Squash Detraining: A College Example

It is holiday time in most of the world, and for most squash players, so getting out of squash shape (or staying in good squash shape) is a concern for most committed players – no matter what level they play at.  To help squash coaches understand detraining (click this link for a concise summary) I am going to go over a real example from my Smith College Squash Team.

Our last team practice was on Thursday, December 15 – and we start up again practicing twice a day on Monday, January 9th – so a break of 24 days!  I don’t in fact use the term “break” – I use the periodization term “transition”, which is actually more descriptive of what should occur during this period – activities that bridge the gap from one part of our season to another (here is the link to our team’s periodized annual plan).  The short transition period that occurs between two halves of a season does differ from the end-of-season transition period of 4-6 weeks where primarily cross-training activities should occur.

The transition period for a college squash team involves more than simply “staying in shape physically” and presents a number of challenges to be met – here is a summary of the objectives for my college team:

• De-stress to prevent burnout and staleness.  For a college athlete it is difficult to completely separate athletic and academic stress.  Although squash can be a source of relaxation during a busy semester (remember squash in the U.S. is played a highly challenging academic schools – Smith College being right up there with the Ivy’s), training and playing 12-16 hours a week must be taken into account when calculating the overall stress load.  My team started practicing before any other college team in the U.S. (Sept.12) and the five tennis players on my team were practicing tennis two weeks prior to that (they joined us in the last week of October) – and this year, exams went right up until December 22.
• Maintain squash skills and tactical memory with no access to squash courts. Most of the players on my team learned their squash at Smith, and so are not usually from “squash communities” – only one actually has access to courts through a family membership – and two are international students staying on campus (gym is closed??).
• Maintain physical shape to prevent performance loss and injury upon resuming practice.  January is actually our training period (Competition Period in periodization lingo) with our highest training volume – 20-30 hours a week during the no-classes interterm period.
• NCAA Rules state that all “out-of-season” training must be voluntary, with no coach supervision (e.g., training logs, etc.) allowed – another example of how NCAA rules negatively effect athlete well-being (read more about that here).

From: http://pfitzinger.com/labreports/detraining.shtml

Since squash physical performance involves both “endurance” qualities (aerobic and anaerobic endurance) and “strength” related qualities (power, agility, strength-endurance), the minimization of detraining for both must be taken into account. The Pfitzinger chart summarizes the endurance detraining process and here is a great link that discusses losses in strength – along with a graph of squat training/detraining – somewhat relevant to squash.

Recommendations for College Squash Athletes

Despite the fact that loss in both endurance and strength performance can range from 10-20% , the good news is that physical losses can be minimized and physical shape substantially maintained with two, high intensity workouts a week.  This means two very tough squash matches against an opponent of equal ability – or, two 20-minute high intensity aerobic workouts (at least 80-85% of HR max – preferably a variety of  short intervals with a 1:1 or 1:1/2 work:rest ratio to mimic the requirements of squash – for example “ghost” 15s :rest 15s or ghost 30s : rest 30s) and preferably on separate days (or prior to the aerobic workouts) to minimize “physiological interference” (I just coined this term:) two strength workouts (of the same type and level of intensity that was being performed prior to the “break”).

Without access to squash courts, squash technique and tactics can be maintained through 2-3 visualization sessions of 15-20 minutes a week.  A similar amount of watching squash videos on YouTube should help as well without overloading the college athlete on their Winter Break.

Please feel free to download and use a summary of my Using Imagery to Support Advanced Squash Tactics presentation at the 2005 Squash Canada Coaching Conference:  Squash Tactics Visualization (Bacon, 2005).  It contains some imagery worksheets.

