18th December 2008
CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

RADAR LOVE

Apologies for last week's column being a few days late. Like most of the country, it seems, I was laid low with the flu bug. However, I am looking forward to getting on court on Christmas morning to try out the new SquashUK radar gun with my son James.

Before computers took over his life, James was a very talented tennis and squash player and can still belt the ball as hard as most people I know, so it will be an interesting challenge before we go home to enjoy a family Christmas dinner.

The radar gun enjoyed several outings during 2008, starting off with the big-hitting John White dazzling passers-by in a Canary Wharf shopping mall, challenging them to beat his speed of 140mph with a soft beginners' ball used in Mini Squash.

John was the reason we invested in the first radar gun nearly three years ago. When big-serving American Andy Roddick reached 150mph in tennis,we knew it was time to test the top squash guys, and Whitey in particular. The speed of squash ball, when struck by one of the top pros, has always been faster than the top speed in tennis, it was just that nobody in squash had bothered to do anything about it for several years. So we set up a Pro Challenge at Canary Wharf with Whitey clocking 149mph with his very first warm-up shot. The radar gun went crazy as his speeds went up and up, finally peaking at 171mph on his backhand and 172mph on his forehand.

Since then the radar gun has enjoyed regular outings and this year it visited Vienna, New York and Niagara as well as Canary Wharf and numerous squash club clinics.

My colleague Simon Scott took it over to Vienna for the Austrian Open and had lots of fun in a nearby retail mall as shoppers tried their hand at the game.

We also took it across The Pond as we headed with the London team to New York for the Derek Sword Trophy match and made a detour up to the Canadian National Championships at White Oaks, Niagara On The Lake.

It was one of the highlights of the year to see Jonathon Power come out of retirement to win the Nationals. Looking slim and sleek, he beat Shahier Razik in the final but declined to enter the Radar Gun Challenge. Shawn and Jason Delierre had a go and there was plenty of sibling rivalry on display as younger brother Jason notched up 155mph, just managing to top Shawn's best of 154mph.

Then up stepped Simon and showed everyone how to do it, clocking his favourite time of 160mph, which is pretty amazing for a Cambridgeshire League club player!

Sadly we lost one of our team players in Canada as Nick Staunton had decided to enter the Canadian Over-35s and rather inconsiderately managed to reach the final, which was played on the same day as we were in action at the New York Athletic Club.

Despite our best efforts to get him to Buffalo Airport in time to fly down to the Big Apple, it was not to be and he was last seen sinking in a pool of Peppermint Vodkas at the White Oaks bar.

None of the New York pros could beat Simon's speed, which was some consolation for losing the Derek Sword Trophy match, but it might be different when the fixture returns to Edinburgh Sports Club in the first week of May 2009.

We are planning to add an international hardball doubles challenge to the schedule and the radar gun will be kept busy as we check the speeds of the small but lethal American hardball.

Simon and I have nursed an unbeaten doubles record for some four years now, but it will be coming under severe strain when we return to Edinburgh to play on their full-sized court.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

I have enjoyed writing this column for Squash Player and I look forward to seeing you all again after the holiday. I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

11th December 2008  
HERE'S THE PROOF: STRETCHING CAN BE BAD FOR YOU!

At last, a professional study has come up with the news that many of us salad dodgers have feared for a long time: that pre-match stretching is actually BAD for you!

The proof comes in a study carried out by the University of Nevada in Las vegas, and featured in a recent article in the New York Times 'Play' magazine.

So the guys dishing out the locker-room banter, poking fun at anyone who takes his physical condition even remotely seriously, might have a point after all.

The article states: "If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm-up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since.

"Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them.

"In a recent study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all. Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent. Also, stretching one leg’s muscles can reduce strength in the other leg as well, probably because the central nervous system rebels against the movements".

Apparently the key to a successful pre-match or training routine is in doing the right warm-up exercises. The article continues: "The right warm-up should do two things: loosen muscles and tendons to increase the range of motion of various joints, and literally warm up the body. When you’re at rest, there’s less blood flow to muscles and tendons, and they stiffen. You need to make tissues and tendons compliant before beginning exercise.

"A well-designed warm-up starts by increasing body heat and blood flow.

