Thanks Tim Cowell
Coaches Need Practice Too
One of the biggest challenges on coaching courses, for some, is the art of feeding balls. For players who have played at high competitive levels, this may come easier than for the parents with a short history with the game but just keen to help out their kids.
My first real experience of this was a short stint in Japan, some shots needed a bit of work and the coach asked me to keep practicing my feeding. It was here that I discovered their front wall wasn’t exactly flat, which explained why some feeds were going higher than others.
Regressing and progressing is an important part of coaching, not just for the player, but also for the coach. The key factor in any routine is making sure you can control things for your player to learn. Another consideration is that for some routines, it can be quicker to feed by hand rather than racquet.
Setups to Try
Arm yourself with a container of balls, and a racquet placed on the ground (racquetball racquets work best). Line yourself up, and drop the ball onto the racquet strings for the players to the hit the ball. This especially works well with all of those cold double dots that won’t see much action for the winter period.
Bonus points for getting players to hit the shot then ghost to another corner, adding an extra cardio workout to the routine.
This setup can be done from anywhere on court and is great to focus on their position and impact. Grip, radar, action/result are all WSC (World Squash Coaching) tools that can be applied to this setup.
Hand Feed onto the Wall
Common one here is to stand close to the front wall for them to play a drop shot. Players can also drive for you to catch. If practicing a boast, you can stand close to the T, throw the ball against the side wall for players to move and boast; just remember to move out of the way in case they hit a great straight drive. You can progress this by throwing the ball into the back corner if you struggle to hit length into the back corners.
Racquet Feeding Tips
Your own footwork and stance will be important to control your shots especially early on.
Put some random targets on the floor or front wall to aim for. There will be times where you are trying to feed into certain spots; you need to be able to set the ball for your players in different areas.
Understanding Tempo
Feeding too fast may mean your player can’t keep up, and too slow might not be challenging enough.
Understanding your Limits
Some routines may require you to be quite active (drive, drive, boast), so know your fitness level if you have multiple lessons scheduled for the day!
It’s also important to remember that like many professions, coaching takes time to master a lot of elements, and even for those of us who have been coaching for 20+ years now, we are always learning new things. A carpenter spends a few years learning their craft, but many more perfecting it. Coaching is exactly the same.
For anyone serious about making a career out of coaching, in your early days you should snap up the opportunities – spend time with your junior club, attend workshops, observe advanced squads, work with brand new players, and over time, your ability as a coach will continue to improve.
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