Finally, all of this information has to be communicated to your athletes in a non-stressful way – here is the text of my email to my athletes on the last day of practice:

“1.  Safe travels to all and hope you have a fun, relaxing time.  I am off to Toronto to see family when my grading is done (Friday?) – then back to NOHO for a few days, then Jan. 1-8 back to Jamaica for another personal training gig – so easy to workout there, and hopefully more hitting with tennis pro after my a.m. PT session (did 20-25 min. cuz of shoulder last time – hopefully up to 45 min. this time (effing hot – even at 9:30 in morning).

2.  We will have TWO freshly painted blue courts (and three white, and five newly sanded floors) upon our return. ASB only had paint for 2 courts – so I think we will do #1 and #5 (our video court).  Implications:  we need to do some “ankle sprain” prevention exercises as: a) newly sanded floors are slippery; b) once the micro-dust is gone – the floors are “super-grabby” so easy to turn an ankle.

3.  WISPA has rebranded to WSA!

4.  I have changed the CorePerformance program to “no weights”, “get powerful week 1″ phase, three times a week for 45 min., to accomodate those with no access to a gym. Remember you can access this through your iPhone or laptop (just open it up and follow instructions – or print the workout as a PDF).

It includes 15 min. of aerobic – you could jog outside (this will help prevent shin splints when you return), but even better would be to find an open space or tennis court and do “ghosting” or “spiders” or “line drills” with combinations of foot movement (run forwards backwards, sideways, carioca, etc.) in a 30 sec. hard/15-30 sec. easy or rest pattern to duplicate “squash effort” – same benfit as a 30-40 min. run – BUT much shorter

Where it says medicine ball – just use a heavy household object (pet dog?) doing the movements without actually “releasing” the ball.  Anything with a cable – just use your mom’s ankle weights which you will find in the back of her cupboard or in the basement – or nothing and double the reps.

Alert: the program has nothing for hamstrings (an important lack) so do the “partner leg curl” I demonstrated with Clair, where you lie on your front and mom/dad/bro’/sis provide resistance as you bring your heel to your butt).

To avoid “squash butt” upon your return you should add 3-5 sets of lunges (about 12 per set – front, side, cross-over closed stance, open stance, etc.) to the CP workout.

ALSO:  to avoid wrist, elbow and shoulder issues, if you have no access to a squash court, take a British Racketball and racquetball racquet (or buy a cheapie at Walmart for $20) and hit against a local school or factory wall for 15-20 min. 2-3 times a week – even if it is wet it will make no difference to the racketball (being British, they are used to rain) – obviously an old tennis ball and tennis racquet (use squash grip and put slice on each ball) would work too – just be careful as a “wet” tennis ball will actually give you tennis elbow since it is very heavy.

Take your mini-bands and roller if you can (old tennis ball if you cannot) – buy a stability ball ($12-20) and some tubing ($9.95 – $12.95) for your family at Wal-Mart or Marshall’s/TJMAXX – contact me if you want to borrow a TRX.

5.  If you have acces to a gym (most will give students a reduced guest fee”) just continue what we have been doing, or do one of the workouts on the “tennis-squash team summer off-season” program.

6. If you have access to a squash club with gym you are all set!!!  Although often closed on offical holidays, contact the squash pro direct and ask if anyone is around for a hit – most clubs suffer from a severe shortage of females and so welcome any women squash playing visitors.

Jacq/Clair are “B” (4.0) players and the rest of you “C/D” (2.5-3.5)- for reference I am currently a “high B”/low A” (4.5-5.0) since I do not actually play (except length with a blue dot in which I am at a “world class level” as Jacq can attest.

To motivate yourself, simply remind yourself the tiny differences between winning and losing a match (add up the number of games where that you lost 11-9, or 12-10 – or matches where you lost in the 5th – or matches where you were good enough to win 1 game – but not fit or fast enough (having proved you are as good as your opponent) to win a second or third.

As task oriented as I am (so almost totally evaluating my performance on absolute “process” criteria), if I execute well and lose, I feel about 80% “satisfied” whereas if I win, I probably feel “85% satisfied” (10-15% dissatisfaction being the key to motivation to improve).

