Science of Sport: Squash E-Book

Stafford Murray

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The Science of Sport series is essential reading for students, coaches and performers, physiotherapists, club doctors and professional support staff working in sport. The Science of Sport: Squash offers both scientific research and athlete testimonials to show that squash is one of the most physically demanding, mentally draining, and tactically challenging sports in the world. Success in this sport requires extreme levels of fitness, optimal and specific strength, relentless psychological toughness, intelligent tactical prowess, and sublime technical proficiency. Key topics covered include: how sports science has developed in squash and how it is deployed by elite players and coaches; case studies and testimonials from some of the world's greatest players and coaches highlighting the value and impact of sports science in elite squash; sports science methodologies and interventions that all players and coaches can use to enhance the physical, mental, technical and tactical attributes required to succeed in squash; an overview of the principles and practice of sport science and how these impact on player development at all levels of sport; a detailed analysis of the latest ways in which science has influenced and improved the sport of squash. Of great interest to sport science professionals, teachers and students and squash players and illustrated with 38 colour photographs, graphs and tables.

Leseprobe

First published in 2016 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

© Stafford Murray 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 180 2

Acknowledgements

Stafford and the editing team would sincerely like to thank the following people: all the chapter authors who have given their time, effort and expertise to help make this book the first to pull together the various disciplines of sports science deployed in squash; the expert coaches that have willingly shared their incredible knowledge and insight, bringing this book to life from a pedagogical aspect and helping us all to look at sports science in a different way; the fantastic players that gave their valuable time to be interviewed, adding a player-focused dimension to the book that is unique within sports science texts; Peter Nicol MBE and Jonah Barrington for giving up their time and offering their kind and insightful words within the forewords; and Steve Cubbins and Tommy Berden for their help and work on the pictures. Steve Cubbins (SquashSite) provided all the photographs with the exception of Fig. 10.34 (Sarah Murray).

Stafford would personally like to thank his wife Sarah, son Bowdon and mum Lynda for being so helpful and patient with him during the pulling together of this book; he promises not to do another one anytime soon! He would also like to express his heartfelt gratitude to his Mum, Brother, Nan and Grandad for giving him the inspiration and capability to complete this project.

CONTENTS

About the Editors

About the Authors

About the Players and Coaches

Forewords by Jonah Barrington and Peter Nicol MBE

Preface

1    The Evolution of Sport Science in Squash Edward M.Winter

2    Physiological Underpinnings of Training and Match Play in Squash Edward M.Winter and Mark Campbell

3    Strength and Conditioning in Squash Keith Barker and Mark Campbell

4    Physiotherapy in Squash Jade Leeder, Ian Horsley and Jonathan Leeder

5    Performance Nutrition: Applying the Science Chris Rosimus and Stephanie Shreeve

6    Effective Mental Training for Performance Kirsten Barnes

7    The Psychology of Match Play Simon Hartley

8    The Science and Art of Coaching Danny Massaro (with David Pearson)

9    Skill Acquisition in Squash Oliver Logan and Nic James

10  Current Applications of Performance Analysis Techniques in Squash Mike Hughes, Julia Wells, Stafford Murray, Mandie De Beer and Michael T. Hughes

11  What Learning Can we Take from this Book? Mike Hughes and Stafford Murray

Index

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Stafford Murray (Editor-in-Chief) is a Performance Lead at the English Institute of Sport helping to coordinate the sports science delivery to five key Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic Sports. For thirteen years prior to this he was Head of Performance Analysis, Skill Acquisition and Biomechanics again at the English Institute of Sport. As a sports science practitioner he has worked as a consultant with over fifteen international and professional sports teams (including the Lawn Tennis Association, English Cricket Board, South African Cricket, McLaren F1, and Welsh Rugby) and to date has presented at forty-one international conferences (sixteen world congresses). He has published over thirty papers, (as well as seven book chapters) on both the technical and tactical analysis of squash. From 1998 to 2013 he was the head Performance Analyst for the England Squash Team, working with multiple World Individual and Teams Champions during his tenure. Between 2007 and 2010 he was the England Squash senior team manager culminating in being team leader at the Commonwealth Games Team in Delhi 2010, where England topped the squash medal table for the first time in the CWG history. He has post-graduate qualifications in Research Methods and Sports Performance Analysis/Coaching Science. As a junior squash player he was British No.1 and an England International.

