My Tribute To Stuart Dixon

I've always had a difficult time dealing with the passing of a loved one. Dealing with loss is not easy and as someone who doesn't outwardly express a lot of emotion it's difficult to let your guard down to feel hurt and vulnerable and to share this pain with other people. But we can either not talk about it and hope that time will heal our wounds or we can think about all of the joy and wonderful things that person brought into your world. Today's post is my chance of doing just that for one of the kindest humans and best coaches I've ever had the privilege to know, Stuart Dixon.

Stuart didn't just recently pass away, it was back in September so I apologize for taking so long to get to this. A friend from back in Victoria told me about Stuart's passing. I knew he hadn't been well for some time, but I didn't know the finish line was so close. Later that week I watched his funeral remotely from Turks and Caicos and I felt bad that I couldn't be there in person to show my respect for his wife Sandy. I figure it's about time that I shared how wonderful of a person he was and important he was to me as coach and also as a person.

Stuart is a well known coach not only here in Canada, but worldwide. He's coached multiple Canadian National Teams and he's worked with plenty of top juniors and professional players throughout his career. He's in the Squash Canada hall of fame and was the proud owner of the Victoria Squash Club (VSC).

As many of you are already well aware, the VSC was a club like no other in Canada. Dogs strolled by the courts, including Kiri, who was Stuart and Sandy's golden retriever. Stuart ran monthly cup tournaments which included after event parties hosted at Stuart and Sandy's house. They would hand cook dinner, including their famous mashed potatoes, for all of the participants and have a keg of beer to boot. The VSC was a club where the members truly felt like a part of the Dixon family.

I first met Stuart when I moved to Victoria in the summer of 2011. When I moved there he let me play and train at his club for free. I was a broke masters student, but I was one of the strongest players in the city and he loved having good players around the club. Shortly after he asked if I wanted to coach with him at St. Michaels University School. This school was close to the club and had 4 courts on campus. After our first season he told the school to hire me as their head coach and that's what they did. The school had a lot of respect for Stuart and generally did what he suggested. I owe everything to Stuart for my 8 years at that school.

Stuart had a way clarifying issues and making the correct choice seem more clear, but without telling you what to think or say. He did this in coaching too; even though I was much less experienced he would constantly ask me for my opinion on someones game or a specific training method; he was a lifelong learner. To this day I have never met a coach who absolutely loved coaching more than Stuart. Little did I know that my real master's degree was going to be by working alongside Stuart and not the diploma that the local university presented to me.

Stuart was a lot of fun on our school's team trips. Even in his 60's he was just like a big kid, full or enthusiasm and excited about the matches that lie ahead. He was honest, yet super positive when coaching which made everyone love and respect him. In some ways it's quite intimidating to be working with someone like that because you feel like you don't measure up, and really how could you?

One particular tournament I remember sharing a room with Stuart during the Rugby World Cup. I believe it was the semis or finals and New Zealand was playing. Being a Kiwi, Stuart loved his rugby and especially the All Blacks. So at 3am he had his alarm set so he could tune in to watch the big match. Knowing nothing about rugby, I stayed up and and watched the game with him learning a bit about the sport and the team. And if my memory serves me correctly, I believe the All Blacks won which put Stuart in an even better me than usual.

If I had to select Stuart's best characteristics, I would say that he always made time for everyone (and every dog too) and he genuinely took an interest in their lives. He was known for constantly being on 'west coast time' because he would be deep into a discussion with the mail person or someone who passed by the club who was a member a few decades ago. Knowing what he was doing nobody could ever get upset at having to wait a bit for him. That's just how he lived. He would give you as much of his time as you wanted. I spent many of afternoons sitting on the couches or in his office talking about squash and life in general. When he did eventually get on court he would stay out there long after the practice because he was so engaged on helping this person learn and improve. Your level or age didn't matter to him and when your session was over he would continue chatting and cracking jokes.

As Stuart got older and his health slowly deteriorated the club was struggling more and more to pay the bills. He was the manager, owner and head coach, but the clubs revenue had been relying heavily on Stuart's coaching revenue to pay the bills for years. Stuart and Sandy have also put a lot of their own savings into keeping the club afloat. It was clear he wasn't into coaching and owning the club to make money. I'm still amazed that someone can be so unselfish and love what they do even while their business is struggling with such financial burden.

