weekend warriors. People who sit around staring at a computer or their phone all week now have to exert themselves to the max. Once injuries come into play the future of that squash player is in jeopardy. This is where hardball doubles is an excellent solution and having a social network at a club can keep squash members paying their membership dues even if they are not so active on the courts anymore.

I feel like every week or so I go on Facebook and see some story about a court or squash club closing its doors. Are the numbers of people playing really declining? Should we be worried about the future of our sport? Should I be worried about my chosen career path? If I had to answer those honestly, I would have to say, yes most definitely.

Let's think about the simple math for a second. A squash court and club takes up a lot of space. Only 2 players usually book a court that could fit 20+ into a fitness class. Most courts are only booked from 5pm-8pm. There is the occasional lunch game and some clubs will have some activity on the weekends. This is not an effective business model and owning a squash club seems like one of the worst investments you could make. And I'm saying this from a passionate and optimistic squash perspective.

Is having a successful squash club not possible anymore? It certainly is, but it takes a lot of work and a major commitment from both the coach (or coaches) and the owners or the of directors. For some people they want to just exercise and have fun within their small group of friends. Others like receiving coaching and meeting new people to play with at their level. If the average squash membership in Canada (excluding country clubs) is around $80/$120 month. How much on top of that do the members want to spend on extra things like tournaments, pro shop items, coaching, etc? People who go to yoga, spin or some other class will pay around $15/$25 for a class. It's clearly a cheaper (although some would argue less fun or skilled way to exercise), but there are a pile of these types of classes available all over. Cheaper and more convenient and injures are rarely an issue for this types of low impact classes.

Those of us that really enjoy competing know that squash can take over our life. It's what we think about and are willing to spend above and beyond what is reasonable to improve. Very few of us are going to play professionally and make a living at it, yet still there is a squash core that has an addiction to learning and becoming the best they can be. Squash to me also is a measuring stick for how fit I am and it helps me live a healthier lifestyle than if I was say a golf coach where fitness was not so vital to your ability to coach or play.

Many people have told me how pickleball is the fastest growing racquet sport. Most racquet sport players are older. We've spent 1000's of hours pushing ourselves to the limits and still not quite getting the results we've envisioned. There's also pressure in the expectations and the results we place on ourselves every time we step on court. I've met very few good losers at any level. When we switch to a different sport which we are somewhat competent in we can relax more and enjoy the sport for what it is. There isn't a hierarchy we have to mold into and obviously injuries or mobility doesn't play as much of a factor in pickleball. I also have to say any new sport will be faster growing than a more deeply rooted sport. So maybe we don't need to be worry too much about people switching to pickleball, but perhaps about the lack of new people trying and getting hooked on squash.

So what do I see is the future of squash? Is there a future for squash? I feel like it's becoming more privileged again. Only fancy country clubs and schools will be able to afford to not make money on their squash programs. I do believe an excellent coach can create a sustained successful program at a given club, but there are not enough of these types off coaches that are willing to do the work for what many clubs are willing to pay. I've never made above the median national income in Canada and I certainly don't now in Turks and Caicos either. Eventually coaches have families or want to stop paying rent and many will either take a cushy fancy job or flock to the U.S. so they can make ends meat.

The U.S. was so brutal at squash when I was young. Nowadays the U.S. is where the top paying coaching careers are. U.S. Squash is what's keeping squash alive in my opinion. The U.S. has the resources and finance their sports far greater than most countries. They send huge junior teams to international events and the College Squash Association (a match at Yale pictured below) is basically the PSA minor league system. School squash is not only the future of squash, it is squash. Most clubs aren't producing enough juniors to keep their courts booked and the bills all paid. This is why I would love to see more schools in Canada build courts and hire squash coaches. Not that many years ago there used to be a battle of the border where Ontario juniors would take on the US national team and team Ontario was stronger. Eventually they caught up and now they are beating us even when we send our top national juniors.

So what is the future of squash clubs? I believe they will continually struggle and they will soon be nearly as extinct as the dinosaur. That being said I have seen some successful squash clubs and what they have done mostly well is retained top coaches who have a passion for coaching and they also have a huge social network within their club. If your squash club feels like a home away from home it has hope; as long as there are enough people that feel the same. As most Canadians will know, Goodlife chose to shut down their squash courts last year. I think there's 1 or 2 still fighting to keep their doors open. But it's a fact that almost all of us would rather operate a successful business than a struggling one. Unless your club is run or owned by a seriously crazy squash enthusiast the future growth and success of that club must be a concern.