Plus of course it really feels good to work out, move around, sweat, and burn off some of the heavy holiday calories

So have fun if I don’t see you – and looking forward to 10:00 a.m. Dodgeball warm-up on Monday the 9th!

Tim”

Squash Focus Plan: Adjust for Opponents?

The final product (concise practical tool) of an organized and effective season long mental training program for squash players is the Squash Focus Plan.  New visitors to this site (still the #1 squash coaching site in the world according to Google:) can check out this link for an overview of focus plans, and here for an overview of  annual mental training programs for squash.

At the start of the Pre-Competition Phase of the year (which is where I am now with my Smith College Squash Team), squash players should have a “workable” focus plan that they are using and evaluating in match play.  One of the reasons that my team improves more than “similar” teams, is that using and evaluating focus plans forces a critical reflection and self-analysis – something which most players at any level do not do.  Our first opponent in the Wesleyan Invitational this weekend beat us 5-4 two weekends ago – with the same line-ups we are going to reverse that decision and beat them 6-3 – due in large part to my players’ use of focus plans (obviously if we don’t I am going to return to this post and edit this part out;).  You can download the current squash focus plan form we are using here:  Squash Focus Plan Form.

In the video below, I explain the relationship between a player’s Squash Focus Plan and the three levels of familiarity with an opponent:

1. Know opponent and have played them before;
2. Know opponent but have not played them before;
3. Do not know opponent.

Basically, I suggest that in the first two situations where the opponent is known, additional specific goals (tactics) may be set as part of the game plan.  I note however that for some players, the best performances come when they follow a set focus plan (e.g., they get anxious and confused if they think too much, or they are “feel”/intuitive style players). Hopefully, this situation would be a short term, intermediate step to being able to make tactical adjustments based on knowledge of the opponent so some mental training or tactical education may be required for this player).

Core Performance & TRX: A New Strength Training Paradigm for College Coaches

On November 4th, I gave a two-hour workshop to 22 local coaches and graduate students at Smith College in Northampton, MA- the outline is here:

Workshop Outline

   I.   Overview of the Core Performance (CP) Training System

• Training Philosophy – rehab & strength specialist designed “functional” programs:  “Train Movements not Muscles”
• “The medium is the message” – CP integrated system resources:  books, video, web, social media, home fitness (GoFIT)
• Advantages of CP (and TRX): time, $, professionalism (improved coach knowledge, enhanced communication & athlete autonomy)
• The CP workout design – five basic parts.

II.   Key Background Concepts/Terms a Coach Should Know

• Periodization – annual plan & phases: general, specific, competition, transition (and related training exercises)
• Energy systems and muscle fiber types
• Principles of Training

III.  Practicum 1 – Prehabilitation & Movement Prep

• Exercises from CP L1, L2, L3

IV  Core Performance Sport-Specific “Individualized” Programs

• CP vs. “traditional” (e.g., Bompa, 2010) periodization

V.   Practicum 2 – CP Workout via iPhone/iPad/Laptop

• In pairs (athlete/coach) or trios (athlete/coach/observer) complete the workout

VI.   TRX – Fitness Anywhere!

• Training philosophy and marketing highly similar to Core Performance
• Brief description of TRX apparatus and installation

VII.  Practicum 3 – TRX

• TRX alternatives to traditional exercises
• TRX progressions and adaptations

VIII.   Practical Tips

• Challenge stability – don’t pile on the weight!
• Implementation for every budget: free, cheap, reasonable
• Try it yourself for your own fitness
• Become independent and self-sufficient with CP & TRX
• Fitness Builder iPhone app (and web version) highly recommended

IX. Questions & Discussion

X.   References

Baechle, T.R. & Earle, R.W. (Eds.) (2000). Essentials of strength & conditioning.  Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

Bompa, T. (1999). Periodization:  Theory & methodology of training.  Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

TRX (http://www.trxtraining.com/)