Warm muscles and dilated blood vessels pull oxygen from the bloodstream more efficiently and use stored muscle fuel more effectively. They also withstand loads better. One significant if gruesome study found that the leg-muscle tissue of laboratory rabbits could be stretched farther before ripping if it had been electronically stimulated — that is, warmed up.

"To raise the body’s temperature, a warm-up must begin with aerobic activity, usually light jogging. Most coaches and athletes have known this for years. That’s why tennis players run around the court four or five times before a match and marathoners stride in front of the starting line. But many athletes do this portion of their warm-up too intensely or too early."

So now you know. It's a fascinating read, and here's the link to the full New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?_r=3&em&oref=slogin

Former world champion Peter Nicol is still one of our sport’s greatest ambassadors. It was an honour and a privilege to get on court with him recently in some comedy doubles as he and Tim Garner provided a day to remember for a packed-out gallery at The Mote Squash Club in Maidstone, Kent.

Peter held a superb coaching clinic for the club’s juniors and then passed on some valuable tips to the club’s senior team players.

Nicol also played a variety of club members, including BBC Radio Kent presenter Roger “Twiggy” Day.

The former pirate radio DJ looked a little seasick as Peter kept him moving from corner to corner.

When he got his breath back, Roger said: “Peter is a real gentleman and allowed me to win a few points. He did admit, however, that he had never seen a shot before like my ‘frying pan’ backhand.”

Peter and Tim delighted the audience with a stunning array of shots as they staged a hugely entertaining exhibition match, which Peter won 3-1.

Earlier, the two pros had sportingly allowed The Mote club champion Paul Adam and myself to win a few points in our doubles challenge.

After the action on court, Nicol and Garner held a fascinating question and answer forum in the club lounge.

After Nicol had described the dominance of a group of talented Egyptian players at the top of the world rankings, he was asked if he fancied coming out of retirement to take them on.

He replied instantly: “Absolutely no chance! The game of squash has evolved rapidly and, like many other sports, the guys at the top are all bigger and faster than they were in previous eras. I put my body through

14 years of torture on the world tour and it needs a rest!”

Mote chairman Dave Verga said: “It was a real honour to have two such brilliant professionals at the club. Everyone was amazed at how much time Peter and Tim spent on court giving free advice to club members and it was a wonderful experience for the juniors. Squash is thriving at The Mote and we look forward to holding similar events in the near future.”

On December 13, The Mote is staging the first of four one-day tournaments which make up the new Kent Grand Prix Series sponsored by Harrow.

Peter and Tim have joined forces to promote Prince rackets, shoes and accessories and are clearly enjoying themselves and providing brilliant entertainment as they take their Roadshow round the country. Any club who would like to host a Prince clinic with Peter and Tim is invited to contact Tim at: Tgarner@eventis-sports.com
 

27th November 2008
MARATHON MAN SHAWN 

Canadians Shawn Delierre and Shahier Razik rewrote the record books with that marathon match in the Baltimore Cup when the fourth-seeded Delierre overcame the top seed in an incredible semi-final encounter lasting two hours and 30 minutes. That's the longest-recorded squash match since the PSA world tour switched their scoring system to PAR (point-a-rally).

Considering that matches went to 15 until switching to 11 for the last two years, that's an incredible statistic.

Delierre fought back from two games down to win 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11,

11-5 and, not surprisingly, was unable to continue the giant-killing in the final and went down to Egyptian Yasser El Halaby.

Shawn is the son of squash film-maker Jean Delierre, who has launched his own mini squash dynasty to try to rival the Egyptians!

Shawn trains out of Montreal's MAA club (Jonathon Power's former club).

He works under the guidance of the Canadian national coach, Yvon Provencal, and his two brothers David (who is the MAA residing pro) and Jason, who recently joined the PSA tour fresh out of Harvard.

I caught up with the globetrotting De Lierre a few days ago and fired off some questions about that historic encounter at the Baltimore Country Club

1: Were you and Shahier aware at any stage that the match might be heading towards the record books?

A: We had no idea. We battled hard for a long time and were just pushing on through the match. For me, making a comeback, I had no attention on time. Shahier might have been thinking like 'Oh God, I've got to close this out.'

2: Coming back from two games down to beat someone ranked higher than yourself is always a great feeling. How did you pull it off?

A: With time and much belief that it was never over. I never doubted my fitness nor patience.

