Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

If you're feeling like you ate too much or drank too much over Christmas and need to burn off that beer gut, it is a great time for a quick run around the squash court! Check out our trading hours at both of our locations, Bondi Waverley Squash Club and Willoughby Squash Club through the new year below. Bookings are essential for both, so feel free to visit their websites and call the clubs (Willoughby can be booked online as well) to reserve your court today!

East Coast Squash Academy's team will be running programs again starting Monday, the 11th of January, 2016 at both locations. 
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Bondi Waverley Squash Clubs trading hours:
25th Closed
26th Closed
27th Closed
28th Closed
29th Open
30th Open
31st Open 
1st January Closed
2nd Resume regular club hours

Willoughby Squash Club trading hours:

We are so excited to have a special guest blog post from our very own Shehana Vithana who recently spent a week training at the Australian Institute of Sport with another one of our juniors, Ryan Marshall. She reflects on their week and everything they learned. What an awesome opportunity for Shehana and Ryan! In addition to her post below, there are some awesome photos of their week too. 

"For five days, Australia’s top 20 juniors were fortunate enough to have been chosen to be a part of the National Talent Squad Camp held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. The camp was managed by Squash Australia’s acting Performance Pathway Manager, Lisa Camilleri and the national junior team coaches Vicki Cardwell and Tim Cowell. Throughout the week, we were given a taste of the high class facilities provided by the AIS such as the recovery centre, the deliciously healthy food and the invaluable experience between the three coaches.

We were also taken through lectures that explored aspects integral to squash, one such lecture being psychology. We were taught how to identify and manage emotional risk factors that may hinder our performance, how to increase chances of performing at peak level and how to get the maximum out of a training session even on a bad day!

The nutrition lecture informed us of what a squash player’s body needs in preparation for a tough match or session and what to consume to recover from it. The recovery lecture included methods of aiding your body to recover faster and more efficiently, one method being hydrotherapy, which all players were taken through at the end of each day. 

The players were tested on endurance via the yoyo test, agility, court sprints, skipping and a number of technical skills, while the on court routines and matchplay focussed on reading and executing game strategies and adjusting them to your opponent's weaknesses and strengths.

Unexpectedly, the last night saw a handful of us win tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s production Quidam at the AIS Arena!

Overall this camp was an invaluable experience from which all players went home better equipped to take on challenges we face on and off court and with renewed incentive to keep training hard!"
-Shehana Vithana (December 2015)

Training in the off season:
I find it very interesting coming back to the start of each season of squash....I hear a lot of players complain that they are not fit when they come back. Our minds think when we take a break we should just stop everything, BUT this is actually a huge opportunity to make big jumps.

Your off season training is critical to shape the next season; reflecting on it now, the Off-season is when I took the time to really focus on certain things and hone in on some skills. It was a key time to work on my physical base and the technical issues I identified over the season since it is all fresh. Also, it's an awesome time to  strategically watch other players play: identify weaknesses of theirs to use in your strategy next time. Lastly, I take the time to mentally keep working through my processes, without the stress of pennant or tournaments. When you are not playing competition, it is the easiest time to improve your swing.  

​After seeing so many players in Sydney taking 10 weeks totally off from squash, I feel that it is not doing their game any justice. Now, everyone needs a break. But I remember the maximum I took off was 3 weeks then I would get back into squash, and that is what I would recommend to other players out  there. The upcoming holiday weeks are an excellent time for that break. This being said, those who continue to train hard and work on the areas they need to work on have a big opportunity to jump 15-20 matrix points in the first 5-7 rounds of competition, come next season. 

--Aaron Frankcomb


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If you require any training during the off-season, please feel free to contact any of our coaches, available at both of our locations (Bondi Waverley Squash Club & Willoughby Squash Club). Private lessons, fitness session, squads, and other fun events will continue during the off-season! 

​Tasmania Tour 2015 – City of Clarence Open
 
"Our tour started on Friday the 27th of November with a group of 5 members from Willoughby Squash Club competed in the City of Clarence Open.  We had a fun filled weekend with great food, drink, squash, and site seeing.

We stayed in Sandy Bay, about a 7 minute walk away from downtown Hobart where we spent most of our time around the beautiful Salamanca. This was a great area for food, drinks and social events. The significant others who made the trip had the opportunity relinquish their shopping skills at the classic Salamanca markets.

While this shopping shenanigans were going on, the 5 of us playing were grueling it out at the squash courts from 9am-4pm. Our team had a great time playing out of East Side Squash center, experiencing the Tasmanian style of play. David Mulchay ran a great event and built interest from states such as NSW, SA and VIC. He managed and organised a superb event with over 90 participants.

Simon Frankcomb had the match of the tournament losing in over an hour and a half brutal 12:10 loss in the fifth game to narrowly missing out on the semi finals of the men’s open. He soon recovered by drinking his sorrows away :) ….!

The two East Coast Squash Academy faculty members, met in the men’s open final. Aaron took the “W” in a tough 3/0 victory against High performance player, Darcy Evans. The groups results are posted below with some fun pictures from the weekend, too.

We had a great time in TAS, both for squash and during some leisure time! Thanks again to all the locals for making us feel welcome. It was fantastic to see the Mayer of Clarence turning up to watch, support the grand finals and present the awards."
 
Results:
Aaron Frankcomb – Men’s Open winner
Darcy Evans – Men’s Open Runner-up
Simon Frankcomb – Men’s Open 6th place
Rachel Donald – Men’s Open 19th Place – Women’s open winner
Raymond Riccardi – Men’s Open 24th place