Squash is Great Cross-Training for Other College Sports

I have addressed the topic of using squash to cross train previously, but it is particularly salient for me this year.  I graduated seven players from last year’s Smith College varsity squash team – and I have only four returners, with no new recruits – only 1.5% of high school girls will consider attending a women’s college, despite the many educational advantages of doing so.

If I can get somewhat athletic women to come out for the team, I am quite good at developing them to a college standard quite quickly – although it is becoming more difficult with the huge emphasis here ins the U.S. on using squash as a vehicle to gain entry to a top Liberal Arts College (Smith College is amongst the top 15-20 in the country).  In 1998 and 1999, my Smith team finished 11th in the CSA rankings – only one person on the team had played high school squash (her JV team) – everyone else started from scratch here at Smith.  Our players have also won the Ann Wetzel Award more than any other team.

Here is a copy of the email I sent to the other coaches in my department in an effort to do some “internal recruiting”:

Hi,

Hope your fall seasons went well!

I have four returners ad no recruits coming in this season so we have a few spots to fill on the squash team.  I am writing in case you have any suitable candidates.

You may or may not know that the VO2 max (measure of aerobic power) of elite female squash players exceeds that of elite female marathoners (65ml/O2/kg/min.) as well as all team sports (FH, LAX, B-ball, etc.) – in other words it is a great aerobic conditioner.  One season, two rowers from Karen’s Varsity 8 pulled an erg score at their first spring practice that was identical to their last fall erg score – without erging once from November 1 to March 1 – i.e., maintained their aerobic solely through squash.

In addition to the aerobic aspect there are approximately 1,000 powerful hitting or swinging actions per squash match – a statistic which you can compare to the number of “hits/player” for your own sport, about 100 explosive starts, and about 100 full lunges.  A match takes about 35-45 minutes to play.

Finally, there are many tactical, perceptual, and mental aspects from squash that transfer over to other sports: covering space, chasing down a ball, dealing with the pressure of maintaining a lead or coming back, competing while in a fatigued state, etc., and I run the same mental training program I used to produce 30+ world champions (and one Olympic Gold) when I was doing sport psychology consulting with Canadian National Teams back in the 1980′s and 1990′s.

The type of athlete that would benefit from participating on the squash team would be:

- someone who is not going to do much training for your sport on their own – they need the impetus of belonging to a team

- someone who is a bit burned out and needs the experience of learning something new to get their love for sport back

-someone who needs supervision and instruction in mental skills training and modern physical training.

- someone who is only going to do a basic run and then traditional weight training

-someone who needs to burn about 1,000 KCal at practice to help with weight management.

The way we work things is that we give people a two-week trial to see if they like the sport and team.  We would also be willing to negotiate a 3 practices/week for varsity (not others) athletes as we acknowledge that 3 straight seasons can be draining.

So if you have someone in mind just get them to contact me.

Finally,  members of or team run rec play on Thursday evenings from 7-9 if any of your players are intrested in learning how to play.

Best,

Tim

Psychological Skills for Squash Coaches???

(This is a reprint from my Sports Leadership graduate class that I teach in Smith College’s Department of Exercise & Sport Studies – I think is applies pretty well to the squash environment and summer is a great time for squash coaches to do some professional development:)

This topic could also be entitled:

• stress management for coaches
• self-management for coaches
• mental training for coaches.

The rationale for the necessity of “peak performance” or stress management strategies will be evident after reading the references.  The Canadian National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Level 4/5 (i.e., Elite/National Coach) program featured two courses in this area: Task 8: Mental Training for Coaches (which I taught several times at the NCCP National Coaching Conferences – in both English and Francais:) and Task: 16: Enhanced Coaching Performance.

A reminder that this self-paced segment of the course is ungraded, so you may post your “assignment” whenever you wish.  Your assignment is to post a brief summary of:

a) Your current level of “coaching stress” (as opposed to academic or relationship stress).

b) Identify three “mental training” strategies (either ones you use now or from the reference material) that you could use to either improve your “game day” coaching performance or reduce your short term or long term coaching stress.