A couple of years ago now I started a Go Fund Me page for the club because it was going to have to shut its doors. It was time to pay the property tax and there were some other building expenses that totalled over $30,000. I remember Stuart said he had a month or so before he'd have to declare bankruptcy. I was determined to find a way to keep the club doors open. Later that day I thought about this funding idea and Stuart was initially reluctant. He didn't like the idea of asking for a handout, but I kept insisting it was the only way. Eventually he let me do it and the campaign was a major success. We raised over $50,000 and Stuart felt incredibly touched. He couldn't believe how many people cared and came out of the woodworks to show their love and support for Stuart. See it wasn't about the club necessarily as it was about Stuart. Everyone who knew him understood that there are few greater causes than helping such a beautiful individual. The club and Stuart at one time or another had made such a positive impact on so many peoples lives that by keeping the doors open those opportunities would continue.

The club struggled to pay the bills when Stuart couldn't get on court as much and also because the rent was quite high considering the low membership numbers. Stuart made it so cheap for people to pay a guest fee, or even cheaper if they were a member at another club, that likely resulted in the club having fewer total memberships. He wanted squash to be affordable for everyone even at his own expense. It also didn't help that the other club in town had not raised their membership dues since the courts were built a few decades ago. They are part of a government complex so they don't have the overhead facilities costs that the VSC did. So people living in Victorias had a choice to pay nearly twice the price to play at the VSC or save some cash and play at the rec centre. Ultimately not enough people chose to support the VSC and that's a big reason why I believe it ultimately faltered.

The club officially shut its doors last summer. Our Go Fund Me campaign helped it stay afloat for another year and it gave the members an opportunity to get a committee and plan in place to take over the club or rejuvenate it somehow, but to this day it has yet to occur. Hopefully someday in the future the VSC will be back and I would like to think better than ever, but without Stuart it could never be the same.

I vividly recall the last time I was with Stuart. Him and Sandy came out to a Thai restaurant with 2 of our mutual friends. I brought him a bottle of Scotch (he loved Scotch) and it was our goodbye meal before I was moving to Turks and Caicos. Stuart had been battling cancer for some time now and he was not as spritely as he had once been, but he still enjoyed our dinner and discussion. He never once seemed upset that I was leaving the city and would no longer be able to help his club. Instead he was so happy for me and said he would think about me enjoying frozen drinks on the beach. This was just about 1 year ago now. It was sad to leave Stuart, Sandy, the club and my friends, but things were not working out at the school as I had hoped so I felt like I had no choice but to move on.

For awhile I contemplated trying to take over his club full time and see if I could make a go of it, but living in Victoria without a base salary and with 6 years of student loans to pay back was more than I could handle. Now I can't help but think I should have tried to do more. But this post isn't about me, it's meant to be my tribute to Stuart Dixon. I had the pleasure of getting to know him really well over the course of 8 years and I will always treasure that time. I know he has made name a better person and also a better coach too. These are attributes that I hope I will be able to pass on to others one day too thanks to Stuart.

So from the bottom of my heart, I just want to thank you one more time, Stuart. You welcomed me into your family just like you did for so many others. You made me feel special and you lived each day with an unwavering zest for life. Even when your health was deteriorating you always had a smile and you were more interested in how everyone else was going. Even though the club was struggling you'd still offer to buy me a coffee. You were one of the most unselfish people I've ever met and even though you are gone your impact is still felt through everyone you've touched. Rest in peace, Stuart and thank you for all that you have done and continue to do.

That's all for this week. If you knew Stuart I'm sure everything I said rings true and brings back a lot of great memories. If you don't know him hopefully I helped you get to know a bit more about a really special soul.

I'm still working on lots of home videos during isolation. You can follow along on Instagram @SeriousSquash or Youtube.com/SeriousSquash or Facebook.com/SeriousSquash I'm also posting mostly workout videos these days to Squash Shots. It's almost a year in now. You can learn more at Patreon.com/SeriousSquash and the online store is still open for business and has 3 instructional films, video analysis and Serious Squash signature racquets for sale: SeriousSquashShop.com

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.

Coaching Certification Maintenance

The great thing about having a blog is you can share your views and opinions on a variety of things. There's no filter or boss I have to be cautious about saying something I should not. I always try and be very open about my opinions, whether they are correct or not is sometimes open for debate.

Today is an opportunity to do a bit of complaining, so if that's not what you are interested in hearing you're welcome to read no further. This particular topic is about the point system that the Coaching Association of Canada has put into place to maintain your certification.

I don't know about other coaches, but having to show that we are continually committing to do coursework to maintain our certification is not going to make us better coaches, plain and simple. I did a 4 year bachelors in Kinesiology, a 2 years master degree in coaching studies and I've trained as a provincial (level 3) coach. I also coach year round a large number of kids, some of whom are quite strong. I also am always posting tips and videos for Serious Squash on social media. Planning practices, doing my own training and trying to develop the best possible junior program and for some reason that isn't sufficient to show that i'm worthy of maintaining my coaching certification?