Mike (M.D.) Hughes (Associate Editor) is Emeritus Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at Cardiff Metropolitan University, and a Visiting Professor at Middlesex University; Nottingham Trent University; OvG, Magdeburg, Germany; Zagreb, Croatia; WHU, Hungary; University of California, Berkeley, USA; UPM, Malaysia; Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia and the Institute of Technology Carlow, Eire. He was founder and is now President of ISPAS (International Society of Performance Analysis of Sport). As a squash coach he has produced players that have reached a World Top 30 ranking and successfully coached the British Universities Team to win the World Student Games in 2000 and 2002.

Nic James (Assistant Editor) is Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at Middlesex University, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. He is Chair of the International Society of Performance Analysis of Sport, a Member of the Coordination Council for the International Network of Sport and Health Science and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has represented Wales at senior level and was one of the national junior coaches for over ten years.

Goran Vučković (Assistant Editor) is an associate professor in the faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is a member of the basketball and racket sports department and works with students on different study programmes such as sport coaching and physical education. As an athlete he was national champion (former Yugoslavia) in high jump, played professional basketball in the Slovenian Premier League and was national squash champion in 1995, 1998 and 1999. He is consultant coach and scientist for the junior national female basketball team and coaches the top Slovenian squash players. His research work is focused on performance analysis and motion analysis of athletes in different sports, with a special interest in racket and team sports.

‘Sports science has undoubtedly played a huge part in the development of all successful athletes and I attribute much of my success to the advances made in this area. Squash is one of the most physically demanding sports with all players looking for marginal gains. Stafford and his colleagues have been at the forefront of this development and they certainly played a major role in my success.’

Lee Beachill, Former World Number 1 and 2 x Commonwealth Gold Medallist

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Edward M. Winter is Professor of the Physiology of Exercise at Sheffield Hallam University. He trained in Physical Education at Loughborough and took his BEd, MSc and PhD from that University. In 2011 he became one of only five sport and exercise scientists in the United Kingdom who hold a DSc, awarded to him by the University of Bedfordshire for his contributions to the study of the physiology of exercise. He has taught, researched and provided consultancy in exercise physiology for forty-one years. In 1985 he co-authored the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences’ criteria for the accreditation of physiology laboratories and personnel (and those criteria remain in use). In 2013 he led the Association’s successful application for admission to the Science Council. On behalf of the Council, by dint of its accreditation scheme, BASES is allowed to award Chartered Scientist status to accredited members and Edward was one of the first recipients.

Mark Campbell works for the English Institute of Sport and is the Lead Strength and Conditioning coach for the Sheffield region. He delivers strength and conditioning service to the GB Boxing squad and in his capacity working as a multisport practitioner has delivered the physical preparation programmes for Nick Matthew and James Willstrop for a number of years as well as working with many other national- and international-level squash players. Before coming to the UK in 2007 he worked in professional rugby union in New Zealand with the Highlanders super rugby team based in Dunedin. He attended Otago University in Dunedin, gaining a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Physical Education.

Keith Barker is a Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach with the English Institute of Sport, a National Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach for England Squash, and a UK Strength and Conditioning Association Accredited Coach, Tutor and Assessor. With a background in physical education and sport and exercise science, he has built an extensive track record of leading and delivering effective strength and conditioning programmes for elite athletes. Prior to leading the successful England Squash Strength and Conditioning programme, he worked as a Head S and C coach in professional rugby union and rugby league.

