In Squash - The Podcast

Rodney Martin played in arguably the deepest, most talented generation that professional squash has ever seen. Winner of the 1991 World Open Champion, 3 time World Team Champion and former world #2, Rodney proved that he was among the best of that generation, and a player that many who followed would model themselves after. Rodney takes a look back at his amazing 1991 World Open win, the ultra-talented Australian teams that won the 3 world team championships, and his impressive coaching career. Rodney's approach to coaching and his thoughts on the game are pure gold, and he lays it all out here on ep. 182.

Resident US Squash historian Rob Dinerman has a new book, A History of Squash at Brunswick School. It's a detailed, fascinating and well-documented look back at the school's fledgling early days, struggling with the infancy of its program and what it took to reach today's heights where it finds itself as the preeminent US National High School squash powerhouse. Rob tells it with a flavor and detail like none other. He also pays homage to recently retired Yale Squash head coach Dave Talbot.

Without question among the best of his generation, Simon Rosner surprised many when he retired from professional squash on Dec. 21st. An incredible career that included 9 career titles, 11 German national titles on the trot, the 2018 Tournament of Champions title and 2 trips to the World Open semi-finals. Simon dives deep on his reason for retiring, his plans to continue playing, the groundwork he's laid for the future, Paderborn, and his biggest rival over the years.

Whistler Squash and ActivScout's Rob Eberhard has a passion; that passion is growing the game of squash and he's been hard it for over 20 years. Rob's passion for this combined with ability to think outside the box has brought us the ActivScout app which we flesh out a bit in this chat. Even more we take a deep dive into several achievable game growth ideas. This is another incredible chat with plenty of food for thought in terms of growing the game.

Amidst Covid Squash as we know it has practically come to a standstill, both at the club and pro level. Danny Lee, Head Squash Pro at St. George's Hill, Surrey, and the man behind the prestigious Channel Vas PSA event each and every year, has launched the Pro Squash Challenge. Danny fleshes out this initiative for us, and how it has given pros in the area something to play for, and thoughts on growing the Challenge globally. We also discuss other such initiatives that could potentially work to keep professional squash's head above water, and we look back at his pro career during the Jansher and Jahangir era.

2020 Black Ball Open Women's Champion waved good-bye to 2020 in epic fashion with perhaps the women's tour performance of the year. Sarah-Jane talks about the win, the months leading up to it and much more including the story behind the sleeves.

Ladies professional squash in the US is brimming with talent, and Haley Mendez is among this talented lot. Hayley grew up playing her squash in Brooklyn, New York at the iconic Heights Casino, and we look back at those days, and the first time she met her idol Nicol David. Currently, at 41 in the world, the future is nothing less than exciting given the depth of competition in the ladies game. Haley talks about this and what she needs to do to keep moving on that upward trajectory. Most importantly though, we revisit her unforgettable 2020 Thanksgiving Day. Great chat with Haley across the board!

What a refreshingly candid conversation this is. George Parker has rediscovered the form that saw him reach 31 in the world in 2019, and this includes some big wins and promising results in recent events. George talks about the progress he's made with his game of late. We also talk about the Black Ball event, his illustrious junior squash career, Mostafa Asal, and his past issues with officials and bans from the game.

Another kid in a candy store moment for the podcast, former world #7, world jr. champion, and Malaysian squash legend Ong Beng Hee spoke to the podcast a few weeks after the dust had settled at the Qatar Classic. An incredibly successful PSA event, Beng Hee talks about the huge amount of team work that went into hosting the event, and how proud he is of everyone involved. Of course, we went full on backstory though, looking back at his heyday, the good times and the challenges. What an amazing chat with Beng Hee.

Squash Mind the app rolled out a few weeks back, the brainchild of Jesse Englebrecht. Jesse has created an app that focuses solely on mental training for squash which at this degree of detail and insight is a first for the game. Jesse gives us a tour of the app, and we take several deep dives into the areas where we can up our mental game, both on and off the court. Friend of the pod, this is Jesse's 4th appearance, and it's definitely a show stopper.