You can accumulate points for maintaining your certification by doing a variety of things like first aid courses (which I've taken at least half a dozen times) and by doing various online courses and attending clinics that have something to do with sport. I constantly read books about coaching and sport yet that doesn't collect points. So really this system is actually interfering with my already successful system of learning and work. This system will make me register for courses that I have no interest in. They will also cost money and take the away from my job.

I feel a bit better after getting some of this out. Clearly this certification maintenance program wasn't developed by a coach. If you want to be a good coach you will be, not because of some system that forces you to do extra things. If I want to know something I do research or think about it and figure it out. Simply coaching and working with your athletes makes you a better coach too.

Even from squash specific technical coaching courses (1, 2 and 3) I learned just about nothing and spent a lot of time and money to complete these courses. I understand that there are people trying to justify the professionalism of coaching, but I think the Coaching Association of Canada is way off track here. Some great coaches will lose their certification while others who simply jump through the hoops which shows they do as they are told (but it doesn't meant they are actually committed coaches) will follow along because they have no other option.

That's enough of a vent. If you read this far thanks for taking the time to listen. Feel free to comment and let me know if you agree or think I'm off track.

Don't forget to follow Serious Squash on IG, FB and Youtube for lots of tips! Also check out the merch store at SeriousSquashShop.com where you can find loads of cool stuff plus 3 instructional films which can be downloaded and also come with a money back guarantee.

A Heartfelt Thank You From Stuart Dixon For #SavingTheVictoriaSquashClub

The campaign to #SaveTheVictoriaSquashClub started off as a last ditch effort to save the Victoria Squash Club. The club has managed to just get by for quite some time now, but there were 2 large bills upcoming that the club simply couldn't afford to pay. Stuart and his wife Sandy have put plenty of their own money into the club over the years, but that can only go on for so long. Unfortunately this year it seemed like bankruptcy was the only option.

Last week I ran a few ideas by Stuart on how I could help him drum up some money for the club so it could stay open. At first I thought about hosting a club golf tournament, but there was only a month to plan it and we had to raise $27,000. Later on I thought about this crowdfunding idea and began working on the site (GoFundMe.com/SaveTheVictoriaSquashClub).

Stuart is such a well respected and iconic coach in Canada and all around the world, so it would have been horrible to see his club close. But within 3 days of launching this campaign we had already raised more than what we had hoped for. Social media is amazing for things like this and it wasn't a tough ask for anyone who's ever met Stu.

This time last week it was looking like the club might be closing for good and now just a week later the club and the community have come together like never before. Not only have we raised over $40,000, but more importantly the spotlight has been placed on the struggles of running a privately owned squash club, even if it is led by a hall of fame coach and wonderful human being.

What's next for the club? Well we have a club survey coming out soon to try to get some feedback on how the members would like the club to operate moving forward, knowing full well that changes are imminent and necessary. We are also looking to assemble a management team/committee of devoted volunteers to help the club become a more successful business and ensure that it's a long standing staple here in Victoria. It's unbelievable how many people have reached out and offered their support above and beyond making a donation. It's because of this outpour that we are now confident that things are going to turn around for the better. How quickly things can change...

Here is a heartfelt video of Stuart thanking everyone who helped save his club. If you'd like to follow along the progress and updates to the club bookmark VictoriaSquashClub.com and follow Serious Squash on Facebook and Instagram. I'll be posting updates as we go. There's plenty of great ideas and lots of motivated people with 1 common goal, and that's to make the Victoria Squash Club thrive!

#Help Save The Victoria Squash Club

The Victoria Squash Club on Vancouver Island in Western Canada has been around for decades and is a staple here in Victoria. I've taught lessons here part time for the past 7 years. The owner, club manager and head coach of the club is Hall Of Famer (2010) Stuart Dixon who got me my current job at St. Michaels University School when I first moved to Victoria. He is one of the best coaches and person I have ever met so I am taking it upon myself to try and help him out of this difficult situation.

The club is in a bad position right now and has 2 large bills coming up in July totalling $27,000 which it is unable to pay. If you've played at the club or know Stuart you will know why we have to do whatever we can to help him and the club stay open. Please have a look at the crowdfunding campaign I've created. There are some great rewards for those of you who donate.