Jade Leeder is Lead Physiotherapist to England Squash and has worked with the team since 2009. She is employed by the English Institute of Sport, and has attended multiple major championships including the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She has an MSc in sports injury rehabilitation from the University of Salford, and has published research on functional movement screening. She has specialist expertise in the hip and lumbar spine areas, alongside squash-specific rehabilitation strategies. She was an integral member of the team who were able to fast track the rehabilitation of Nick Matthew from a careerthreatening knee injury, to win gold and silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Ian Horsley is the Lead Physiotherapist and Technical Lead for the North West for the English Institute of Sport, the clinical director of Back in Action Rehabilitation in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and an associate lecturer at Salford University. He has been a physiotherapist for over twenty years. He worked for England Rugby Union for fourteen years with various teams, and spent the last six years working with the Elite Playing squad as physiotherapist to England ‘A’. He has just concluded his PhD around the issue of shoulder injuries in professional rugby, has published articles on the subject of musculoskeletal injury management, and contributed chapters to books on sports injury management. He worked as part of the HQ medical team for Team England at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games and was a member of the Team GB HQ medical team at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Jonathan Leeder is a Performance Lead with the EIS in Sportcity working with England Squash. He completed his Masters in Exercise Physiology in 2007 before joining the EIS where he started working for the British Cycling Team as a physiologist. At the 2012 London Olympics, he was Lead Physiologist to the British Cycling Team, and Head of the physiology department in Manchester. During this time, he completed his PhD at Northumbria University with a focus on optimizing recovery strategies for elite athletes. He is experienced in developing optimal recovery protocols for athletes both in training and competition and provided support to England Squash at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Chris Rosimus is a registered sports and exercise nutritionist, providing performance nutrition support to elite, professional and recreational athletes. He joined the English Institute of Sport in 2011 to work as Performance Nutritionist for the England Cricket team. He also provides nutrition support to England Squash alongside a lecturing position on sports nutrition with Manchester Metropolitan University. Prior to joining the EIS he was a performance nutrition intern at IMG Academies in Florida and worked as a nutritionist in Abu Dhabi with Manchester United soccer schools. He has a football coaching background and holds UEFA qualifications.

Stephanie Shreeve completed her BSc in Sport and Exercise Science with Human Nutrition and her MSc in Sports Nutrition at Chester University. She then took up a community nutrition role with the NHS, before joining the English Institute of Sport in May 2012 as Sport Nutritionist, where she works with British Para-Swimming and England Netball.

Kirsten Barnes has a BA in Human Performance from the University of Victoria in Canada and completed a PhD in sport psychology at the University of Bristol in 1998. She competed for Canada in rowing in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, and she is a double Olympic gold medallist from the 1992 Games and World Champion in 1991 at the Rowing World Championships in both the 4− and 8+. She worked with England Squash from 1998 to 2004 and provided support to Commonwealth Games England in 2002, 2006 and 2010. She lives in Canada and is the Lead for Mental Performance at the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific. She works with several National Team programmes preparing for International competition and the Olympic Games.

Simon Hartley is the founder and director of Be World Class coaching academy. For twenty years he has been working in elite and professional sport as a sport psychology consultant and performance coach. He has worked with coaches helping Olympians, world-class athletes and International teams to success. His expertise lies in helping organizations, teams and individuals to consistently engineer peak performance and become world class in sport.

Danny Massaro has been a Lecturer of Sports Coaching for eighteen years, and at the University of Central Lancashire for the last eight years where he has lectured on Master’s Modules in Coaching Philosophy, Coaching Processes and Performance Psychology. He teaches on the Elite Coaching Practice Level 4 Course that runs in conjunction with UK Sport and the University of Central Lancashire, and whose participants are professional coaches employed by National Governing Bodies. He has coached and mentored his wife, Laura Massaro, since she turned professional in 2002. In 2013 Laura became World Champion, and the only British woman to hold both the World Open and coveted British Open titles. As a player Danny was twice runner-up in the National age-group Championships.

Oliver Logan has worked for the English Institute of Sport since 2006, and is currently Head of Performance for Archery GB and Biomechanics Technical Lead at the EIS. He worked for four years as Technical Lead for Skill Acquisition with a number of sports across the institute. He has an MSC in Sports Biomechanics from Liverpool JMU and a BSc in Physics with Materials Science from Queens University Belfast, and is currently working towards a PhD in Biomechanics and Motor Learning of Explosive Lifting.

