The Kids are ok – the future of squash

I thought I would write a little blog about my thoughts on the current state of junior squash as people often ask me what I think of the up and comers.

Junior squash I believe is in somewhat of a boom. Emerging nations over the last few years such as India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the USA have meant that the old powerhouse of England and the more recent powerhouse of
Egypt have had to respond.

This is great for the game and will only improve the level of play. There are more juniors than ever playing and at a visit to my first ever US junior tournament I was told of the size of the recent US junior Open. 128 draws with waiting lists!! I also know the Milo Open in Malaysia I think has a similar number of kids playing. And of course not forgetting the recent British Junior Open.

Now the tournament I visited in Philadelphia with my good mate Gilly Lane (who has just started a new company GL Squash and is already proving an excellent coach) amazed me in terms of how busy it was. Just being there helping Gilly out made me realise that I really do care about the future of the game. I knew I did but sometimes you get so focused on yourself and the Pro tour that you forget about all the other people playing our wonderful game. It made me think that possibly, just possibly I would enjoy coaching at some point in the future.

Anyway that was slightly off topic, and I want to talk about English juniors as they are getting a hard time at the moment with people saying that there are not enough good players. We have good juniors, but other nations have caught us up and some surpassed us. Egypt have 4 or 5 times as many juniors as England does playing the game and much credit to the people involved in making that happen. But this means the pool of kids is greater and the competition is greater meaning the cream is that much better.

The way they play the game is very skill based and this is part of the reason why they emerge in the seniors earlier than English players. The English game is still built around patience and good length with strong physicality, and because as an athlete you don’t reach that strength for a few years after juniors, the development is later. The coaches here have realised this and a hybrid of attacking squash mixed with the old English basics is being worked on.

The junior programs worked on in Hong Kong, Malaysia, India and the USA are credit to the national organisations and the coaches working there who have all done excellent jobs in getting more juniors playing and being successful. This is only healthy for the future of the game. I hope the rest of Europe and Australia, both of whom struggle on the current Junior scene, can improve and join in. The successful Olympic bid would be massive for the junior development with a lot more government funding and big nations such as China and Russia almost certainly taking up the game.

With the World Junior rankings and along with the European junior circuit and rankings there is competition at an early age which I believe is imperative in development. I hope it all continues to grow and fingers crossed for English juniors who one day later than others might reach the top of the World rankings as James and Nick have proved at 28 and 31 respectively.

9-5 No thanks!

I’m writing this blog from a rainy Kuwait which is the last stop of a 3 week tour. The tour has taken me to Macau and Hong Kong before arriving yesterday here in Kuwait city.

Previous to that was the World Open in Rotterdam where I annoyingly lost in the 2nd round and missed a chance to play at what looked like an amazing venue. The atmosphere for LJ and Greg’s match sounded like one of the best in recent times, and I believe that when you have the crowd passionately wanting either player to win it makes for a much better cauldron of emotion, and the level of squash only goes one way. Regarding my match, I felt like I lacked some match sharpness as I had been unable to train for so long and credit to my opponent Marwan El Shorbagy who played exceptionally well. Even though I believe he lacked any class and respect, I hope he will learn because as a World Junior Champion he obviously has a bright future.

Macau was an interesting place and is nicknamed the ‘Vegas of the east’. It’s full of casinos and not much else, but the casinos are pretty spectacular. Not in the league of Vegas but with the amount of money made by the casinos apparently a lot lot more. I’m not surprised when myself and Pilley went to play blackjack only to find the minimum stake was about £30 a hand! With a first round loss and £6.40 in my pocket we decided against it and instead lost any money we had on roulette. I didn’t play too badly in my first round match but wasn’t good enough to beat a pumped up Olli Tuominen.

A trip back to hong kong on a particularly bumpy ferry couldn’t come sooner as after a couple of disappointing tournaments my confidence was at an all time low. I don’t think some fans understand the mental turmoil us squash players go through sometimes. Other sportsmen and women often encounter similar problems but have the silver lining that they are probably still earning a good living. (tennis, golf, athletics, football etc). If we get injured or lose form we are not really earning too much money, and we still have to pay the bills and look after families etc. This equates to a heck of a lot of added pressure and I’m sure I’m not the only player who has seriously considered giving up and getting a job with a ‘regular’ pay-packet. So when I was 2-0 down against Saurav Ghosal in the first round, another lower ranked opponent but a quality player, I was struggling! But I was proud of myself for fighting back, digging in and winning 3-2. Maybe it was the thought of a 9-5 that pushed me through?!
In the next round I played probably my best match of the season so far and I pushed Nick Matthew, the recent double world champion, hard in all 3 games for over an hour. I was disappointed not to win the first as it would have given me a chance.
It did mean that I could enjoy the sights of hong kong for the next few days, and with a few mates from home and my main man on tour Pete Barker we did just that. It’s truly a great city with a mix of cultures. If you haven’t been I definitely recommend it!

I’ve realised I’ve written too much, I think I might try and shorten the next one, if you’ve made it to here you get a free racket! Not really I’m not a tennis player but well done, pat yourself on the back. All 2 of you….until next time!

Welcome to Dazzler’s Corner

This is my first proper attempt at a blog for my new website. It seems to be all the rage to have a website and have a blog so I thought I would follow the latest trend and do the same. My aim is to provide an insight into the mind of a squash player but also for other squash enthusiasts to chat and comment about all aspects of the game and the tour. I hope to add some videos to the site as well with a variety of things to keep people mildly entertained!

So the season so far has been a little disappointing for myself in that I’ve been struggling with a few niggling injuries. After 10 weeks of good training it’s been frustrating that I’ve not been able to play a match this season pain free. But I hope to be fit for the World Open in Rotterdam which should be a great event, and fantastic to see it being played in Europe along with the women. I feel like I’m hitting the ball well and at 28 years old the next couple of seasons are going to define my career. I want to reach the top 8 in the world and I believe I can get there. I just need to produce the sort of form that won me the British Championships in February more often, and when that happens I’ll let you know about it!

I’m going to get back to watching psasquashtv as my good mate Peter Barker is just about to play James Willstrop in the quarters of Qatar. This tournament has produced quite a few upsets, due to the guys having one eye on the worlds, a tricky court in Qatar and some really hungry younger players. It’s good to see some new faces in the quarters, and I’m half wishing that I had played!

I’ll produce a blog every couple of weeks and if you have any suggestions as to what you would like to hear about then let me know.