Even if you are unable to donate any money it would be greatly appreciated if you could share this link or post with your fellow squash friends. Stuart is a legend in squash and has worked unselfishly with countless people over the years. If you have any items to donate for our upcoming silent auction please contact me at info@SeriousSquash.com

#SaveTheVictoriaSquashClub Crowdfunding Page:

https://www.gofundme.com/SaveTheVictoriaSquashClub

Victoria Squash Club website: VictoriaSquashClub.com

Squash Canada's Hall Of Fame Inductees: http://www.squash.ca/en/wall-of-fame

Thank you for anything you are able to do to help us out. Stuart is a very proud person who would never ask for help, but desperately needs it at this time.

2018 Canadian Senior Nationals Recap

Well I just finished the Canadian Senior Nationals and finished 2nd in the 35+ division, again. It was pretty sweet this year that they brought in a glass court for the event. It's too rare that anyone get to play on a 4 wall glass court now that the NSA has shut down. Although having this court was great (and you can see below that it looked awesome) it takes some time to adjust to it and was not all it was cracked up to be. Imagine a tennis player going to the French Open having only have ever played on hardcourts? And further yet and was unable to even hit on the courts prior to the tournament?

Not all squash courts are created equal! 

The tournament started with the open event qualifying matches on Tuesday which were played on the traditional panel courts and in Calgary there's an altitude factor so the ball is noticeably quicker and more difficult to put away. Not too long ago they used to use a green dot in Calgary, which was called the altitude ball. I guess these balls didn't bounce true so they aren't used anymore. This tactically and physically really changes the matches and is a big reason why Calgarians seem to always fair well when they play at home and don't do quite as well when they play at sea level. And for the record, yes the person that beat me in the finals was from Calgary. His game clearly suited the elements better than mine. But this post is not about my squash, nor is it too complain for losing my match. The masters events are just for fun for me, but my experience of playing some matches on the regular courts and the finals on the glass court give me a unique perspective for the open events.

One big problem with putting up a temporary show court is that it takes a lot of time to plan and set up. The court was not put together until Tuesday night and the open matches were starting at 10am on Wednesday. Some of the pros I know requested to get practice time on the glass court in the morning before their matches and were unable to. There were only 4 or 5 time lots and they were full. This meant that this small select group of athletes got to practice on the glass court while their opponents did not. You could see the result of this in the quality of the first round matches. At altitude on a glass court, with large white sponsors writing on the front wall made it very difficult to pick up the ball and volley. There were also lots of crazy, lucky bounces in the back corners. I've never seen so many top players aced in my life!

I like to think I have pretty good racquet skill and it was pretty frustrating to not be able to control the ball like Im accustomed to and feeling like the only style that was effective was to try and bash the ball and hit everything deep which also happened to be my opponents style of play. So basically my only shot of wining is to outplay my opponent at his own game; I don't like my odds and I too would have needed some practice time on the court if I was going to have a shot at wining. But if the pros can't get on to practice I know I have absolutely no chance of doing so. I can only imagine for pro players that are training full time how frustrating this must be to feel kind of incompetent. The better player should win and I don't think this was always true. The player who suited this style of play won. The style that suited the glass at altitude was fast and low drives. You could get away with more crosccourts than normal because it was very tough to see the ball early enough to volley.

I know that a club only hosts nationals every so often, but I thought it was completely unfair to allow only some of the pro players to practice on the glass. Either all or none of them should have been allowed practice time. When I walked into the glass court to warmup for my finals I was worried when I could barely see my first volley drive I hit. It took almost 2 full games to adapt to the court and by then it was too late. I think my game fits a glass court as I have deception, volley a lot and have a good attacking game. For the masters finals they rated the tin on the glass too which made it even harder to use the front of the court. At least for the pros they got to use the 17" tin. But I thought only the top few players seemed comfortable on the court and I heard many complaining. I played on this same court 6 years ago, but at seas level and with a low tin and without the white logos on the front wall and I don't remember having any trouble seeing the ball or using the front of the court. This time was much difference.

At altitude I think they should lower the tin to 15" to make the game more like a proper squash game. In squash you should get rewarded for creating an opening and taking the ball in short well, but with the bounce of the ball (and on the glass court the difficulty of seeing the ball), most of the time players were punished for going short if it wasn't absolutely spot on. Since it was tough to track the ball and it was moving quicker than normal most peoples short games were definitely far from spot on and confidence is such a hug factor for people short game, so once they miss a few or hit a couple of lollipops they tend to become tentative.

