In squash - The Podcast

Personal favorite of mine, Shahid Zaman hit my radar back in 2002 at the Busan Asian Games where I witnessed his epic 5 set battle against eventual gold medalist Ong Beng Hee. Shahid's passion for the game was contagious then, and it's equally if not more contagious now in his coaching career. From squash royalty (nephew of Qamar Zaman), Shahid had an impressive PSA career which saw him reach the top 15 in the world and collect a number of PSA titles. His squash story is unique and his passion for the game is unwavering.

2019 Canary Wharf Media Member Squash Champion and writer for Squash Player Magazine, Mike Dale takes us into the backstory of "Don't Turn a Blind Eye" (http://www.squashplayer.co.uk/es_newspage2.asp?Key=1886) where he lost vision in his right eye on the squash court after accidentally being struck with the ball. Mike soldiered on, continuing his passion for the game which ultimately led to winning last year's Media Member division at Canary Wharf. We talk about his title defense, the use of eye protection at all levels of the game and the Windy City Open post match interview controversies.

2020 Tournament of Champions winner, 11 X French National and European Team Championship winner are just a few of the 2019/20 accolades that Camille Serme has recently placed on her mantel. Currently ranked 3 in the world, her upward trajectory is heading towards the world's #1 spot, and that's exactly where her sites are set.

Squash Stories has grown into a community that squash has embraced; it's almost akin to joining your friends at the bar or for a bite after a match and talking squash and anything revolving around our great game. Behind this...Jamie Maddox. Jamie and I catch up while watching the Fallows-Waller British Nationals quarter final, and it's a great laugh, mostly at our own expense. Seriously though, we talk the evolution of Squash Stories, his love for the Shorbagy brothers, officiating, the pro game, the Ehsan phenomenon and masters squash.

Former world number 6 and multi-time French national, Mathieu Castagnet still has plenty left in the tank at the game's highest level. Mathieu has wins over several world #1s including the likes of Ali Farag, Mohamed El Shorbagy and Nick Matthew, and he's got his sites set moving back up the PSA rankings. Mathieu talks about his game, his break through events, the French General, the current state of French squash and the Selby/Castagnet squash Gif that has gone viral.

Pro squash officiating must be right up there with the most challenging officiating gigs in pro sport. John Massarella is without question the game's go to official, and he attributes his rise as the game's top official to a passion for it that he acquired early on. John provides a masterclass breakdown on a number of topics in this great chat including the movement towards a more free-flowing, let-free game which has resulted in recent "changes" in decisions on lets and strokes. He also gets into what it takes to referee under pressure at the highest levels and much more.

United States Olympic Committee National Coach of the Year Alex Stait humbly picked up this impressive piece of hardware at this year's US Open, but as understated as he may sound the honor is very well deserved. Coaching America's unheralded 2018 boys to a bronze medal finish at the World junior teams was nothing less than impressive, and he's had great success with Agnes Irwin high school girls who are currently ranked 2 in the nation. Alex's budding pro career ended far too soon at the age of 25, but he quickly parlayed that into what's obviously turned out to be a hugely successful coaching career. Great chatting with Alex about all of this along with his foray into the popular US pro doubles squash scene.

US squash collegiate and pro game standout Gilly Lane had a prolific playing career, and he's managed to parlay that into a very successful coaching career on the US varsity squash scene with the Penn Quakers. Gilly's squash story is one of passion, hard-work, perseverance and ultimately success; we can all learn a lot from Gilly's story in terms of how to go about reaching our potential as players and thereafter passing on that knowledge to the next generation.

The PSA and Squash TV can only be delighted having Aisling Blake as a mainstay on their squash commentary these days. Former Irish National Champion, European Team Championship runner-up for Ireland and World #21, Aisling adds incredible color and expertise to the already talented Squash TV cast of characters. Aisling's story is brimmed with experiences that we can all learn from as squash players, including a heartfelt look back at her Irish National Championship in 2013 and what it was like to be a part of the Nicol David and Liz Irving team in Amsterdam.

Academic research on the performance of squash's elite players is about as common as finding squash reporting in the mainstream media; limited at best. Neil Gibson's research entitled "Physical Preparation for Elite Level Squash Players", is a sight for sore eyes and breathes new life into how we go about our training, particularly with respect to the high intensity, 80-90% of max heart rate that comes with playing squash at an elite level. Neil does a great job of laying this out for us and giving the competitive player something to chew on in terms tweaking our training in 2020.