References (you should read at least two)

Bestsellers in “Success” Self-Help Books

Bradford, S.H., Keshock, C.M.  (2009). Female coaches and job stress:  A review of the literature. College Student Journal, 43, 196-200. (Click here or find on Smith Library’s Sport Discus)

Loehr, J., & Schwartz, T. (2001).  The making of a corporate athlete. Harvard Business Review (January).  Loehr & Schwartz, 2001

Taylor, J. (1992). Coaches are people too:  An applied model of stress management for coaches.  Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 4, 27-50.  Taylor (1992)

Thelwell, R. C., Weston, N. V., Greenlees, I. A., & Hutchings, N. V. (2008). A qualitative exploration of psychological skills use in coaches. Sport Psychologist, 22, 38-53.  PST For Coaches

Other Resources

Stress Map – this was the “text” in my Level 4 Enhanced Coaching Performance course given by Peter

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – point form summary could be useful – and here is a useful downloadable weekly planner based on the book.

1-on-1 Squash Science Camps – Summer 2012

Don’t have time to spend a whole week at camp?

Do you want an individualized experience?

Air Conditioned Courts & Gym in America’s #1 Small Arts Town – or I can come to you!

Get what you don’t have at your home club:

• Video Stroke Analysis
• Squash-Specific Strength & Agility Assessment & Training (Core Performance!)
  
• Tactical Video Analysis
• Psychological Skills Training
• Tactics First Training (System 3)
• Longterm & Annual Planning for Juniors, Pros & College players
  

Consultant-coach to more than 25 World Champions & hundreds of Pro, Juniors & College racquet sport athletes, Tim Bacon, M.A.,  is a certified international level squash coach, strength & conditioning specialist & mental training consultant.  One, two & three day mini-camps available, May to August.  Contact Tim Bacon:  1-413-330-8222 or tbacon@smith.edu or visit: http://www.scienceofcoachingsquash.wordpress.com

Click here to find out what Sport Science can do for Your summer squash camp.

 

Squash Coaches: A New Tagging App for Iphone!

You cannot be a “Tactics First” squash coach without having the ability to easily tag video to examine the tactics (i.e., shot choices) that your players use in their matches.  The video tagging procedure involves using computer software to watch a squash video, and then touching a key or button to indicate to the software that you would like to record the action that you are interested in. Performance Analysis and Notational Analysis are the formal terms associated with tagging.  Here is a great link for more info:  The Video Analyst.

Without tagging software, a specific (versus just randomly watching match video with your team or player) tactical analysis that  involves assembling multiple examples of shot choices is very time consuming.  For example with my Smith College squash team, it would take me five hours to assemble 10 examples (five good, five bad) of mid-court attacking tactics (30 min. per 10 players to watch, then edit, then email or post to YouTube) following a match.

For example in this video, I used the Tagging Module of the Dartfish software to capture examples of squash shots played in the front court zone by top female players. I was interested in both the choice of shot (i.e, tactics), and the way the shot was played (i.e., technique).

As a member of the Faculty in the Smith College Department of Exercise & Sport Studies I have access to Dartfish via the five licenses our department has purchased – we were early adopters having used the software since 2004.  Even earlier than that, 1987, I was using tagging elite junior tennis players as part of my Doctoral research using the CompuTennis Software (no longer in business?).

The problem with Dartfish (Windows platform) and GameBreaker (Apple platform), the other popular software used for tagging is the cost – both cost several thousand dollars – so not easily accessible for the average squash professional working alone in a club.  The Video Replay App is $2.99! I have been wondering when an app would come out!

Touchstat Highlight is another more costly option ($24.99) which has greater “potential” as it can be used in conjunction with their desktop software.

Dartfish has an iPhone app, EasyTag (free), that while not actually recording video, can later synch your tagging with the desktop Dartfish software.  In a future post I will go over a more work intensive but “free” way to use EasyTag results with a free video software like Quicktime.

Note that there are a lot of free or low cost apps for both the iPhone and Android software that allow a coach to analyse the technique of a single shot – the sole advantage over simple video replay is the access to drawing tools, and an easier ability to view two actions side-by-side (I just open two Quicktime Windows on my laptop:).

As soon as I finish grading my 64 Introduction to Sport Coaching class assignments (Biomechanical Analysis, Strength Training Program, Skill Coaching Report) I am going to give Video Replay a try!

Veteran Squash Coaches: Aging Gracefully & Staying Fit!

I am writing this post for squash coaches over the age of 50 who are finding that they are faced with an increasing number of chronic injuries.

I had a total hip replacement in November 2008 (detailed on this and two other videos). Things went pretty well – I was walking perfectly at 10 days, driving at two weeks, teaching four hours a day of tennis at six weeks, and playing length-only games with a blue dot squash ball with a “B: player at 8 weeks.