Verstegen, M., & williams, P.  (2004). Core performance.  Rodale.  (http://www.coreperformance.com/)

Periodization of Squash Training: College Squash Team

I have been developing and teaching coaches (in all sports – not just squash) about periodized annual training plans since 1987.  Back in the 1990s, there was a very small group of  us, Master Course Conductors (give courses and train others to give coaching education courses) for the Coaching Association of Canada’s National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), who taught thousands of coaches how do develop a periodized plan for a “season” (Level 2 Theory) and an entire year (Level 3 Theory).  Our teaching according to periodization principles (every coach had to submit a periodized plan with supporting documentation as part of their course evaluation) went well beyond any periodization books (e.g.,. Bompa) published at the time. Current conceptions of periodization are very limited in scope.  Most current authors restrict their view of periodization to the “periodization of strength” or physical training – we went well beyond that.  My article on the Periodization of Mental Training provides a short, concise overview for those who have not read Bompa’s book:  Bacon (1989). Periodization of Mental Training.

The annual plan is one of the few ways to integrate all the different aspects of squash training – squash is one of the most difficult sports to plan since we need to train all of the training factors to a high level (as opposed to sprinters or long distance runners who emphasize only one aspect).

Here are a few “up to date – 2012″ comments on the annual periodized plan for a college squash team I have posted above:

• I have changed the traditional periodization of technique and tactics to reflect the recent research on the superiority of a “tactics first” approach over traditional methods;
• Planning for academic stress is an essential component of a college plan – ignore this aspect at your peril:)
• I need to modify the “physical” lines of the plan to reflect what I have changed in my approach the last three years:  the Core Performance approach to longer term training is quite different than the traditional approach – plyometrics and power exercises are introduced much earlier in the season (still progressively) – I will publish a post in which I “reverse engineer” their periodization and contrast it with the traditional approach.
• With the change in squash scoring, matches, especially at the college level are much shorter, so much less emphasis on lower intensity aerobic conditioning and much more on interval type squash-specific training.

That’s it for now.  Keep in mind that a squash coach needs to prepare or obtain two other longer term planning documents – and LTAD and a Quadrenniel Plan (4 Years) similar to the one I have posted below for my team at Smith College (dates back to 1995 – so could do with an update): 

2011 Nutrition Update for Squash Coaches

I taught my first nutrition course, “Fitness & Foodstuff” for Toronto’s West end YWCA way back in 1979, and 15 years later started teaching sports nutrition as part of the Coaching Association of Canada’s Level 1, 2 and 3 Theory Certification program.  Although there have been numerous attempts since then to “revolutionize” sport nutrition, the basic principles have stayed the same – there is no magical panacea that will propel your squash athletes to excellence without effort!

To make a long story short, the principles of basic healthy eating, are the same principles that govern sport nutrition.  A useful recent innovation is the USDA decision to move away from the “Food Pyramid” to the “Food Plate”.  The new approach is summarized on a very user-friendly website:  ChooseMyPlate.gov., and you can find my previous post on nutrition for squash coaches here.

The site has downloadable printable resources, some great interactive tools for your players, and a section for professionals (that is you squash coach), to help them shift from teaching the Pyramid to the plate.

If you do not already, follow @MyPlate on Twitter - an effortless way to stay current on nutrition that can help your squash players.

If you want an online resource that is a little more sport specific, I recommend the Coaching Association of Canada’s “Sport Nutrition Tips page (subscribing to their email newsletter is an effortless way to keep up).

Decision Training for Squash Coaches: Part I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you coach squash, and have not read and applied the knowledge from Joan Vicker’s (2007) book “Perception, Cognition and Decision Training”, you are missing a great opportunity to improve your squash coaching – and therefore the performance of your squash athletes.  Vickers teaches and conducts research at the University of Calgary, and since I have seen absolutely no reference to her book in any of the racquet sport or recent motor learning literature, I think we can safely assume that her book is only being used by a relatively small sample of Canadian coaches and athletes.

