East Coast Squash Academy hosted the third Adult Squash Camp two weekends ago, with 14 participants. It was great to have former World Champion David Palmer on the faculty. 

Over the weekend we covered the 4 key components of the game in fine detail -

Technical:
Each participant received a detailed analysis of their forehand and backhand strokes, using sophisticated video analysis technology from Squash Analysis. One of the key features is the player's swing comparison  in relation to David Palmer's and Aaron Frankcomb's swing. 4 suggestions for improvement are provided on a case-by-case basis in addition to on-court feedback.

Mental:
Marc Dussault covered our sports psychology components of the camp as well as presented Avoiding Mental Mistakes To Immediately Improve Your Squash Game.  This is not an area covered enough in sport training let alone Squash.  The Q&A session with David further reinforced the importance of mental toughness.

Strategic:
During the camp, we filmed each participant playing a match. Our coaches took notes on the match and then we passed these on to  our support team at SquashAnalysis.com so they can explain 4 areas for improvement with detailed video explanations. 

I still to this day, remember watching my first match on video and couldn't believe how distorted my view was of how I played. I believed I was doing things that I wasn't even close to doing.  Video analysis gives you an external perspective which you can't have while you're playing. It is one of the most beneficial training tools you can use and with today's smartphones, there is no excuse not to film yourself from time to time.

Physical:
We went through a structured series of routines that build into match play. Each half day session is focused on one aspect of the game (Hitting straight, increasing length, technical improvement and match play).

The weekend is aimed to give everyone a chance to be at there best for their coaching sessions and match play analyses. The handouts and manuals we give to participants provides a structured training regimen to improve physical fitness, quickness, agility, speed, strength and endurance. 

An intensive and immersive squash camp like this can be equivalent to as much as one year's development and improve - in a weekend. Of course that means you need to keep playing and focusing on deliberate practice techniques!

The 2015 Adult Squash Camp featuring former World #1 David Palmer included a sports psychology session called "Avoiding Mental Mistakes To Instantly Improve Your Squash Game" sponsored by Acer.

Once Dr Marc Dussault presented the "theory" of the strategies, David Palmer joined in for a priceless 1-hour Q&A session explaining how he used these tips and techniques to become one of the most mentally "tough" players on the professional tour, becoming the first player in modern times to remain in the top 10 for 10 consecutive years. That feat has only been replicated since by Thierry Lincou and Amr Shabana.

Avoiding mental mistakes is the fastest, easiest way to improve your squash game and get past the frustration associated with playing such a technically demanding sport.

Easier said than done, but as Marc suggests - start with 1 percent improvements and see what happens!

If you'd like to read more on sports psychology, have a look at this list of leading books on mental toughness.

It's been a big week having to play two Exhibitions against arguably one of Australia's best players of all time, David Palmer.  The first challenge came about on Wednesday night at Willoughby Squash Club, competing to get the title back from the last exhibition 12 months ago.  

It was a see saw affair, seeing both of us going through some mental lapses and struggling to sustain concentration for long periods. I had a great start out of the blocks leading David from the word go, which became unveiled in the 3rd where David stepped up as I thought I had it won. From that moment on, the true "Marine" came out to play taking the ball ridiculously early and making me feel uncomfortable. 

Before I knew it we were back to 2 games all and I had let my lead slip.  As frustrated as I was, I didn't want to have a repeat of our last years exhibition when I was also up 2-0 and lost 3-2 in a tight fifth setter. I forced myself "in the moment" to raise my game and it was point-for-point and as we got to the later stages of the game.  

I felt David more tired than I was and gave it a big push in the tie breaker managing to sneak in with 14-12 win in the fifth.  It looked as if David's jetlag kicked in, he arrived from Germany the day prior due to a commitment to play for his Bundesliga League Team in Germany. 

Still, I will claim the win and this squared up our exhibition match-ups to one all.

The night finished with our, MC Pete Aitken, hosting a question and answer with the crowd firing questions at the Marine about his many illustrious career experiences.   

Check out the photos from the Exhibition Match With David Palmer

Following on two days later, on Friday night the 2nd exhibition took place at East Coast Squash Academy's 2nd venue in Sydney, Bondi Waverley Squash Club.  The night started with banter flying early from the crowd stirring the two players on.  Guest speaker David Wigley made both players feel welcome on court firing up the crowd with Palmer's awesome career achievements.  


The first game started with a gruellng 16:14 win to me going back and fourth several times taking the wind out both of us, lasting over 44 minutes. In the 2nd game, David came out strong attacking the ball early and getting ahead by a 3 point buffer and managing to sustain it for the rest of the game taking it 11-7.  


The third game was tight from the start with both players realising the importance of getting on top early and trying to push to take that all-important 2-1 lead.  It fell in my favour scraping  by, winning the game 11-9.  


The fourth game took me by surprise with Dave changing up his strategy by lifting the ball more and attacking early with his killer low cross court second bounce in the nick shot. This stopped my momentum as Dave managed to switch the game plan on me once more. (How many tricks up his sleeve does he have?!?!?) I couldn't come up with an answer fast enough to get back into the game losing 11-8.  


Here we were 2 games all - AGAIN and one match all in our exhibition series! It doesn't get tighter than that! 


Both of us were fighting hard extending the rallies on the hot bouncy courts at Bondi. It was neck-and-neck all the way. Dave had his first match ball at 10-9 in the fifth and I managed to control David in the rally and bring it back to 10-all with a clinging volley straight back hand drop which David was unable to return.  


At 10-all Dave and I had a massive rally with some great pick ups off Dave's aggressive two wall boasts, causing Dave frustration forcing him to make his attack more and more precise, ending in a (rare) mistake.  I then served to Dave's forehand ready for another hard fought rally but Dave uncharacteristically and surprisingly went for a cross court nick off the return of serve before it hit the side wall and hit it into the tin, giving me match point.  

The crowd reacted with great appreciation, realising both of us left nothing on the court. After the match, Dave and I sat around for a question and answer session. The last question of the night summed it up beautifully. " Dave you're an icon. I watched you from my early childhood and saw you progress up the rankings.  You were and always will be my favorite squash player. We can't thank you enough for making the effort to come to Bondi Waverley for the exhibtion with Aaron. You are a true legend and in my eyes, the best player Australia has ever produced!" 

A HUGE thank you goes out to David Palmer for making the effort to come out to Australia especially for these East Coast Squash Academy events.  THANK YOU!

It's fantastic to see the PSA working hard to clean up the game of squash to make it more of a spectator sport.  Some players have a reputation for blocking, milking strokes and arguing with the referees, which is not helping the game break through for prime time TV which is necessary for it to get into the Olympic Games.  

It's great watching a match that is clean, where both players are playing the ball and clearing the path for their opponent, creating a majestic, graceful flow punctuated with artistic shotmaking and retrieval. 

The inconsistency associated with poor play and bad refereeing has negatively affected our sport for decades and it's great to see the PSA stepping up to take control and force the game in the right direction. 

Click on the link to see the great action that the PSA is taking on to clean up squash refereeing once and for all.

Click here for some videos of difficult calls the referees need to deal with.