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Sports science and the art of understanding change By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent How do we measure real change in squash? Is the level of change a reflection on the player’s ability, the coach or the system we use to teach squash? If a player doesn’t improve and acquire new skills should [...]

So many sports have male origins and coaching patterns – now it’s time for change  By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent Tony Griffin may be a humble male, but he is determined to address the gender imbalance in sport. Yes, most sports were invented by males (primarily for males) but the world has [...]

Luxembourg ladies learn and improve By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Correspondent I first meet Sandra Denis in September 2019 when Xavi Blasco, Bertrand Tissot and I started working together with the Luxembourg national teams. She has been the national champion 21 times, which must be one of the longest winning records in European squash. [...]

‘Your memories are stored in your brain, not your muscles’ By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent Muscle or cell memory are terms that I had heard of but didn’t really understand. Some months ago I was introduced to the concept in more detail. In essence, the idea is that every movement or action [...]

‘First shot is always the most important’ By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Correspondent Stephen Hawking once said: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to changes.” Maybe he was thinking of players like Nick Matthew and Laura Massaro, whose ability to adapt their techniques later in their careers led to them winning World Championship titles, [...]

Flashing units will increase your speed, footwork and reaction time By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent World No.6 Paul Coll is among a growing group of enthusiasts who are using the new ROXs training system. When I was first introduced to the ROXs (pronounced rocks) a couple of months ago, their value for [...]

‘A sequence of exercises that allows the player to recognise the sensation of hitting the ball well and understand why’ By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent This is Liam’s Story. It’s a case study in breaking the mould with regards to coaching. It’s about changing the way we do things, to be inclusive [...]

Forget endless reps, trust your feelings and sensations that occur when you do things right By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent My Gevolution learning process started after writing my book “The G Spot, A Book about Squash”. I was given the book Deporte and Complejidad (Complex Sports Systems) written by Natalia Balague and [...]

Putting years of knowledge to the test By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent For players and coaches, the biggest challenge to learning and evolving is a willingness to experiment with new ideas and movements. Many of our most established training concepts, honed by years of experience on court, are really put to the [...]

‘Faced with a familiar problem, many players shut their eyes, swing and miss’ By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Coaching Correspondent I want to continue the theme of hand-eye co-ordination, and look at what causes players to repeat a pattern of familiar mistakes when facing a familiar problem. Being a New Zealander living in Barcelona, [...]

‘The top pros are permanently connected to the ball’ By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad New Learning Guru The response to last week’s article was very encouraging, with a number of players, coaches, education specialists and professionals from other spheres making contact. Thank you all. Those conversations have been very enlightening and encouraging. Reading the [...]