I first encountered Vickers’ Decision Training (DT) concept in an article she wrote for the Canadian Journal for Women in Coaching.  I was intrigued because her model of how sport skills and strategies should be taught was highly similar to 3-4 other models that I had already been exploring and using (for 24 years:)  in my squash coaching and consulting.  As one of the few sport scientists who is a  “generalist” and not just a “specialist in one discipline” (and also an active coach 20-30 on-court hours a week in the winter season who actively seeks ways to apply sport science knowledge), I was again struck by the phenomenon of several different researchers arriving at the same conclusion – all of them either unaware of each others’ work or unwilling to acknowledge it.

Here are the four sources (along with the current best web reference) of these similar models – I think “Tactics First” is the best term – and honestly I think the act researchers need to get their act in gear and organize their domain if they really want sport coaches to embrace and use their concepts!

• Teaching Games for Understanding (TGFu)
• Games Approach
• Method des Actions (“Action Method” being the poor English translation) – originally conceived by the Swiss sport pedagogue Jean Brechbuhl and the official coaching method of Tennis Canada since 1985 (Squash Canada since 1998?), the best example of current application is AceCoach.
• Decision Training

All four of these sources postulate that the initial point for teaching or coaching sport skills is to start with the tactical or game context or situation (i.e., have the athletes start with a conditioned (modified) game or a game with a specific tactical goal (e.g., win as many points with drop shots as possible) before teaching technique.

Vickers provides the perfect summary of research evidence to support this “Tactics First” approach in visual graphic form:

In the graph, the term “behavioural training” means the traditional “technique first” approach to coaching.  Basically the graph shows that those who learn “technique first” do better in practices and early in the season, and those who learn “tactics first” improve more slowly at the start (obviously the material is more complex) but perform much better later on in the season – when it counts!

Ever wonder why your athletes are great at practice but just can’t perform under pressure when it counts?

In a series of articles over the next few months I will go over the different parts of the DT model and explain exactly how to apply it to coaching squash, so that your squash players perform at their highest level when they need to. Note that if you are thinking of purchasing the book, it is divided into three parts, with DT covered in the third part (I am not that crazy about the first two parts relate)d to “gaze”).

Developing a Squash World Champion: Part 3

If you are just joining us for part three, you may want to check out my first 2008 post on this topic – and last week’s post.  To make a long story short (read the previous posts:), if all squash coaches (and squash countries) have access to the same information why do some countries (in this case the Egyptians) outperform others (in some cases with much greater resources?

In the interest of brevity, since this topic could consume an entire weekend coaching conference, I am going to make my points, some of them hypothetical of course, in bullet form.  Please feel free to leave a comment below!

I will just add that my comments are based not just on my personal observation of the Egyptian’s (and their opponents), but on my entire consulting and coaching experience which include not only a Men’s Squash World Champion (Jonathon Power), but an Olympic Gold Medalist (tennis’ Sebastien Lareau), and several other World Champions (Jr. tennis, Canadian National Racquetball Team, etc.).