3: With such a long match, how were you coping physically as it extended beyoned two hours?

A: I really just waited patiently for my openings, called lets when there was no entry into corners, and played happily through the match, smiling and retrieving as well as I could.

4: Please give me a bit of detail about that fourth game and the tiebreak.

A: At 7-4 down just believe it's never over. Then the same when I was

10-7 match-ball down. I was hoping he might break, knowing it's so close to the end, and what do you know he did. I played well Of course and had a bit of luck when I needed it. But it was fun good loving positiveness kept me up.

5: What happened in the fifth?

A: Well, more and more of that. I was telling myself I was not really tired and waited for my good shots

6: How did you feel in the final the next day?

A: I would not say tired, but a little slow. I thought of Peter Nicol and gave a harder push but Yasser's style was played at an even quicker pace therefore making it tough for me to withstand.

7: How did you feel on the Monday morning?

A: Monday was nice. I got a hotel room to myself and relaxed hard. I though back on the ice bath process that could have helped for the finals day. I guess next time I'll try that.

8: When did you get back on court?

A: Tuesday. I felt the need to keep the rhythm of goodness alive in my racket.

9: You obviously have fantastic resources of stamina. Please give us some detail about your training.

A: I train really hard twice a day, usually lot of cardio and a lot of hitting the ball. It's all paying off.

10: It must be great to have your brothers David and Jason around you at your home club. How are David and Jason shaping up?

A: I love everyone at the club, such a great compository of minds.

P.S: I can't wait to see Jason rise up the rankings. It'll be nice to have him around at tournaments.
 

Thursday 20th November 2008
Pressure on Olympic bid as IOC
members seek early elimination

News emerged yesterday that the IOC is considering an early cull of many of the sports applying for Olympic status in 2016.

This is a worrying development because it could mean that five of the seven applicant sports will have their status decided for them ahead of next year's planned vote in October 2009.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board is thought to be considering putting forward a maximum of just two of the seven sports hoping to join the Olympic programme in 2016 for voting at the IOC session in Copenhagen next October.

This move will certainly accelerate the selection process and deliver an early disappointment for five of the seven applicant sports, baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby, softball and squash.

Delegates from each of the seven sports last week made presentations in Lausanne to the 16-member IOC programme commission, which will produce an influential report on each of the sports'credentials and their potential benefits to the Olympics.

Each sport was allowed a one-hour slot to deliver their arguments during the conference.

Following the huge disappointment of the voting process in Singapore in 2005, when squash thought it had been accepted but was then cruelly blocked by a further round of voting, a new formula was approved last year, meaning it will take a simple majority for a sport to be voted on to the programme. Previously, a two-thirds majority was needed.

The sports programme is fixed seven years in advance of each Olympics. The IOC has decided on a maximum of 28 sports and the same 26 sports on the London 2012 programme will also be put forward for the 2016 Games at the meeting in Copenhagen, plus the seven applicant sports. However, it is believed that all current sports will be assessed in a continual monitoring process.

The World Squash Federation bid centres on the fact that our sport is a truly global activity, with a diverse range of nationalities featured in the ranking lists for men and women.

At the professional level, the emergence of all-glass courts and improved television techniques can help to counter the game's reputation as one that is difficult to televise and with rules such as lets and strokes that are baffling to non-squash viewers.

The WSF delegation included IOC member Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia and former world champions Jahangir Khan of Pakistan and Sarah Fitzgerald of Australia.

They delivered a petition signed by many of the world's leading players and were able to tell IOC chief Jacques Rogge that an Olympic gold medal would be the ultimate accolade for any professional squash player.

The new WSF president N Ramachandran of India and his predecessor, presented a poster that was signed by competitioors during the recent World Open in Manchester.

Squash players have often felt let down by the fact that we are not an Olympic sport, and it hurts to see so-called novelty "sports" such as synchronised swimming, synchronised diving, BMX bikes and skateboarding in the programme while we are on the outside looking in.

Egyptians 1-2-3

I wrote recently about the Egyptians filling three of the four semi-final places in the World Open in Manchester, where 21-year-old Ramy Ashour removed reigning champion Amr Shabana before beating fellow countryman Karim Darwish in the final.