Unfortunately, about 7 months post-operation, I was feeling great and ready to go 100%. Unfortunately, I did go 100% playing one-hour competitive matches of handball (the “family” ball) and British Racketball with a member of the Princeton university Squash Team (so 30 years younger) four days in a row while coaching at the Princeton University Squash camps – and injured my back. This back injury (arthritis of S-I Joint) resurfaces when I stretch and reach for the ball during a squash match – more of less preventing me from a return to competitive squash play – ironic considering the recent hip replacement.

I just returned from Boston yesterday where I saw one of the U.S.’ top shoulder specialists, and a podiatrist who works with the Boston Celtics. Diagnosis: Posterior shoulder capsule contracture and Hallux Rigidus (basically sore shoulder and arthritic big toe). I got prescribed a new pair of orthotics and was given stretches for the shoulder (most of which I was already doing) – the good news being no operations or cortisone shots needed (yet)!

Although I have not done a lot of research on the topic, here are the adjustments I have made to my squash fitness and playing routines to keep me on court and coaching effectively.

1. During the school year when I am pressed for time, instead of “working out”, I basically just do the Core Performance movement prep and prehabilitationas my workout – omitting the strength portion, but also doing the post-workout regeneration. Supplementing the movement prep with a set of Bosu Squats and lunges, I end up doing about 70 reps of lunges and squats, three to four times a week – a level of work which has kept my lower extremities uninjured.
2. Blue dot squash – long tough rallies – without the injuries! I find that playing (three length only games and two regular) for about an hour with a low “B” level player allows me to get a good, squash-specific cardio workout (mean HR of 150 during play) without hurting my back, as playing with a bouncy blue dot effectively reduces the size of the court, which eliminates the emergency defensive reaching and lunging which hurts my back. Some might say that this level of ball bounce is not realistic, but I would argue that I am probably getting the same bounce that the pros get on the tour court under television lights. It is for this same reason that I train my college team (mostly beginner to “B” level players) with blue dots – why should the least skilled players have to deal with the most difficult bounces in the back of the court? My players have noticed no significant differences in transitioning back to the yellow dot, so we will use the blue dot in training right up until the week before our national championships.
3. I now rest (if possible) two days between various types of workouts instead of ensuring one day of rest. I find that I can still improve with this pattern of training and rest.
4. My training philosophy has gradually shifted from “intensity” to “balance”. Actually, I find that whenever I “train hard” I get another injury which puts me out of commission for at least a week – so a net training “loss”. I would suggest a 2-3% rule for Masters squash athletes, as opposed to the 10% rule used for athletes in their prime.

Application for Aging Squash Coaches;)

1. Think “balance” not “more” (2% not 10%!).
2. More rest between matches and workouts – more regeneration activities.
3. Think about blue dot squash (or British Racketball) to maintain playing skills and fun – and reduce weer and tear on the body.

“Science of Coaching Squash” E-Book is published!

Ummmm…well not really. I would publish a “Science of Coaching Squash” book – if there was a market.  Unfortunately, the tennis market is absolutely huge, but the current squash market, especially the squash coaching part of it is tiny – I probably personally know 80% of certified squash coaches in Canada and the U.S.

The title for this blog came from a 1989 book published by Human Kinetics: The Science of Coaching Tennis.  The mental training section of the book was excellent – written by Jim Loehr, so practical.  The other sections were not bad, but the book lacked an overall unifying framework – for example periodization, to really assist coaches in implementing the information.  Here is a link to some of the other tennis books I think are worth a read.

One of my goals in writing this blog is for it to act as a resource for squash coaches – so almost like an e-book.  I am going to have a crack at outlining a very rough version of a Science of Coaching Squash E-Book that uses LTADs and Periodization as a framework by using links to “Categories” and search results – organizing them by “chapter”.  This will be imperfect but a fun exercise (for me) and might give squash coaches another way to access the information on this blog.  So here we go:

Chapter 1:  Planning a Squash Athletes Development:  The Framework – LTADs & Periodization

• Linking LTADs to Squash Coaching
• Periodization

Chapter 2:  Establishing a Positive Learning Environment – Part 1: Understanding Squash Motivation.

• Talent Identification
• Understanding Children’s Motivation to play squash
• Helping Children Enjoy Squash
• Developing top juniors

Chapter 3: Establishing a Positive Learning & Training Environment – Part 2: Leadership for Squash Coaches.