It's true both players have to deal with the conditions, but I still like the way squashes become more attacking and fun to watch. If you saw any of the live stream you'll know that this wasn't Canada's best version of squash nor is it the style being played at the pro level. I think all tins should actually be lowered even for recreational players and in time I'm sure that will happen. When you change the elements like the altitude and court it certainly evens the playing field and gives certain players an edge. Is all this complaining based on my biased result or a true fact from the event? Oh and I haven't even mentioned how silly it was having to wear all whites in the Glencoe too! I got away with my off-white Serious Squash tees so I'm happy I didn't have to go clothes shopping for sports gear. I know there was a guy who played 7 matches all in the same shirt and pair of shorts! lol

For all of my complaining it was a fun week and a well run event. I lost to a nice guy who played better than me on the day. It's hard to win when you can't hit a tight drive to save your life. If the glass court practice times were sorted out better I wouldn't have much to complain about besides not being able to adapt well enough to the conditions. Next year nationals is in Toronto so we'll see how many Calgary players repeat their title defence and how the style of squash changes. If they bring in a glass court let's hope they sort out practice times and avoid large white logos on the front wall. Oh and by the way I won a buckle and a medal, yes that's right a buckle for a belt :/ I really don't like complaining and making excuses, but I suppose that's exactly what I've done..

Here's a link to the draws if you want to se all the results: http://squashcanada.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=D1BF2F57-1EB0-4183-A2A0-8CAB9AE232C2 If you want to see my match from the final you can check it out. Go to the 1:24 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sksdpBIlNg0

Just Play!

One of the great things about squash is that compared to other sports it really can be played your entire life, but for many of us it isn't. In squash you can be competitive and play tournaments at age, from under 11 to 75+. Since finishing juniors or varsity squash we tend to see most squash players disappear from the competitive squash scene. Some will continue to play the odd regular game with someone at their local club while others will turn to the more social and easier on the body game of hardball doubles. Once I got into coaching I also failed to play as much competitively for a variety of reasons. I think a lot of this stems from people moving on to the next stage of their lives and today's post is about trying to keep people in the sport after their junior and college careers and in doing so increasing participation in squash tournaments.

Team pic after winning an OUA title for Western Ontario from about 10 years ago (from all my years at university there were just 3 of us that played nationals this year)

When you're a kid you don't have many responsibilities. Even at university squash practices are all scheduled for you. There's also a lot of perceived expectations and self-imposed pressure that can take its toll on you over the years. When we finally finish competing as a junior or varsity athlete we have to set up everything on our own and clearly many of us do not make the time or have the desire to organize our own daily training schedule. Our focus turns to more adult like things such as careers and making money. Early adult life is for getting our career and our love life in order so we push aside our hobbies such as squash. It can also be quite a relief to let go of all that pressure you felt to win during your junior and college days.

Besides the challenges already discussed above there is another issue I believe keeps people out of competitive squash after juniors and university. As an individual sport we have all worked vey hard to get to a certain level and to play at our highest level requires daily practice both on and off the court. If we are unable to prepare to play at our best many of us just won't enjoy stepping on court and playing well below our potential; none of us want to lose to some junior we know we're better than. After all squash does require an extremely high amount of physical fitness to be successful at a high level which is very challenging to maintain when a weekly training schedule isn't planned out for you. Is this starting to sound familiar?

Long time rival and friend from juniors in the finals of the U.S. Open

From years of playing squash we have built up an ego about our skill level and who we believe to be better than or similar to. We like to preserve this level in our minds about what level we can play at with just a little bit of discipline and training. But even still at this years senior nationals (held in the squash capital of Canada, Toronto) the masters divisions of 30 and 35+ were very tiny. We don't have to worry about playing 2 matches in a day or losing to some kid because they're training every day and we're too busy living like adults. In the women's masters events they didn't even have entries in the lower age groups. It's kind of ironic that representatives of Participaction were on hand at the nationals when it's the one's who weren't in attendance that need that kick in the pants.

I know from growing up in Toronto and playing at university how many strong squash players there were and still are in the area, yet most didn't play in the nationals. Is it because they don't have the desire to play tournaments anymore or do they not think they're good or fit enough to enter? The age groups are much more about fun than the competitive open or junior events. I wonder why most didn't play when it's in their home town while I'm flying across the country to go compete.

I guess the main thing I take from all of this is that I wish more people would just get out and play and keep the squash spirit alive! It's easier to say than do, but if we don't worry about winning and losing and simply having fun and reconnect with old friends we battled against as juniors it could be a lot more fun than pain. If the nationals was held anywhere besides Toronto I'm sure the age group draws would have been even smaller.

I don't know what we can do to get more people to participate after juniors or varsity squash, but it would be great to keep more of these people stay in the game. Squash is a pretty small scale sport and it's a shame that so many skilled people who spent such a large portion of their youth playing squash stop competing and being a part of our sport. I know people begin to have families and get busy with their careers, but I know I would really miss squash if I just stopped playing and being around the game.