Julia Wells is Senior Performance Analyst and Technical Lead at the English Institute of Sport, having started out with Cardiff Metropolitan’s Centre for Performance Analysis team providing services to many international-level athletes. She joined the English Institute of Sport in 2004 as a regional lead performance analyst and since then has worked with GB Canoeing’s Canoe Slalom Olympic Programme, attending both Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games.

Mandie De Beer is a sports Performance Analyst and consultant project manager. She was lead performance analyst for England Squash for four years culminating at the successful Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. During this period she also helped project manage the Performance Analysis team within Team GB House during the London 2012 Olympic Games. She holds a BSc in Sports Science and an MSc in Sports Performance Analysis.

Michael T. Hughes has worked in elite level sport for the last ten years, with outstanding teams including the British and Irish Lions, England Rugby, British Cycling and England Squash. Since starting with the RFU in 2008, he has been responsible for designing and implementing all data collection and processing protocols from the senior team, throughout the Performance Pathway, to the Academy teams. He was a Senior Performance Analyst on the British Lions Tour in 2013 when the Lions won a test series for the first time in sixteen years and for the first time in Australia in twenty-four years, and was a part of the England management team at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

ABOUT THE PLAYERS AND COACHES

THE PLAYERS

Nick Matthew OBE is a three-times World Squash Champion and treble Commonwealth Games gold medallist. He has enjoyed a prolific career since turning pro in 1998, achieving a string of historic breakthroughs which have led the Yorkshireman to become one of England’s most successful squash players of all-time. In June 2010, he topped the world rankings for the first time and in December became the first Englishman in the premier event’s thirty-five-year history to win the PSA World Championship. In November 2011, he successfully defended his world crown in Rotterdam, becoming the first player for fifteen years to retain the title. His record-making run continued on home soil in 2012: in May, at the O2 Arena in London, he became the first Englishman ever to win the British Open title for a third time. In 2014 he was named the official flag bearer for Team England at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. The Games proved to be a triumph, with Nick taking gold in singles before teaming up with Adrian Grant to bring England a silver medal in doubles. He is managed by international-SPORTgroup™.

Laura Massaro is one of the most decorated female English squash players of all time. Her achievements to date are: double silver medalist at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014, World Champion 2013, British Open Champion 2013,Windy City Open Champion 2014, KL Open Champion 2013, US Open champion 2011, two-times World player of the year, 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medalist in Delhi, 2014 two-times Commonwealth silver medalist in Glasgow and three-times British Closed Champion. When Laura won the British Open in 2013 she was the first English woman to do so for twenty-two years. In 2014 she successfully made the final shortlist at the Sunday Times and Sky Sports Personality of the Year – the sole squash player to achieve this feat. Laura is still constantly challenging the World No.1 ranking and in May 2015 once again defeated long-term World No. 1 Nicol David to reach the final of the British Open in Hull.

James Willstrop crowned a sensational junior squash career in 2002 when he claimed his third consecutive British Junior Under-19 National Championship title, to establish himself as England’s most successful junior player of all time. He went on to be one of the youngest players ever to play for the senior England team, at both the European and World Team Squash Championships in 2003. In 2004 and 2005 he won multiple world tour events and this success led to him leaping six places to World No. 2 in the world squash rankings. He headed up the England team that won 2005 World Team Championships in Pakistan. He is two-times British National Champion and two-times Commonwealth silver medallist, and in January 2010, he won his first Tournament of Champions title in New York, defeating World No. 1 Ramy Ashour. He ended his 2011 season by winning fifteen matches in a row en route to winning the Hong Kong Open, the Kuwait Open, and The Punj Lloyd 2011 PSA Masters. This string of results helped James achieve his lifetime goal of becoming World No. 1 in 2012. He is trained by his father, Malcolm Willstrop, at Pontefract Squash Club in West Yorkshire.

