 Three
years ago Damon Leedale-Brown approached me about the
possibility of a high altitude training camp to be held in
Estes Park and Boulder in Colorado.
 I
have worked with Damon for the best part of ten years from
when he worked as the Strength and Conditioning coach for
England squash. He moved out to the US in 2005 and I have
visited him regularly around tournaments in the States, so
when he came up with this idea I was more than keen to
listen.
Estes Park is in the middle of the Rocky Mountain National
Park, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Now, I
spend most of my training time in Pontefract, and as much
affection as I have for the place, it's hardly one of the
wonders of modern civilisation ( which is perhaps why I like
it) and the prospect of spending three weeks in beautiful
weather amongst some of the most scintillating backdrop the
world has to offer, albeit at 8,000 feet of altitude, I
couldn't refuse.
Vanessa and I went in 2007, to partake in our first squash
camp, an institution our American friends have invented and
are absolutely obsessed with it seems. Over the summer
season American parents seem hell bent on sending their
children, some of whom may have prospects of landing a place
at a top university, to a flurry of squash camps.
Many of the camps are run by big name pros, cost hideous
amounts of money, and it seems that some parents substitute
these glamorous camps for solid hard work, when the latter
is what many mollycoddled American kids need.
Many of the professionals make good money out of coaching on
these camps over the summer; I don't necessarily blame them
for that, as pros work damn hard for the money they earn the
year round, and if they have the patience for it then good
luck to them.
This one is slightly different, in that Vanessa, American
no.1 Julian Illingworth and myself have been on the
camp, as members, not as a coaches. Damon has mixed the camp
well, and kept things fresh for the differing abilities that
have been here in Colorado, and I have been able to add some
ideas of routines and practices, (or drills, as they say in
the US) since I have been brought up to practice with
whoever I am put on court with, whatever the standard.
Anyone who has worked with Malcolm before will know he is
the only coach who can make a session work with the World No
1 and a Yorkshire metro Division 5 player, and he prides
himself on this.
The camp is housed at Active at Altitude, which is a
business run by Terry and Jacqui Chiplin, and they
cater for groups of athletes ( or non athletes for that
matter), or even holiday makers. Terry specialises in making
his home a place where athletes can come and train and be
looked after, at altitude, and forget about being at home.
The altitude is hard, especially at first, and it takes the
body time to adjust. It's easy to see why Eric Galvez and
Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who live and train in South
America at Altitude, run forever.
It would hardly be right to come here and work on a squash
court all day, so we've been outside, mountain biking and
doing a little trail running, admiring the views.
We had to endure the July 4th celebrations, where Americans
become even more patriotic and start putting flags outside
there houses and on their cars, but a small price to pay for
such an enjoyable trip!
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More about James
More about James |
