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22-Sep-07:
Squash Coaches Learn From
The Best
To Be The Best In Canada
Squash coaches from
established and squash-developing countries from all five
regions of the world attended the 8th WSF Coaching &
Development Conference in Canada this month.
 Hosted
by Squash Canada in Calgary, the conference featured an
outstanding line-up of seventeen presenters, including former
world number one Canadian
Jonathon Power
- who
captured everyone's full attention with his on-court
demonstrations and question and answer sessions, along with
world-renowned coaches Gene Turk, Shaun Moxham
and Mike
Johnson.
A broad range of
topics, offering new and innovative ideas for coaches, were
covered - including "Early Learning of Squash Skills",
"Creative Drills, Deception, Tactical Session, Pressure Drills
for Advanced Players", "Development of a Programme-based Vs
Levels-based Coach Education System", together with
presentations on Sports Science and Sports Psychology, and a
variety of Sport Technology & Training Aids.
The session started
off with an excellent review of the Long Term Athlete
Development (LTAD) model by Stephen Norris, who is
based at the Canadian Sport Centre in Calgary. Dr Norris
followed up his presentation with a field trip to Canada
Olympic Park and a review of the bobsled and luge training
facility. Additionally, 12 brave coaches did the zipline from
the top of the 90m ski jump!
 Later,
Dr Jim McAuliffe, a past President of Squash Canada,
joined with England Squash Director of Performance and
Coaching
Peter Hirst
and Squash
Australia's National Coaching Manager Jeff Wollstein to
discuss implications of LTAD for world squash.
The increasing
influence of technology in sport led to a prominence of
technology presentations, including: Dartfish
(biomechanics); Squash Cannon (ball machine);
Footworker (on-court footwork trainer); and AMOS (a
software program for high performance training, currently in
development).
WSF President
Jahangir Khan, the six times World Open champion,
congratulated Joe Hattori, President Squash Canada, and
CEO Linda MacPhail and her Organising Committee at the
closing of the conference in successfully taking up the
initiative to support the development of the sport in every
region.
"It was exciting to
see coaches from all corners of the world enthusiastically
gathering new initiatives and sharing different levels of
experiences from such a wealth of highly qualified
presenters," explained WSF Vice-President
Heather Deayton.
"I am confident that much of the knowledge gained at the
conference in Calgary will add tremendously to the on-going
development of squash globally." |
"The World
Squash Coaching & Development Conference is a critical initiative
within our plans to continuously develop the sport in every region.
The 2007 edition provides a robust programme for elite coaches to
further their set of skills as we strive to develop top talent in
all corners of the world. 