Jenny Duncalf is a former World No. 2 female squash player and has represented England at the Commonwealth Games. She has been a professional player for fifteen years. As a junior player, she won the British and European Championship titles. She won the Senior European Individual Championship title in 2006 and 2007, and the British National Championship title in 2007 and 2009. She was also a member of the England team that won the World Team Squash Championships in 2006. In 2008, she finished runner-up at the British Open and ended the 2009 season winning three titles in a row: the SohoSquare Open, the US Open and the prestigious Qatar Classic. In October 2010 she reached the women’s singles final of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi bringing home the silver medal. She was an integral part of the England Team that topped the squash table at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal in the ladies doubles.

Alison Waters is one of the most capped England Internationals in history. As a junior she won all British Junior age categories and was part of the winning England team in the world junior team championships in 2001, reaching a career-high world ranking of No.3 in 2010. Then in late 2011 she had a major Achilles injury. However, this did not stop her determination and eventual progression. She came back in stronger than ever in 2012 to win five World Tour Titles and sweep up the prestigious ‘Comeback Player of the Year’ title awarded by her world governing body. She had been a member of the winning England team at the world team championships in 2006 and was so again in 2014. She competed in three Commonwealth Games, hauling both bronze and silver medals in Glasgow 2014. She is a multiple British National Squash Champion, successfully defending the title in 2014 to win it for the fourth time.

ABOUT THE COACHES

David Pearson is one of the most successful squash coaches in the history of the sport. On an individual level he has coached multiple world champions, including Peter Nicol MBE and Cassie Jackman MBE. During his unprecedented tenure as England National coach he guided his country to seven world senior team titles, fourteen Commonwealth Games medals, sixteen straight European team championships and countless World and European junior team titles.This success earned him the Mussabini Medal for outstanding contribution to sport in the UK in 2002. As a player he was known as one of the finest touch players on the circuit and this high level of skill helped gain him over forty England Senior Caps. He is now a self-employed consultant working with, amongst others around the world, recent World Champions Nick Matthew and Laura Massaro. He was seminal in the integration of sports science into the England Squash programme in the late 1990s and without doubt this visionary approach has shaped the way that players train and practise in squash all around the world today.

Malcolm Willstrop is renowned the world over for producing outstanding players who not only play the game well but also play the game with the right ethics and attitude. Based out of Pontefract Squash Club in Yorkshire, his coaching philosophies are clearly successful, producing world senior number ones (including Lee Beachill and James Willstrop), a number of individuals reaching the top ten in the world rankings, and countless British Junior Champions. He is currently coaching two of the world’s top ten senior male players. His passion and knowledge for the sport is second to none and without doubt the world of squash would not be in such a good place without his invaluable input.

Paul Carter spent seven years as a professional player on the world circuit during the heyday of squash when Jahangir Khan was dominating the world game. Paul reached the world top sixteen and won many titles, including the 1998 British Senior Men’s Championships, the 1986/87 British Doubles Championships and the 1998 British Over-35 Championships. He is a proud England International player and represented his country on twenty-four occasions, being a member of the winning England Team at the 1988–1991 European Team Championships. His successful playing career was followed by an even more exemplary coaching career. As assistant England Coach from 1999 to 2010 he helped take the England Squad to successes at four world team championships, two Commonwealth Games, and eleven European Senior Team Championships. He was head coach for the England Junior Team that won the world championships in 1998 and has produced five players that have achieved world top ten rankings (including Peter Barker and Alison Waters). He is currently a high performance coach for England Squash looking after a selection of the elite players and is responsible for the overseeing and strategy of the coach education system nationwide.

David Campion has been a member of the coaching staff at England Squash for seventeen years, working his way up from one of the junior programme coaches to assistant senior national coach. As a gifted player he was thought by many to be a possible world leader in the sport – he was a member of the England Junior Team that won the World Championships in 1990. However, injuries stopped him short in his playing career, and coaching quickly became his passion. During his early coaching career he dedicated his time to coaching juniors and he has successfully taken eleven England junior teams to World and European titles. He has worked with many players who have achieved a world top ten ranking (including Adrian Grant and his half-brother James Willstrop). Recently he was the assistant England Coach at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (where England brought home an historic nine medals) and coached the England Women’s team to success in the 2014 World Championships. He is married to England International squash player Sarah Kippax.