Do we need to find a way to make squash less competitive or less physically taxing for those that aren't playing much, but were once strong players? What if we played to 7 PAR or best of 3? Or simply guaranteeing just the 1 match per day? I'd actually really like to see the low tin used on all courts for amateurs so this could be a good step too. Or perhaps the best way to keep all of these people involved at tournaments is to provide lots of free beverage tickets ;)

Squash Canada and each province needs to find a way to keep all of these previous juniors involved in squash at any capacity. I know there is a big gap right now for people that want to go from juniors or varsity squash to the pro level. Maybe it's just up to each and every one of us to just sign up as long as we are relatively injury free. Nobody is ever completely healthy and fit when they get into their 30's and this is why they have age groups! I know it's too easy to listen to the reasons why you shouldn't, but remember life is about experiences and getting outside of your comfort zone. Hopefully this trend will change and we'll see more people getting back into the competitive side of the game. Remember that you don't need to be playing the best squash of your life to play in a tournament. There is more pressure to prepare for competitions when you're a kid, but this is only self-imposed when you're older. Sign up and play and don't take yourself so seriously. Let go of expectations and your ego and you may just find yourself enjoying the best game in the world with an old peer.

Play squash because it's fun and because you love it. If you're worried about the outcome you have to remember it's just for fun and exercise. Let's help keep the game strong with increasing participation which likely also will increase the tournaments beer sales too! Support your local club tournaments and play provincials or nationals whenever possible and especially if they're close to your hometown. This post doesn't just have to do with Canada or Nationals, but any club in the world. How many times have you made illegitimate excuses not to participate in a tournament because you didn't feel 100% prepared for it? Let's all try and say 'sign me up' a little bit more. Let's try and remember that the game is bigger than any single one of us.

I leave for vacation tomorrow so there will be a break from postings. I'm certain I'll come up with some new great topics to write about once I return so stay tuned for those. This summer I also plan on beginning to film the 2nd Serious Squash instructional film. Stay tuned for more details. If you haven't hear yet, the 1st film is a full length instructional video titled 'The Secrets Of Solo Hitting.' It contains 30 solo drills and tips to improve your game. The film can be streamed and downloaded at SeriousSquashShop.com/collections/coaching-videos and there is a no questions asked money back guarantee that comes with it. Here's a video preview of the film:

2017 Canadian Nationals Recap

I just got back from competing in the Canadian Nationals. I missed playing it the last few seasons because of knee problems, so just to be back on court and competing was a win for me. Unfortunately I had trouble backing up a tough match and lost in the finals of the 35+ 3-1. Anyways, this isn't a post about me so let's move on.

Today I'm going to talk about the men's and women's open events. Here's a link to all the draws if you would like to check out the full results: http://squashcanada.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=984B9FE1-9DAC-427F-A4BE-76D48ABFBF60 Being around squash for my whole life you get to know almost everyone and you get to see juniors rise up and become some of the best players in the country. Canada has had some success on the PSA circuit over the years and we all look up to the footsteps of Jonathan Power (who for the record did not play this year). There was a good blend of some competitors around my age who are nearing the end of their careers and others are just beginning. Shawn Delliere and Shahier Razik have both won a number of the mens' titles over the years and Sam Cornett was back after missing last season due to injury. Cornett has had lots of great results on the PSA tour since her comeback so most people were favouring her to recapture the title. Hollie Naughton was the defending women's champ and Andrew Schnell was last years champ on the men's side.

The women's draw is the most competitive I have ever seen. Canada has a number of women ranked in the top 75 in the world (I believe 5) and there are others playing close to this caliber. Although the women's draw was smaller the caliber and competitiveness was good. It was encouraging to see a couple of the top local juniors in the mix.

The women's semis were set with the top 4 seeds and both matches were incredibly tight. Unfortunately both ended with bad calls by the ref. Down 10-9in the 4th and 2-1 in games Cornet had the momentum, but Letourneau was awarded a stroke for a simple let and the entire crowd gasped in shock and was vividly not happy with the call. I was thinking as watching this that if Cornett had won that point she was going to win that match, it was that critical. Shame when you see something like that. In the other semis (which I didn't see all of) I heard there was a wrong call at 9-9 in the 4th against Nikki Todd which gave Naughton match ball. I was worried about the refing from my very 1st match when I was awarded a no let when I hit my opponent during my swing which caused my ball to hit the floor. I don't know if the refs have got a new set of rules they're using. I don't like bringing up this topic again, but anytime a ball was hit lose it was either a 'no let' or a 'stroke.' It was really strange and you never knew which was coming regardless of the amount of impedance of the swing. There was no consistency with these calls. In my semis my opponent and I agreed to change poor decisions twice and the ref got angry and asked if we even wanted him to ref. I realized quickly it was not worth arguing or getting upset about any calls, you just hope they didn't occur in big points and unfortunately for the women it did happen in big moments in incredibly exciting and well fought matches. Moving on.

