Squash coaches to implement new strategies

The twelve coaches including two from the Cayman Islands gave a big thumbs up to the recently concluded Level 2 Coaching Course as they plan to implement the many strategies they were exposed to during the sessions under the tutelage of Colin White. The three-day intensive World Squash Federation (WSF) Level 2 Coaching Course was sponsored by PanAm Squash and facilitated by Jamaica Squash, at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.

“It was a very intense three days. It was a lot of information to take in, but I feel like everything that I learned will be very useful when I get back to Cayman. I feel like it gave me a whole new perspective on squash. This training, allows me to look at it more through a coach’s lens and I think it’ll be very impactful when I get back to get some students and try to allow them to have a better understanding of gameplay and just a better overall understanding of the game” said Nico Tummings of the Cayman Islands.

“I think that the coaching tools that I was taught will be critical in the way that I coach my students, the way that I construct my lessons because when I grew up playing squash everything was formatted to where it was just drills on drills on drills. What I learned here was how to structure a lesson to where it doesn’t necessarily feel like a drill, it feels like gameplay which is what we’re training our players for, is to be efficient game players. So, yeah, all the tools that I learned were very effective” said Tummings.

According to Jamaica’s Julian Morrison, “this level two course was very informative. I felt as if from day one to day three, we’ve gotten information that we can pass on to the juniors that would be very helpful.”

“So it’s how I speak to my students, the different exercises or skills or drills that we use to keep them invested and interested in the sport because sometimes you’re coming from school and then you have to do all this running up and down. It’s very daunting, you don’t really want to do it. He gave us a couple of pointers as to how to keep them interested, keep the energy high and keep them wanting to come back and I think right now with us trying to get squash into schools, it’s the best time for us to get this information to then implement it.”

Experienced Head Squash Pro Colin White who taught the Level 2 course is a WSF and European Squash Federation (ESF) Level 1, 2 and 3 certified coach and tutor who has practiced in many countries including the US, Austria, Hungary and Russia.

“Some of the things I tried to get across” said White is that “Its person before player. It’s the behavior before the performance because we’re not just teaching these kids to play squash, we want them to be better people, better people who behave in the right way, make the right decisions. So that was one of the things I was trying to get across that they will have many students coming for many different reasons, trying to make it enjoyable for the unique person in front of them, trying to help the person in front of you, trying to get to know, make a connection with the person in front of you because if you know a little bit more about them you can understand what makes them tick, you can understand a little bit better that I need to do something different with this person compared to that person.”

Commenting on the importance of the course, Karen Anderson president of the Jamaica Squash said “one of the challenges we’ve had over the years in growing the sport is not having enough coaches to be able to spread the knowledge and so this helps us a lot in growing and spreading that knowledge, and really growing the sport. So, we’re very excited about it, and I’m looking forward to see how these guys now implement all that they’ve learned here for the last three days, intense days.”