With a new season about to begin some words of congratulations to the Eredivisie team, the Ladies first Team and all the others who performed well during the season. It is really encouraging to be part of a club that is still on the rise and where enthusiasm for improvement is healthy and well. 

The men’s Eredivisie team did particularly well to reach the finals of the play offs and hopefully will be able to repeat the performance and perhaps lift the title this year. Danny has added a small tribune to the Eredivisie court so hopefully we can get more supporters in on a WEDNESDAY evening so please come along and support them if possible. The first match, at home is on Wednesday 13 October 2010 against Victoria. LJ should be playing and the quality of the matches is likely to be of a high level. 

It was encouraging to see that the problem of teams not having a full compliment of players to play their respective matches on a Friday evening has somewhat diminished. That makes the job of Marco and the team Captains that much easier. The Bestuur hopes that this trend will continue and that the level of commitment to play for one’s team and attend team training remains a priority. 

Training this year will start on Monday 30 August 2010. As in the past each team will take up two courts for its respective hour of training unless there are 3 or less players in attendance. As agreed with the Bestuur if there are 3 or less players I will make the second court available to other members wishing to play. A schedule of the times will be posted on the website and on the board at the club in due course. 

The focus of Team training is training under supervision, which is a key factor for improvement. We are aware that the training times are not always suitable to each team member and we try to be as accommodating as possible. Where a time is not suitable we are quite happy, where possible, to allow a team member to train with another team at a more suitable time. 

As I have set out before team training is different to individual coaching. After the usual annual discussion with the Bestuur and feedback from some of the Teams the Bestuur thought it prudent to re-iterate the purpose of Team Training. The aim is to ensure that as many league players play for as long as possible under supervision with a main focus on team building, hence regular attendance as well as guidance within certain aspects of the game to be able to perform better within current capabilities. To be effective in that role it is essential that the individual players perform the essential routines to a level that they become a natural part of their game. This is the approach that all the top players and coaches hold. It is more effective for me to supervise on a global scale from the top than trying to concentrate on one individual at a time. I have tried to incorporate a mix of me doing some routines with team members, supervising other routines and also taking individuals for short sessions.  

If team members have other ideas or opinions I am keen to listen and implement different ideas of course with the proviso that the team as a whole is a participant as opposed to individual coaching and the scheme falls within the guidelines set by the Bestuur. It would also be very helpful if Team Captains set out what the individual and team goals are for the season and discuss those with me and the Bestuur, if need be, so that we are both clear how those goals fit within the Bestuur’s mandate. 

One aspect that still needs improvement is the quality of marking, with particular reference to the rules and the interpretation of them. There is a rules corner to which I add some comment every quarter and they are worth reading and absorbing before the season restarts. 

Training can be and is designed to be repetitive as much of squash is played up and down the side walls, hence in nearly all training sessions there will be substantial time spent on the shots that are played most often, like lengths, volleys and boasts. 

The first few Team training sessions we will concentrate on building some stamina, explosive movement in the front and back of the court and getting back into the routine of hitting the ball straight up and down the walls with cones to improve accuracy. I would also like to focus a bit more this year on the conscious versus sub conscious components of playing squash whereby we will try and make shot selection and execution more of a sub conscious action than an overtly conscious one. 

I hope you all have an enjoyable and even more successful competitive season. 

Carl Koenig