FOREWORDS

Jonah Barrington

I do feel especially privileged to have been asked to provide a foreword for this remarkable book. Having spent most of my playing career on the fringes of emerging sports science and medical support systems, I must say how fortunate are today’s gladiators that so much varied expertise is now readily available. This book encompasses all that is currently relevant to our wonderful game and so much of it pertains also to those other most testing sports. It sets out, with forensic analyses and fascinating case studies, from a litany of highly regarded experts, to give the most excellent must-have guide for the players, coaches and of course academics, and reaches into the very core of squash.

The minds behind this book come with exemplary credentials. I first met Stafford Murray when he was a very young teenager, a hugely hard-working youngster with significant talent, beating the best of his peers at squash and with a manifest eagerness to ‘go places’. I am not in the slightest bit surprised that he has put his own particular stamp on the world of sports science. Again, and so importantly, we have here a man passionately imbedded in our own sport and with the overview that the coach must always remain at the heart of the player’s development.

I first met Professor Mike Hughes at Liverpool Polytechnic (now John Moores University) more than twenty years ago and quickly understood that a pioneering process (notational analysis, now Performance Analysis) was being excitingly developed by this urgent, inspiring mind. The sphere of technology is quite properly a potent underwriting aspect of most sports and we must remember that this man was a trailblazer in an environment hugely set in its ways and very resistant to change. Mike is unquestionably the world’s leading sports performance analyst, and with his own squash background as a county standard player, national standard coach and world leading academic, he is the ideal person to gather a team together here with Stafford Murray to display the knowledge of so many specialists within our amazing game.

This irresistible, irrepressible collaboration has given us a tome that will, I believe, set the standard for those aficionados researching the mysteries of squash and indeed other marvellous sporting pursuits.

Jonah Barrington, six times British Open Squash Champion (1967–1973) and author of international best-selling book Murder in the Squash Court:The Only Way to Win

Peter Nicol MBE

I started my career with very old school techniques in all areas of training and preparation. When I began to work with Stafford Murray and his team, this changed dramatically. From training more intelligently to analysing my opponents, the use of science to reach the best possible results changed my career as a player. The first results that had a meaningful effect on my game – which, being a selfish professional athlete, was all I cared about – came from analysing matches and physical testing during matchplay. Making a direct (and immediate) difference to how I performed was the best way to get my buy-in to using sports science more.

This change came about when I was in New York for the Tournament of Champions in January of 2002 along with Stafford, Phil Newton (physiotherapist) and David Pearson (coach). The first round was relatively easy, but straight after the match I fell ill and went straight to bed. Luckily I had a two-day period before my next match, which is unusual for squash events, so I was able to rest up and try to recover.

We realized as a group that I was never going to get through the event playing my usual physical style and had to adapt if I wanted to progress. Sitting down (that’s all I was able to do!) with Stafford and David, we trawled through footage and statistics from my next opponent to find areas I could exploit whilst also limiting my physical output. I would have to play shorter, more aggressive squash, but rather than just doing it in the style I would usually prefer, we came up with a structured game plan that took advantage of my opponent’s weaknesses. Sounds very simple but I was way out of my comfort zone playing this style and had no idea if I could perform this way at the level needed to win.

The second round ended up being a comfortable win, as did the quarter-final. I was still sleeping most of the time, not playing, and eating lightly so I felt tired and weak. My semi-final match was going to be the biggest test, coming up against David Palmer, the three-times World Champion. Stafford came to me with the simplest of plans, having analysed David’s previous games that week: counter drop him in the front right corner as much as possible. This seemed risky as David was known for hitting short and then stepping up the court, taking the ball earlier and earlier. My first reaction was that I would be playing into his hands, giving David free balls to hit at the front and making me run lengths of the court – which would not have been many in my state! However, early on in the match the tactic caught David by surprise and I either replayed outright winners or he gave me easy balls to kill. Once he understood my tactic, David would move up the court anticipating the counter drop but he still struggled to achieve any kind of success. The plan worked perfectly and I walked off the court 3–0 winner, exhausted but delighted to be in the final. I went on to win that final and played the only perfect event in my career, winning all my matches 3–0.