After Letourneau had caused a big upset and taken out Cornett I felt it was going to be very tough for her to mentally and physically back that up in the finals against Naughton. Letourneau was up 2-1 in the finals when you could see she was getting a bit fatigued and forcing the ball short too early and from defensive positions. Somehow it's kind of encouraging knowing the top players struggle with the same things everyone else does at times. Naughton went on to win in 5 and is the defending champ. But with the depth and caliber of the women in the field this title will be up for grabs every season!

On the men's side there were also plenty of upsets. The defending champ, Schnell lost in 5 to Mike McCue while less surprising was Nick Sachvie who beat Shawn Delliere in 3 straight. Sachvie has been climbing up the PSA ranks quickly and cleaned up during the weekend without dropping a game. Watching Sachvie play I felt like he has less obvious areas to work on than the other guys do. His movement and court coverage is unbelievable and super efficient. It would have been nice to see him tested and to see how he handles the pressure of tight matches. He definitely has the ability to continue cracking on up in the men's rankings. It's all going to come down to the tactics and mental game. He's got the movement and the racquet skill. If he can get out on court with some of the top pros I'm sure it would help him continue his rapid development. That's the challenge here in Canada when you become the best. Since the NSA has closed their doors there is no set place and team for upcoming pros to go train. Currently a group of them go to club in Toronto and work with a couple of the coaches there, but it doesn't have the draw or appeal of a place like the NSA and JP did.

I thought they caliber of squash was very high in the men's too. It will interesting to follow the men and women as some careers are winding down and others are just getting going. The top 4 Canadian women all have the ability to crack the top 30 and there's a few after that who aren't too far behind them. Sachvie seems to have the clear cut edge in how far up he can get up the rankings. I could see him making top 30 or even 20 in a few years, but at that stage you need to be getting regular hits with the top guys and on the glass court. Schnell is extremely fast and an amazing athlete and has already had some success getting into the top 60 and winning last years title so convincingly. We all know Razik and Delliere have already reached impressive previous career highs a few years back. I believe Razik got to the low 20's and Delliere around 30. Neither could find success on the glass court against the top players so let's hope our next crop of players can do better at this transition.

It's a shame that Squash Canada doesn't have a stepping stage or funding for juniors to the PSA for the top kids. It's tough to stay motivated and on the right course for year after year unless you happen to get a great team in place on your own. Even then, managing this financially is a major struggle. $1,200 for winning nationals barely covers expenses if you don't happen to live in Toronto. Other countries have paid pro leagues, more national funding and plenty of coaching and training available for their top players. If I was a top up and coming Canadian pro I would definitely need a lot of help, but would be afraid to ask for it and wouldn't know where to turn. Going to a good university program seems the simplest really. Other than that I say go abroad. If you want to keep our top players in Canada try and help get a PSA event at your club or reach out to sponsor 1 of these amazing athletes. And how about trying to get a glass court set up somewhere permanently in Canada? I'd be happy to make some space for it on the west coast :)

Did you watch Nationals is person or on the streaming? Let me know your thoughts. And if you haven't already checkout out the new Serious Squash film, The Secrets of Solo Hitting has now sold almost 100 copies to people from all over the world. It's a 64 minute advanced instructional video on how to solo hit most effectively. Pick up a copy at SeriousSquashShop.com/collections/coaching-videos and if you'd enjoy it I will give you a full refund!

2017 Canadian Junior Nationals

I always enjoy not only coaching my only athletes at the nationals each season, but also watching the top kids and how they're developing. I wrote a review from a previous nationals and I mentioned that kids were not shooting enough. That has certainly changed and today I'm going to go over a few other things I noticed from the top kids. Here's a link to the draws if you want to take a peak: https://squashcanada.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=0B5066C6-BCD8-48CD-B57A-ADF9E4B706B6

The nationals this year was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Although we weren't at altitude 4 of the 6 courts were quite bouncy while the 2 back courts were quite cold. Kids definitely had to be able to make major adjustments to their targets, T positioning and tactics depending on which court they were on. The 4 bouncy courts tended to lead to a lot of overhitting by the older kids. I was quite surprised how the top kids rarely hit a medium paced drive; they either chipped the ball with no pace whatsoever or they hit the ball as hard as possible, which would land way too short or bounce way off the back wall. So for me 1 of the biggest problems was the lack of dying attacking drives from the back of the court. Because of this lack of well weighed drives there was an obvious lack of volleying from the midcourt as well. Here's a short clip on how to easily practice some attacking drives.