Now those three players have achieved an historic milestone for the sport by occupying the first three places in the latest Dunlop Super Series rankings. The surprise element is that Darwish's consistency (he won the Qatar Classic that followed the World Open) have elevated him to the number one place in the Super Series rankings, followed by Ashour and Shabana

In the November PSA list, Shabana is at one, followed by Darwish and Gregory Gaultier of France in the top three, with Ashour at four and England's James Willstrop at five. Senior pros David Palmer (Australia) and Thierry Licou (France) are still at six and seven followed by another Egyptian, Wael El Hindi, at eight.

Marathon match in Baltimore

Well, I think last week's semi-final in Baltimore finally ended some of the arguments that PAR scoring to 11 will always produce shorter matches in the men's pro game. Canadians Shawn De Lierre and Shahier Razik battled it out for two hours and 30 minutes before the lower ranked De Lierre clinched victory in the fifth, fighting back from two games down to win 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-5.

It is the longest-recorded match in squash since the PSA switched to PAR to 11. Sadly, De Lierre was unable to repeat his heroics in the final and went down in straight games to Yasser El Halaby of (you guessed it) Egypt.

Interestingly, I saw Razik and De Lierre competing in the semi-finals of the Canadian Closed at Niagara-on-the-Lake in May, when Razik emerged triumphant but fell in the final to our old friend Jonathon Power, who, looking incredibly slim, relaxed and healthy, had come out of retirement to regain the National title.

World's best squash club?

Interestingly, if you are looking for somewhere amazing to go on your summer holidays next year, and fancy including a squash theme, then Niagara-on-the-Lake is the place to go.

The White Oaks Resort is, in my opinion, the best squash set-up I have seen anywhere in the world. Two miles from Niagara Falls, the club itself has a Starbucks in reception before you get down to the ten courts, and it's all part of a superb, five-star hotel complex. No wonder the place was bursting at the seams for the Canadian Nationals, and they recently held their first WISPA Tour event.

The rackets club is managed by Mark Sachvie and his wife Cindy, whose offspring are making rapid strides in the game, with son Chris a leading light and joint-captain of the Cornell University squad. Sister Lauren also attends Cornell and represents the women's team. Younger brother Nick represented Canada in the World Junior Championships in Switzerland along with another 16-year-old from White Oaks, Arjun Gupta.

The main show court at White Oaks is one of the most unusual I have seen, with a yellow glass front wall as well a clear glass rear wall. This means that an extra bank of spectators can view the action through the front wall at close quarters.

And here's something for collectors of squash trivia. The court has a unique clear glass circle in the middle of the front wall so that photographers have to shoot their pictures standing up instead of squatting down in the front corners, trying their hardest to be unobtrusive.

Here's the website: www.whiteoaksresort.com

Go check it out. You will not be disappointed.
 

The Views And Opinions Expressed In This Column Are Not Necessarily The Views Of
Squashplayer.co.uk or Squash Player Magazine

Thursday 13th November 2008
No quarters spared
as we evaluate PAR

More interesting statistics for you this week in the great debate over PAR scoring to 11.

Historically, the quarter-finals day in most major professional tournament is the one where tickets sell out the fastest because true squash fans know they are likely to see four great matches.

It was always the case at the British Open more than a decade ago when sell-out crowds of 3,000 flocked to Wembley Conference Centre, and it's still true today where the first session to completely sell out at Canary Wharf is always the quarter-final night.

The reason those tickets sell out the quickest is because the shrewd squash afficianado knows that the quarter-final day schedule represents great value for money, with four top matches on offer.

Therefore it was interesting to see the length of the quarter-final match times in a variety of tournaments taking place last week.

Heights Casino in New York is one of my favourite clubs on the planet and last week's Carol Weymuller Open attracted most of the world's leading WISPA players. The four quarter-finals were as follows:

[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [8] Annelize Naude (NED) 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (18 mins)
[4] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 (28 mins)
[3] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt Latasha Khan (USA) 8-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (36 mins)
[2] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [7] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) 13-11, 11-7, 11-3 (24 mins)

That makes a combined total of 106 minutes, an average of less than 27 minutes per match.

In the PSA Saskatoon event, the matches were slightly longer but there were no marathons by any stretch of the imagination.