Lisa Aitken's squash career was almost derailed by complications surrounding a two year struggle with dengue fever. She battled through very challenging circumstances, and has emerged to find herself playing some of the best squash of her career. Not only that, she's fresh off a successful debut in the SquashTV commentator's booth.

Ryosei Kobayashi makes a triumphant return to the podcast after winning the Swiss Open, his return event a few weeks back following the resumption of the PSA Tour. Ryosei's been training hard in Aix En Provence with Renan Lavigne and several of the top French players, and he talks about how this has helped his game of late. We also talk at length about his squash vision and what lies ahead on his unique squash roadmap.

In this the third recent episode dedicated to growing the game, Ben Thomas of the Whistler Racket Club lays out his vision, which could very well (fingers crossed) become a template, for growing the game. Whistler squash has had its sights set on adding squash to its tennis facility for some time now. Meanwhile, pickle ball has stepped in become all the rage there, but with that Ben and the WRC team have a view towards bringing squash into the fold. Ben's insight into this touches on many key aspects of what squash might want to consider in terms of growing the game.

Peter Genever was recently appointed Head Coach of Hong Kong's National Squash Team. This is a new challenge, a challenge that he's no doubt ready for after guiding Malaysia for 7 glorious years. Peter describes the new challenges the lie ahead in HK,and we look back at how he landed here, as a sought after and highly respected national team head coach after what he deemed an unfulfilled playing career. Peter leaves us with some very insightful thoughts on Egypt's dominance in the game and compares what they're doing to a traditional, perhaps outdated approach to coaching and playing the game.

Across the Pond is where we pick things up in part 2 with English great Chris Walker. Chris and I have a tremendous chat about the CIB Egyptian Open, the Mostafa Asal celebration moment in particular. Then we look back at his time as US National Team head coach as well as his foray onto the pro hardball doubles scene which saw him land at number one in the world for a time. Even more noteworthy perhaps were his years playing alongside the one and only Viktor Berg of whom he shares a few classic anecdotes. We definitely get our feet wet in this ep, "across the pond" with Chris Walker.

Jamie Abbott, the main behind the exciting new squash data analytics venture, lays out what he and his partners are bringing to the game of squash in today's 2nd of 2 World Squash Day special episodes. Jamie lays out what Cross Court Analytics is and how what they do could take your squash game to the next level.

Jaymie Haycocks had a very good career on the PSA tour and he's parlayed that into success as a coach, hardball doubles player and with his squash podcast Squash Tourist and Friends. Jaymie and I chat about all of this on this, the first of two, World Squash Day feature episodes #worldsquashday

This coming Saturday, October 10th, is World Squash Day, and the man who's put this all together is none other than Alan Thatcher. Alan wears his heart on his sleeve in this ep, laying out what squash has to do to avoid the black swan. In a nutshell, World Squash Day is a day for the squash community to come together, celebrate our great game and thereafter work towards addressing many of the issues that have stifled the growth of squash in recent years. Alan and I flesh out some of these issues and ponder several others all with a view towards celebrating our game this Saturday.

It used to be Shabana, but these days it's this man, world #3 Karim Abdel Gawad to whom I go to for my pre-match inspiration. Karim's in the prime of his career right now, both mentally and physically, and last season was a clear indication of that as he rose back to #3 in the rankings after briefly holding the #1 spot back in 2017. He talks candidly about a tough recovery period after the 2017season, what it means to be back on court again, his current majestic play, and the myth behind his so-called love of pizza.

Campbell Grayson surprised many in the squash community a few weeks ago when he announced his retirement from the pro tour. It was a decision made difficult given what he had achieved in the 2019/20 campaign: his highest world ranking of 24, winning 2 of his 14 career PSA titles and his biggest ever in the Houston Open, and a 5th place finish at the World Team Championship playing for New Zealand. Campbell speaks to what led to his decision, the difficulties making it, and of course a great look back at his career.