• Squash Coaching is a profession

Chapter 4: Tactics First - The Key to developing Great Players

• Tactics First, Games Approach and Decision Training for Squash
• Developing “Thinking” squash players
• Selecting/Developing a Tactical Model to Guide Your Program

Chapter 5: Periodization of Technical-Tactical Training (for each phase of the LTAD)

• Developing a priority list of tactical situations
• A Progressive Approach to Starting Players off Right
• Basic biomechanics for squash coaches
• Get the grip right!
• Designing Squash Drills
• Developing anticipation and deception
• Video analysis of technique
• Video analysis of tactics (charting, notational analysis)
• Summary of the technical-tactical annual plan

Chapter 6:  Periodization of Physical Training (for each phase of the LTAD)

• Basic squash physiology for squash coaches
• Correct sequence of training at practice
• Basic Nutrition for squash coaches
• Basic sports medicine for squash coaches
• TRX for Squash Players
• Core Performance for Squash Players
• Overtraining
• Detraining
• Summary of the physical training annual plan

Chapter 7:  Periodization of Mental Training (for each phase of the LTAD)

• The Ideal Performance State for Squash
• Basic mental training for squash coaches
• Visualization for Squash
• Squash Psychology & Tactics are linked
• Diagnosing & improving squash mental problems
• Summary of the mental training annual plan

Chapter 8:  Evaluating Your Program and Coaching

Appendix

Science of Coaching Squash YouTube Channel

Twitter Squash Science

Smith College Squash Team (more training videos)

Basic Squash Drills vs. “Games Approach” – Which is Better?

My ESS110 Introduction to Sport Coaching that I teach at Smith College is built around the ASEP (since I am in the U.S. – in Canada it would be built around the NCCP) Coaching Principles Course.  The target audience for the ASEP course is the high school coach.  In a sophisticated sporting country the course would be linked to LTADs – perhaps the “Train to Train” phase – but we are in the U.S. where the  focus is on short term results versus long term development – except for the rare exception.

One of the strengths of Coaching Principles course materials are very well and simply written.  The other major strength, especially useful for squash coaches, is that the course introduces the pedagogical approach know as the Games Approach.  I have blogged on this before, usually using the term ‘Tactics First”.

Unfortunately, most of the squash world, meaning players and coaches are entrenched in an overly technical approach to the game, with a focus on teaching strokes, often stereotypical strokes (e.g., the forehand drive) unrelated to any tactical situation.  For example most squash pros introduce new players with a “forehand” lesson where they feed players a very easy ball and ask the student to hit it straight back to them – progressively moving the player on to “mindless” straight length or boast-drive drills, focusing on the technique of “hitting better length”, in situations where we ingrain the instinct to hit the ball back to our opponents.  My hypothesis is that most squash players do not peak until the age of 27 or 28 since it takes that long to become a smart squash player and undo the effects of stupid drilling!

The problem of course is that squash is a decision-making game, where the choice of shot is of key importance, as a well hit shot directed back to the opponent is of little use. The Games Approach advocated by ASEP is basically the equivalent of the squash “conditioned game” (e.g. a game where is the opponent drops you must redrop or hit a cross-court) , the big difference being that the Games Approach coaching sessions starts with the conditioned game, and all coaching and drilling for the rest of the session targets student  improvement at that particular game tactic.

This preference for simplistic, not thinking drills is somewhat comically reflected in the statistics on my Squash Science YouTube Channel.  My video with the most views is “Basic Squash technical Drills” with 7,865 drills?!? The only reason I posted this video is that I was coming back from my total hip replacement and needed to do some easy moving drills that involved no uncertainty or decision-making.

Two of my better tactical training videos have only got 2,500 and 1,800 views???

In the first video we start the session with a conditioned game that forces player A to make a choice in the front-court. This was the third video session that looked at tactics in the front court, the first being drop or cross-court, and the second being drop or lob. This is classic Games Approach

A key part of winning a point is not only playing a good attacking shot, but also playing the correct follow-up or second shot, a notion that I thought we captured very well with our ball machine video – often difficult to do repetitively in a one-on-one coaching session.

Ball Machine: 

• “Why did you keep playing that shot instead of ______”,
• “You had to do a better job adjusting”,
• “Why did you go for that winner then? ,
• “You needed to attack more instead of just hitting it top the back”.These are all comments that squash coaches make to players who have been trained with an over emphasis on traditional technical drills.  We cannot expect our players to become smart players if we don’t give them a chance to make decisions in our coaching sessions.

I will be offering some squash-specific ASEP Coaching Principles courses in the Northeast U.S. later this spring – stay tuned if you are in the area!