I also think squash clubs need to be creative and use social media better. There are very few clubs, programs or coaches that have any social media presence. There also needs to have perks that keep members coming back. Maybe having a bar, a ping pong table, a badminton court, a decent gym, a sauna, etc. can all make memberships more appealing. But one of the most challenging things is getting a non squash player into the doors and having them sign up for a membership and decide to pay for lessons to learn how to play properly. A lot of us started playing because someone helped us get into it and got on court with us when we couldn't keep a rally going.

One of the clubs I grew up playing at (Ajax) used to be busy and had a lot of top players, but now it's a ghost town. Pine Valley had the largest house league in Toronto and eventually was bought out and closed. The Victoria Squash Club is another one where one of the best coaches in the country couldn't keep the doors open. There's plenty of other examples all over the world. How can we all do our part to keep squash alive? Is it dying a slow inevitable death? I haven't given up hope yet so wherever I'm coaching I'll keep trying to do my best at growing the game 1 person at a time and hopefully I'll keep some of you around the world motivated and interested in squash through this blog and from my more regular posts on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. I also believe that a lot of coaches (me included at times) focus so much on the top juniors or players that we don't put enough time in growing the quantity of people picking up a racquet and keeping them engaged.

Do you have some other ideas on how we can improve our sport? Should we go permanently to 2 out 3? Should we try RAM scoring? I mean really, if Rmay couldn't save our sport who can? Should we lower the tin even more? Should we change the bounce of the ball? How can squash get more attention on sports networks? How can we get more schools to get their kids to a squash club to try it out?

Do we need to promote crazier and fun types of rallies? It's boring watching a low scoring hockey, basketball or baseball or soccer game. How can we make squash more explosive and entertaining for fans? I'm all about good sportsmanship, but do we need a new explicative Jonthon Power? What if we took away lets? What if we made squash more physical? Should we promote the audience to be vocal during a point? Should we do more video replays? Should we have timeouts? Does the PSA need to do a better job showcasing their players outside of the rectangle? Do government bodies need to do a better job on promoting memberships and tournament participation? Do we just need to get the Olympics nod? We have to try something because what we are doing for the most part isn't working.

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Life On Turks and Caicos

As many of you know I just moved to the island of Providenciales in Turks and Caicos (TCI) to coach squash at Graceway Sports Centre. If you've never heard of it, don't be alarmed as I hadn't either until this job opportunity opened up. I arrived on the afternoon of April 29th. I thought the biggest challenge of my move to was going to be driving on the lefthand side of the road and the warmer climate, but as you're about to learn these have been the simplest transitions thus far. 

My apartment is still being built and even though I was assured it would be ready for my arrival, unfortunately (yet not so surprisingly) it was not. No worries though, this is the Caribbean and they take care of you. I was put up in the beautiful Wymara Resort for 2 nights before renting an apartment from a nice lady on a street with no name or street number. That’s right, no address!

Turks and Caicos is a popular tourist destination and it is built up to suit tourists, but that is mostly around resorts. When you get off the main highway and onto any side street you have no idea what to expect Some are dead ends, others have a big private villa. A lot of the side roads aren’t paved, and the one I’m living on has the biggest pot holes I’ve ever seen in my life..and I’ve lived through 2 Moncton winters! 

Well I found somewhere to stay and it’s more than I would have spent at my new apartment, but I didn’t have much of a choice so 'don’t stress' I kept telling myself. This unit I’m renting was supposed to include internet, but as you’ll get the picture, things don’t always go as planned and when they don’t, they often take a lot of time and patience to get fixed. Another strange thing where I’m staying is that I hear dogs barking at all times of the night. I have no clue why they don’t seem to bark during the daytime and why people leave their dogs out overnight or if this is a mixture of wild dogs. But again, this is another thing that a tourist would never have to experience. 

Did I mention that I saw Usain Bolt here? Well it was at Digicel which I had been at 2-3 times per day for the first week of my arrival. I was trying to switch my phone over to a local company and for some reason it takes 24 hours for your data to kick in and then it still didn’t work. If I didn’t have so many issues with my new plan I never would have known Bolt was in town signing autographs. 

My phone is working now, although apparently you can’t text someone who uses a different company other than Digicel omg..are you kidding me? Well I was told I can, but it will be 11 cents per text, but it isn’t working on my phone yet anyways. There are only 2 mobile phone companies on the island and half the people I can’t message or I have to pay to talk with them? How’s that going to work being a squash coach? For now I’m going to try WhatsApp as that seems to be what most of the locals do to get around this issue. A lot of people actually make phone calls here too and seem like they enjoy talking on the phone. They seem surprised when I saw I never talk on the phone back in Canada and that only phone calls I normally ever received were spam. 