Lying in bed after that first match, I would have been surprised to make it to the court for my second round but instead, with the knowledge that analysis of my opponents gave me, I was able to slowly recover physically through the week whilst playing some of the best squash in my career. I still shake my head thinking about that event and how we all got through it together.

As my career started to slow down and I went from a goal of World No.1 to winning specific events, my training also adapted to take that into account. I could no longer, mentally and emotionally, train continuously and prepare in the way I had done throughout my twenties. One day at a training camp in Manchester, we took my blood and monitored my heart rate during a match that was prolonged to make it incredibly physically challenging. The results showed that a well-structured circuit almost exactly replicated a squash match, just with a higher top-line heart rate and lactic acid reading.

From that point onwards I used specific circuits to prepare me for events, as it gave me the confidence knowing it was replicating game play and also was a manageable (mentally!) time of flat-out physical effort. Understanding this allowed me to reduce time spent training and playing so that I was content on court and not resenting spending so much time training. I know this may sound childish but that was how I felt after so many years working towards a singular goal without any real break or rest. This small change was instrumental in getting me back to No.1 in the world rankings and able to go on to win double gold in my last event, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006, as I would not have been able to train as before, and I would have retired sooner.

There are so many more examples of how sports science helped me throughout my career, but I wanted to share here a couple that were obviously practical.The only reason for a player to use sports science is to benefit practically from using those techniques. After all, I was a professional squash player and the way to judge success was by how often I won! I now use these techniques to help me as a coach and I believe understanding these methods would help any player interested in improving themselves, or as a coach, to help their players. My biggest hurdle was keeping an open mind – if you are able to accept using science and therefore implementing change, anything is possible!

Peter Nicol MBE, three times Commonwealth Gold Medallist, Former World No. 1 and World Champion

PREFACE

Academic research and athlete testimonials suggest that squash is one of the most physically demanding, mentally draining, and tactically challenging sports in the world. In order to succeed in this sport players must have extreme levels of fitness, optimal and specific strength, relentless psychological toughness, intelligent tactical prowess, and sublime technical proficiency, to mention a few!

This books aims to explore how science has impacted and subsequently improved elite squash, along the way giving examples and case studies from some of the best players and coaches in the world of squash.

The book aims to:

■  Provide an overview of how sports science is currently used in elite squash and, where appropriate, offer sports science methodologies that could be deployed by the reader;

■  Demonstrate how sports science techniques and interventions have impacted on both coaches and players at the elite end of the sport;

■  Offer quotes from world-leading players and coaches, along with case studies, to bring the outlined scientific theories to life and to give examples of the positive (and sometimes negative!) implementation of sports science.

With contributions from some of the finest academics and applied practitioners in the world of squash, this book covers the following sports science disciplines:

■  Physiology

■  Strength and conditioning

■  Physiotherapy and rehabilitation

■  Performance nutrition

■  Psychology

■  Coaching science

■  Skill acquisition

■  Performance analysis.

Never before in the history of squash has this type of book been pulled together – a mustread for all that have any kind of interest in either science or squash.

CHAPTER 1

THE EVOLUTION OF SPORT SCIENCE IN SQUASH

Edward M.Winter, Sheffield Hallam University

WHAT THE PLAYERS THINK

Nick Matthew OBE

There is no doubt that sports science enabled me and my coach to completely change my technique when I was nineteen. Without this I would not have become world No.1. Over the years the work I have done with sports science – in particular Performance Analysis, Psychology and Strength and Conditioning have given me a platform to deliver my technique and tactics properly. Sports science has enabled me to tick every box – it made me a more professional athlete from a young age and helped me get the extra 1 per cent out of my body. Without the education in sports science I received in my teens I would not have been able to achieve my goals.