Another challenge on the bouncy courts was bringing the ball short. The kids still went short, but they were still trying to hit winners. The top kids are all excellent athletes and very fast so trying to hit outright winners with a bouncy ball certainly cost them more mistakes. I really think they should be aiming for the angle of their drops and to get them tight and focus on them being a working shot, not an outright winner. Their so fast there's no need to try and hit a drop with no margin when they can cover the next shot anyways. It's the mindset that really needs to adjust here. They should focus on working their opponent and making them do hard movements and pop out lose balls by being accurate with their weight of drives and keeping their drops tight. And here again is a short clip on volley drops. Hit it with slice and get it finishing tight off the volley. If you aim for the nick it will likely bounce back away from the wall with such a hot ball.

An area I see some of the kids developing nicely is deception. A few of them have some nice holds from the front of the court. This holds true for even a few of the younger kids. It's enjoyable to see different styles and a more attacking brand of squash being played by the top kids. Even though they often play the attacking shot incorrectly and force the ball short when out of position it's a better to be a little overly aggressive than passive for their long term development in my opinion.

There's something that was blatantly poor from almost all of the kids at the event. This was their serves. I can't recall how many times many of the kids would simply put the ball in play and hit it right to their opponents racquet without breaking it off the sidewall. There was also very little creativity in serve variation. This is something I remember hearing a lot about when I was young and I guess kids still overlook the serve and the importance of how it can set up the rally.

I can't wrap up this summary without a quick mention of the refs. Oh boy. I hate picking on people that spend 4 full days doing a thankless job, but there were some pretty brutal decisions. I witnessed foot faults and no lets when strokes should have been awarded. I heard that the refs were told to make the players play the ball and to award no lets if they didn't make every effort, but clearly when it's an obvious stroke this shouldn't apply. I also think a foot fault warning would suffice. It's also disappointing that a few matches ended on blatantly incorrect decisions. This did demonstrate how well behaved almost every single kid is at this event. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the kids handled the refs calls, even when they were match decisive.

Lastly, I'm more than a bit concerned about the future of our top kids. They've clearly dedicated their lives to getting to the level their at, but where to they go after juniors? I'm sure some will go to a school and play squash, but what happens after that or if they want to pursue a pro squash career instead? There is zero system in place that helps with this process and there is no funding for them as well. There's also not enough small PSA events throughout Canada that these kids would be able to compete in to gain some affordable experience. As of now there's only 2 options in my book. The first one is to build up the resources themselves around them. It takes a big support team around an athlete to help someone play successfully at the pro level. This option may indeed be best set up at a top post secondary squash team at the moment.

The second option would be to go to another country and try and get in a training group with some other pros. There's many pro leagues in Europe which you can play in and make some extra money in. It's really a shame there isn't a better system to help our top kids get from juniors to the pro level. Instead of Squash Canada worrying about if they should have a under 11 divisions and specializing an athlete too young, they should focus on helping those that have dedicated their lives to squash and have no system to help them take the next step. We all have ups and downs in our squash career and it's so important to have a team to help keep you in line and on track during those dips in confidence or motivation.

Did you play in or watch any of the Junior Nationals? Please share your thoughts and stories. And if you were 1 of the kids that had some troubles with the areas I mentioned above, checkout the new film I recently released. The Secrets of Solo Hitting is a 64 minute advanced instructional film which contains 30 of the best solo drills. The drills are sectioned into 3 categories: Straight Drives, Midcourt/Volleys and The Short Game. There is also a Technical Testing section which would be extremely useful to use over the summer months to set some goals as you develop your technical skills and consistency. Over 70 copies have been sold so far to people from all over the world. Check out the preview video below and order your copy today at SeriousSquashShop.com/collections/coaching-video

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.

Check out the new full length solo hitting film available for purchase at SeriousSquashShop.com/collections/coaching-videos The Secrets of Solo Hitting is a 64 minute instructional video on what I know best, coaching/solo hitting. This includes 30 of the best solo drills with tips on how to best perform each drill. The sections are divided into 1) Straight Drives 2) Midcourt and 3) The Short Game. There is also a Technical Testing section and a Bonus Tips one. Stream or download your copy today. To date there are over 60 copies sold to keen squashers from all over the planet. Here's an in depth preview video about it from my youtube channel:

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 :)