I know I may be painting a poor picture on my experience thus far, but I’m really just telling it like it is. There are plenty of good parts and I’m also learning to be more laid back and easy going; give me a few more months and I’m sure I’ll have the lifestyle down pat. 

If you’ve ever been to Turks and Caicos you’ll know how friendly and outgoing everyone is here. When you walk into a room everyone greets you with a ‘good morning’ or ‘hello.’  It’s an amazingly friendly place. I’ve never had so many strangers speak to me. When I’ve traveled to other parts of the world you’re always a bit cautious about overly friendly strangers, because you fear they want something from you as you’re an easy target. It’s tough to let your guard down, but it really is much different as people are quite genuine, honest and don’t hold back if they are unhappy about something. 

Let’s go back to when I first arrived and I’ll take you through my experience at the local dmv. After checking into Wymara I went to pick up the scooter I had bought, sight unseen. It’s a 2013 Honda NCH50 that came without a working speedometer or odometer, but hey the speed limit is 40 miles per hour on the highway and my scooter tops out at 40 so it’s not a concern. This was my time driving a scooter so it took a little bit to figure out how to use it properly, but once I did I absolutely loved it. It’s so fun and incredibly cheap on gas; I haven’t been able to get more than $4.50USD into the tank and gas here is around $5.15 per gallon. 

I’m going to do my best to recall all the steps so far getting my scooter ready to ride legally. I first went into the Department of Road Safety with my bill of sale to get plates. They gave me some paperwork and sent me off to get it insured and said that I had to get it inspected at a place ‘across from Hertz’ which of course has no address or any recognizable feature for that matter. Making this all the more of a challenge, I was trying to do all of this with no working data plan!

I had called a friend of someone about inquiring insurance, but he said he normally didn’t insure motorbikes. He did provide me with a company that he was certain would. I called up and the lady on the phone said they do indeed insure scooters and told me where to find them by telling me the colour of the paint on their building. After only about 10 minutes I found it (for the record it was 200 feet away) and I was feeling good about my progress. 

I got to the insurance office and said I was here to get insurance for my moped. The man working the front desk said they ‘we don’t insure scooters.’ After I told him the lady on the phone had just told me that they did, he went around back to look into it and eventually he unwillingly took my money and started the paperwork...which was $270USD for the year. 

After getting insurance I went to get a safety for the scooter. I managed to find the place, got the safety in under a minute. He checked the signals and other lights and he said I was good to go back to the ministry, but that I may have to get a Turks drivers license too. When I got back to the ministry it was almost closing time (3:30pm). The lady was very nice and helped me fill out the paperwork for the new plate and license and told me to come back in the morning and it would all be completed.

The next morning I woke up and it’s pouring rain. Once the rain stopped I drove down to the ministry and arrived around 11am. They said I was too late to get my photo taken for the license and that I had to do this prior to getting my permit and license plate. So the next morning thankfully there was no rain and I was back there again at 8am to get my photo taken for my license. By 9:30 I had gotten my photo taken, with some very messy hair from my scooter drive I should mention. But they told me they were out of license plates and I had to come back before 3pm to get my permit because the paperwork for it was being transferred from somewhere else.

I head to the club for a meeting and then go back home for some lunch. Back to the ministry I go to get my permit and license plate; I thought. When I arrive they hand me my permit, but confess they are out of license plates and I should try again in month! A month from now is also when I should be picking up my new drivers license with the photo. Somehow I don’t think either will be ready in 1 month, but I am open to being proven wrong. 

This is kind of how everything has been going down here. I have a moderate amount of patience, but it has still been a big challenge. This is the curse of growing up around Toronto and the east coast work and rush to get things done mentality. It always drives me nuts when I see people speed walking after work to get to their train, subway or bus. What’s the rush? I never liked that way of living, but it’s groomed into you through teachers, your family and the chase to be better and more successful than the next guy. I think this is a big reason for wanting to make this move; to live somewhere more laid back, with happier people and less day to day stress. So although this way of living has been quite an adjustment and it hasn’t always been easy, I think it’s a good test for me and I certainly prefer it over the crazy chaos of big city life. 

I know I painted a bleak picture on my first week, but it’s just a culture shock. Living in any new city, yet alone a new country takes time to adjustment. Maybe, just maybe I found a place that feels more like the pace of life I enjoy. I know the island isn’t going to change for me so I can either let it bother me or I can accept it for it is.