• As Jahangir Khan pointed out in his book, and I paraphrase, “It’s not what you know – it’s what you do” – so we have to look beyond what people are saying (in books, at conferences, etc.) and see what is happening on the ground level;
• In the U.S., top juniors are getting trained primarily through daily private lessons, often on their own family’s private squash court.  then they are packed off to prep school for an important four years of their life, with very little exposure to a wide variety of styles and competition – and perhaps too much emphasis on winning: “don’t play those beautiful risky shots – just hit the ball to the back”.  There are two main repercussions of his situations.
•  The private lessons given to U.S. juniors, are often given by English and Australian pros who favor an attritional, conservative style of play – not only do players developed like this not develop the very difficult hand-eye coordination to play difficult, deceptive shots – they have little chance to counter or react against these shots.  The attritional style favours early success – but severely limits the ceiling of future potential as an adult – I have seen this first hand over several generations of Canadians – very fit players who find it difficult to stay in the top 20, because at the top everyone is fit: Dale Styner, Jamie Crombie, Sabir Butt, Gary Waite (to some extent), Shahir Razik (very un-Egyptian:), and Graham Ryding (to some extent).
• The numbers of junior players in England has dropped dramatically (reducing the number of clubs that hacve a great variety of players) and getting players together has always been problematic in Canada due to the geography (although we did have two Toronto National Training Centers up and running in the late 1980′s which supported a slew of players who went on to decent pro careers) – this has led to “isolation”, whereas the Egyptians have set up a centralized system where all the players congregate in one of two places:  Cairo or Alexandria:  a great variety of players and styles and opponents with young and old and boys and girls training together facilitates the development of great anticipation, reaction time, and a high level of tactical awareness – not available when playing the same opponents week in and week out, and not developed in private lessons.
• Status Quo:  In the last 10 years I don’t believe I have seen a squash coaching conference in the U.S. with an Egyptian Coach as the headliner – nor have I seen a coaching conference where Liz Irving was the keynote speaker/coach????  It is difficult to pick up on current trends – but in all honesty we had four Egyptian girls as semi-finalists at the 2003 Jr. Worlds in Cairo – how long has Nicol David been #1?  It is nice to see that there are now quite a few Egyptian associated summer squash camps (including the PPS Squash camps I directed in 2009 & 2010). If you keep doing what you have always done….

I do believe that it is possible for other countries to catch the Egyptians, but it will not be with the current crop of adult players – it will have to be with those who are now 8-12 years old (a “golden” age of learning) with a revamped squash coaching philosophy – which probably means 2020:)

ps.  I do not think this is incongruous with the LTADs – on the contrary – an LTAD that integrates these notions will be very effective.

Application for Squash Coaches:

1. Pay attention to “trends’ in international squash – often it is the juniors (and their squash coaches), not the current world number 1′s who will provide the path.
2. Teach and reinforce risky shot-making (since these skills take a long time to develop and to learn how to play against) while players are young (8-12) – this often means putting winning aside as a main focus.
3. Related to the above – stop the over-coaching! Playing games and matches against a wide variety of opponents and styles is just as important as developing good strokes and perfect length.
4. Stop prioritizing winning and rankings with junior that are under 18 – if you want them to succeed at the world level (no college player is suddenly going to turn on the skills required to get into the top 10 (adults) so forget it!).
5. It is difficult, but you must expose juniors to the widest possible variety of opponents.

Developing a World Squash Champion: Part II

I have already written on the “cultural” aspects of developing a world squash champion in a previous post, and the recent results from the Men’s Junior World Championships and the Spanish Davis Cup victory over the U.S.A. are motivating me to update my thoughts on the topic.

I see the recent success of both Egyptian Squash and Spanish Tennis as highly similar – countries outperforming their peers who have the same or greater resources.  My interest in the topic was first piqued when I attended and presented (with co-Presenter Shona Kerr from Wesleyan University) at the 2003 WSF Coaching Conference in Cairo that was being held alongside the Jr. Women’s World Squash Championships – all semifinalists were Egyptian girls.  Here are the observations I made at the time which contributed to my curiosity:

• Egyptian coaching information was “outdated” – for example their sport psychologist was presenting information from the Coaching Association of Canada that I have developed 15 years earlier (if their available information is the same or older than the rest of the squash world – why are they more successful? The only conclusion is that the key factor must be something other than the information itself!) 
• The England Squash presenters seemed more interested in “taking the piss” and making inside jokes during their presentation than actually communicating with their audience (most non-native English language speakers).  In other words, they did not seem to be “reading the situation” very well or appreciating its seriousness – they were being thumped by a much poorer country with relatively limited resources. (Absolute resources such as money, number of coaches, number of courts and players do not appear to be the determining factor in world success – what are the key factors then?);
• In an Egyptian presentation on Deception, an English coach interrupted (after having been invited out on court to join the presenters) to say:  “there is no deception in the back-court” – apparently not true according to a recent video of an English player competing against an Egyptian:

