Caribbean Coaches Energized by WSF Level 1 Coaching Course

Ten coaches from four Caribbean islands successfully completed a three-day intensive World Squash Federation (WSF) Level 1 Coaching Course which was sponsored by the Federation of Pan American Squash. They received their certification on Sunday at the Liguanea Club in Kingston after doing the theory and practical exams as well as a one-on-one interview with Colin White, the course instructor.

The coaches hailed from the Bahamas, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and the Caymans Islands, while seven were from host country Jamaica.

The objective of the course was to increase the number of certified coaches in the region to fill the void for their services. Stephen Dear, one the Jamaican coaches endorsed the course. He felt that he was now in a better position to grow the sport in the western end of the island. “Having dome this training of the coaching, I feel that we should be able to take squash in Montego Bay to another level in terms of the structure. In terms of the tutelage, this course has definitely given us tools that we can use to structure the way that the ball is played. It actually also has helped us from a safety standpoint too, which is a big thing in squash because you’re in a close quarter with your opponent so it’s really important that everybody understands the safety aspect. But, just the tools that we’ve been given to help to give a name and a label to something we’re trying to get the team to follow that’s what this coaching course has done for us. And for me personally it has actually inspired me to go on and do level two.” There were two attendees from Montego Bay.

Experienced Head Squash Pro Colin White was very pleased with every aspect of the course, including the venue – the close proximity of the courts to the training room, the quality of the candidate coaches and his reception in Jamaica. He is a WSF and European Squash Federation (ESF) Level 1, 2 and 3 certified coach and tutor for many years. He has taught and coached the game in many countries including the US, Austria, Hungary and Russia and Ireland where he is from.

“The level of the candidate coaches for this course was pretty amazing. I did have a feeling earlier on that they were bringing a lot of knowledge and experience and a lot of energy and passion for what was about to happen. Everybody showed me over the three days a real enjoyment for learning and a real energy for trying to pass that information onto their students. And i’ve gotta to say it was all-round one of the best set of coaches i’ve ever been involved with.”

“A lot of the things that we focused on over the three days was about kids, early learners, getting those sort of people into the squash courts and playing and solving problems from that” said White.

Karen Anderson, president of the Jamaica Squash Association gave her full endorsement of the course. “I think it was a real spectacular three days. As Colin said it’s probably one of the higher level of quality combination of coaches that he’s had to coach and that was very evident throughout the whole three days. There was lots of feedback, lots of collaboration, lots of working together and everybody offering and providing their different perspectives especially some coming from different sports. And so that was really enlightening and interesting and fun and got the creative juices flowing in thinking and how to do things differently. So I thought it was really a great three days, and looking forward to hopefully a lot of them continuing to their level three and upskilling themselves.”