I actually had a job offer in a big city in a different part of the world, but I don’t think the big city way of life is for me. Yes I could have made more money and the squash would have been better, but there would have been more stress and more pressure to get things done quickly and with better results and I too may have become that guy speed walking to catch my bus after work. I honestly think results can be better without the extrinsic societal pressure. And I’m also old enough now to know it is more about the journey and enjoying the path I’m on than it is the finish line anyways. 

So what’s next out here? I've started working this week and I've spent a lot of time playing guitar, reading and going to the beach. I have a lot of group classes scheduled and hopefully I will be able to do lots of private lessons. The club also just put in some new air conditioner units which work super.

Even though the pace is super slow, life isn’t cheap on Providenciales; it’s a strange blend. I do really enjoy waking up early, going to the gym, riding my scooter, spending time at the beach and just spending a lot of time outdoors. I've already created an 8 level Squash Skills Checklist to monitor the juniors development and let them know many of the areas that I believe are vital to becoming a successful competitive player.

Besides growing the local squash community another area I’ll be working on over the next few months is putting together a travel package for squash players. I will try and coordinate with local companies and put together a package for you including accommodations, fun outdoor trips and of course the squash training! With my daily growing knowledge of the island I’ll definitely be able to assist any of you coming along for as visit, but not with addresses. If you’d like to stay learn more about this please feel free to email me at info@SeriousSquash.com or Squash@GracewaySports.com

Stay tuned for my next rant, be it squash or the adjustment to the island life. Oh and I do have an exciting squash announcement coming very soon! Follow Serious Squash on Instagram or Facebook to be the first to learn about it. 

Online store: SeriousSquashShop.com

Monitoring Off Court Training For Groups

When you work with a wide range or age groups it's difficult to have them all on the same training plan and to evenly track all of their progress and offer motivation for both on and off the court. So what I've created was a document where I can track each of their off court training improvements through a variety of exercises which I feel are most appropriate towards their development as an athlete and in particular a squash player. Ideally this chart will also provide motivation and goal setting for the kids too.

How the chart works is they simply get a checkmark when they've completed a certain physical skill task. The idea is to have levels that are challenging for each player so they can continually aim for incremental improvements, which over a long time can lead to a big change in an individual. It's just begun, so only time will be the judge to see how well it works. This is also the first season where the kids are expected to complete 2 off court gym sessions on their own outside of our on court training which is 4x per week.

Beep Test	8.1	9.1	10.1	10.6	11.1	11.6	12.1	12.6	13.1	13.6	14.1	14.6	15.1

Consecutive Pushups	10	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	70	80	90	100

Consecutive Skipping	50 FW	100 FW	150 FW	200 FW	250 FW	50 BW	100 BW	150 BW	200 BW

Bear Crawl with golf T on back	Width of court	Length of court	Length X2	Around entire court	Total distance with ball on top of T

Plank	1 min.	2 min.	3 min.	4 min.	5 min.	1 min. side	2 min. side	3 min side

Lunges (per leg)	30 sec. hold	60 sec. hold	90 sec. hold	2 min. hold	50 lunge forwards and back	20 lunge jumps (40 total)	30 lunge jumps (60 total)	40 lunge jumps (80 total)

Squats	10 proper squats	30 squats	50 squats	20 squat jumps	30 squats jumps	40 squat jumps	50 squat jumps	20 burpees with PU	30 burpees with PU	40 burpees with PU

Flexibility/Stretching	Hamstring	Quads	Hips/Glutes	Calves	Shoulders	Trouble Areas?
Sufficient ROM

Nutrition?	Proper Sleep?	Hydration?	Warm up routine?	Cool down routine?

Anything you feel I'm missing? For the record these kids are between 12 and 18 years old. The coaches have demonstrated and shown that the exercises are all done with proper techniques before adding reps and/or weight. 

Legend: PU = pushups FW = forwards BW = backwards. The golf tee is a plastic driving range one that has a round bottom. You can also use a plastic cup or empty yogurt container.

When I was a kid we had some equipment in our basement, but I didn't know what I was doing or how much to do of something. I had no program or guidance on technique for exercises. It's impossible to play squash at a top level without strong glutes, calves, quads, hamstrings and of course core. The past 3 years since a minor knee surgery I've been steadily going to the gym and working with some great trainers and I feel more stable on court than I did when I was competing.  Here are a few of the pics from some of the various exercises we've done. It's always tailored to squash. You can find a lot more of them on the Serious Squash Instagram page.

Follow Serious Squash on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook for the most regular posts. Also check out the online shop, SeriousSquashShop.com for all the instructional videos and merch. I'm hoping to be adding a signature racquet to the shop in the next few months!