Kaleidoscope

DAVID MENNIE: Teenage Professionals ...
Perspiration and Inspiration- Coaching Juniors to Seniors ... Welcome to the greyest area of all sports. How many talented junior players do we all know that have mountains of ability and apparent drive to be top professionals only to disappear or dwell in the realms of the lower end of world and national rankings finally to give up or retire having never seen their potential realized (or maybe it was). If we take the top 10 players in the Juniors each year, that's why is this no guarantee as success as a Senior. Institutes worldwide take in the best potential athletes and still the failure rate is somewhere around 98% . From a coaches perspective this is an appalling situation for as I ask myself what can I do to assist these players to be successful. I investigate the best pathway for my athlete that is available and still there is failure. The conversion from Junior squash to the professional game is a vast chasm not easily navigated because the training must be graduated to suit the individual. Factors influencing the coach when training these ‘Teenage Professionals’ are many, including physical development; psychological maturity; technical skills; tactical awareness. Each individual will have deficiencies that must be addressed in each of these areas. As long as the training covers these four areas of the sport then our success rate is likely to improve. So then where is this improvement in each area required?
Compare the Teenage Pro to his more seasoned opponent. 1. Technical- Within the game of squash as you move up the rankings more shots will need to played from a compromised position. What I mean by this is that the perfect position to hit that nick drop winner will just not be possible because of pressure applied by the opponent. The Opponent's technique is far more consistent or ‘grooved’ so less technical errors will occur giving cheap points. 2. Tactical- The opponent’s fundamental game is stronger and harder to pick apart. The weaknesses of the opponent will not be as obvious and more pressure is being applied to you while trying to find a tactical advantage. Unforced errors from the opponent will be far less and more pressure from you will be needed to create these. Opportunities to hit a clean winner will be few ,if any, and the number of shots per rally and accuracy will be much higher, testing the player both mentally and physically. 3. Physiologically the Pro Player is much more highly developed as they are physically more mature (more training years). The aerobic capacity is extremely high and explosive speed/strength much more highly developed. The endurance required at the professional level is extreme and players are much more difficult to “break” physically than juniors. Players are willing to accept the need to work harder in training to gain a physical edge to inflict a much higher work rate upon the opponent that they will hopefully not be able to maintain. 4. Psychologically/Mentally successful players are far more mature and will be willing to do the work required and build a score rather than just “shoot from the hip” and hit nicks from nowhere. Senior players have built more mental training into their every day training to give confidence with the discipline they employ every day to keep training despite setbacks that may occur; indeed adversity will often be the greatest gift and spur an aspiring champion may find.
How do we train these aspiring champions? The training should become specific to the individual as all players are different both in physicality, tactical/ game style, mental/psychologically, technical strengths and weaknesses. Generic programs fail to produce players because of this individuality required in all areas. Having an individual program is Knowing what to do. The aspiring player must become more analytical of himself/herself but have a "sounding board" such as a coach or mentor to offer counselling and guidance so the progression in all areas. In a nut shell Knowing how to do it!! During the junior playing years resources need to be established to carry the player through to Senior levels as without these resources only failure can result. What are they? Having raquets/clothing/footware to play with…seems trivial but when you are playing full time the amount of breakages will increase so having sponsors in place to look after such things is vitally important. Court Access – Having to pay full rates at your club will quickly kill off any aspirations due to the longer court time required. Travel expenses/ Financial commitments- lack of funding will put pressure on the player to win where this may be unlikely. Entering larger tournaments with bigger prize money is tempting but the “trade off” is that Players with higher rankings also enter. Our player must go through qualifying and will then cop a seeded player first round so success is very unlikely. The general pathway for players from Australia is to go to UK and do coaching work to subsidize income from tournaments. This is the path to ruin as with lack of training time and motivation resulting will see the player coaching more and working on their own game less. The World's top players do little or no coaching to give themselves total commitment to their own improvement. The time required to become successful, ie to reach your potential, is between 7 and 9 years on the Tour. From Juniors this is a big commitment for someone 17-18 years old. The financial resources will be strained just to feed and have a roof over your head, let alone pay for coaching and training facilities (coach; accommodation; court, gym, swimming pool, massage, travel).
Intensive Training The training will become far more intensive from doing 3-5 sessions per week in Juniors to doing 3 sessions per day 6 days per week as some professionals do. This type of training requires absolute commitment and focus to the dream. Many players will lose their way at this point and fall by the wayside, ultimately They don’t want to do it! Players are made largely by their choices, not by their ability. You have to choose to do it. You have to choose and trust a coach/manager. You have to choose to train when you don’t feel like it. All these are choices easily made that will effect you results in the future. Joe Shaw's Bell Graph is the perfect vision of the future for aspiring professionals, it is like a pathway of the future.
How to do it!!! To give your self the chance to be successful you must increase your training in an individual way. Develop a full training program to incorporate all areas of the sport, tactical, physical, technical, mental. Each area must be trained on a regular basis in an organized manner. Look at where you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and shape your training to get there. Make choices that will facilitate these goals. Having no goals is like a ship with no rudder… it is going in all directions but forward. Do regular self analysis (SWOT) and shape your training to fit this planning. FAILURE TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL Look at the resources you will require to achieve your goals and set these in motion (Coach, Financial, Travel, Courts, Gym, Hitting partners etc). This will require an amount of selfishness but ultimately it is your career that you are working on. In my opinion anyone who has this dream should be supported wherever possible……there is no place for negativity or cynicism from those around the player. Should the player recognize this in anyone in their sphere of influence they should limit contact where possible …..don’t give me ten reasons why I cant do it , just give me one reason why I will!!!!
In conclusion ... The attainment of any dream requires that you do what others will not. To quote Lance Armstrong; "I give everything I’ve got, my performances are the result of hard work; of the fact that I had trained and been on the bike when no one else was riding … in the off season and in all weather. I’d ridden the alps in snow…..and I didn’t see any other riders there!!!" All the best ... David Mennie