As coaching director of the PPS Squash Camps, I had the opportunity to coach alongside two top Egyptian players, Karim Darwish and Engy Kheirollah for two weeks the last two summers.  I subtly bombarded them with questions, concluding that the type of drills they do, and the technical information they know is not different from the rest of the coaching world – what are the key factors then in developing a squash world champion (Karim was world #1 at the time)?

I also follow tennis very closely, and have been intrigued with the success of the Spanish players, particularly the men.  The head of the ITF Sport Science and Coaching is Miguel Crespo, a Spaniard, and all of their publications are published simultaneously in Spanish and English – I subscribe to all of their sport science and coaching publications.  In addition, I attended and presented at the ITF 2008 World Coaching Conference in Valencia, Spain and had ample opportunity to hear a variety of Spanish tennis coaches and sport scientists attempt to explain the key factors in their success.  Here is an interview with the players themselves:

Since it appears all of the content of the Spanish coaching and sport science programs have been readily and publicly available (i.e., any country is free to use the information), then the information alone cannot be the primary reason for their success – what are the key factors then?

In Part III of this series I will hypothesize about what these key factors are.

Well Designed Squash Instruction Videos – Free!

I was perusing some squash sites and came across one that I am going to add to my links section of our Science of Coaching Squash Blog: TotalSquash.  I try and list only “high quality” links on this blog. There is a paid section (which I did not investigate) but there is also an “open” section which is free:  Total Squash.

They have an interesting take on a number of topics (“Return of Serve Chess”, “Traffic Light “T”", etc. and so I think the site is worth a visit!

 

 

 

30% Discount Code for Squash Anatomy Book for Squash Coaches!

Ok – if you have been following out Squash Science blog for the last few years you will be aware that there are very few (if any) published sport science resources for squash coaches – the cost of doing business in a tiny, elitist sport (of course all that may change if we get into the Olympics).

The good news is that with the changes that have taken place in tennis over the last 30 years, an intelligent squash coach can adapt the numerous tennis sport science publications for their use in squash coaching.  The two major changes that have taken place that allow this adaptation are: a) the now  multi-segmented tennis forehand  – a “hitting” action similar to the full squash drive, versus the “stroking” action of the 70′s tennis forehand; and b) the physiological profile of elite tennis – especially on clay now approximates the duration and explosiveness (especially on the men’s side) of the average squash rally (with squash moving to PAR scoring and a lower tin, at least on the men’s side).

I just finished purchasing my first E-Book, Tennis Anatomy by Paul Roetert and Mark Kovacs a few minutes ago – I used a Human Kinetics 30% off discount code, so the total cost of my purchase was $15.36 – the code is B770.  I met Paul back in the late 1980′s when the USTA head office was in Princeton – coach Bob Callahan took me out to say “hello” – and I ran into Mark Kovacs in a hotel elevator at the ITF coaching conference in Valencia two years ago – he said to get in touch about doing some work with the USTA (but I prefer to specialize in squash:).  You can download the Adobe Digital Edition reader (to read the E-Book) here.

Although I haven’t read the book yet – here are a few adaptations that the squash coach should note in order to apply the information:

• the squash forehand is biomechanically similar to the flat tennis serve (it just takes place in a different plane – overhead versus at the side of the body);
• most of the volley information will apply to squash, as the tennis continental grip, similar to the squash grip, is used for most (but not all tennis volleys);
• the tennis slice approach shots are similar to the squash mid-court squash drop shot (both feature a stroking action primarily from the shoulder).

Here is Roetert discussing the book:

In conclusion, this is a great resource for squash coaches willing to do a little bit of “mental work”:)