[1] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) bt [8] Andrew McDougall (CAN) 11-6, 11-1, 11-3 (30 mins)
[3] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt [5] Jesse Engelbrecht (RSA) 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 (47 mins)
[7] Nafzahizam Adnan (MAS) bt [4] Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9 (50 mins)
[2] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) bt [6] Robin Clarke (CAN) 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 (40 mins)

That's a total of 167 minutes, an average of around 42 minutes per match.

The Santiago Open quarter-finals produced a higher quality entry and the matches were on average almost 50 per cent longer, as follows:

[1] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [8] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-6, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5 (46 mins)
[4] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (37 mins)
[5] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt [3] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-7, 10-12, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9 (95 mins)
[2] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [7] Daryl Selby (ENG) 13-11, 11-4, 11-8 (67 mins)

With one contest lasting 95 minutes, that's a total court time of 245 minutes, an average match time of just over 61 minutes.

As a tournament organiser, if you could schedule four matches averaging an hour each you would be one happy bunny. Over-long matches ruin your schedule and even the most diehard squash fans will usually leave the venue before the final match is over if they have a late train to catch.

However, serving up four matches that are over quickly might result in one or two protests about value for money. And that's where we came in last week, with club players resisting the switch to PAR to 11 in many local county leagues because of the fear of being short-changed with regard to court time.

Please don't think I am being anti-PAR. In future weeks I might bore you with the details of my twice weekly training sessions with my pal Keith, after which we usually finish up with a match playing PAR to 11.

At our age, some games are over mercifully quickly. The system means that if you build a quick lead you can keep attacking and just about have the energy to hold on before tiredness overtakes you. However, if a tight game goes to the tiebreak then you might well be moving beyond your physical comfort zone.

I finish with one disturbing statistic: I heard of a county girls' match last week that was over in just four minutes flat, playing PAR to 11. That can't have been much fun for the poor child on the receiving end of such a humiliating, one-sided contest, or for the embarrassed parents who would have driven many miles to deliver their daughter to the tournament.

Perhaps the problem lies not so much with the scoring system but with the fact that there are so few girls playing squash nowadays that in many parts of the UK any girl who can pick up a squash racket is automatically thrust straight into a county junior team.

I will continue to monitor the response to this situation and look forward to receiving the views of our readers.

Please email me at alan@squashuk.com

 

The Views And Opinions Expressed In This Column Are Not Necessarily The Views Of
Squashplayer.co.uk or Squash Player Magazine

Thursday 5th November 2008
DAZZLING EGYPTIANS SHOW
A NEW WAY TO PLAY THE GAME
Commentating on the World Open Championships, Chris Robertson and I were agog at the way Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana began their semi-final match.

Each one came out attacking straight from the off and the ball hardly got to the back of the court as a succession of drops and boasts ensued.

We were witnessing a very different way of playing the game. The usual rules of engagement were simply ignored. Instead of spending the opening phase of the match hitting the ball to the back corners, which is the norm in most PSA matches as players get a feel for both the ball and the court, these two amazing Egyptians simply went on the offensive, firing in dazzling winners at will.

It was a phenomenal encounter and rated by many seasoned observers as one of the best squash matches in the history of our sport. Shabana knows that he blew it in the fourth game, putting four forehands in the tin. Ultimately, the 21-year-old Ramy went on to win the match and then the title by beating another Egyptian, Karim Darwish, in the final. He followed in the footsteps of the mighty Jansher Khan by adding the senior World Open to the World Junior Championship.

The tournament in Manchester was a perfect illustration of why Egypt now has such a stranglehold on the men's game. Not only did Egypt provide three semi-finalists, there were eight Egyptians in the top half of the draw alone with three in the bottom section.

The current junior world champion, Mohammed El Shorbagy, also achieved a remarkable triumph, removing former world champion Thierry Lincou in the second round. The result, 13-11 in the fifth game, and the length of the match (more than 80 minutes) show the incredible maturity of this amazing 17-year-old who is honing his professional career under the watchful eye of Jonah Barrington at Millfield.

The best British performance was undoubtedly Adrian Grant's victory over No.2 seed Gregory Gaultier but the biggest disappointment was by James Willstrop as he failed to take advantage of Gaultier's exit. Darwish beat Grant in the quarter-finals but Willstrop succumbed again to David Palmer
before the powerful Australian fell to Darwish in the semis.

No doubt Willstrop will have been kicking himself for a missed opportunity, especially after Peter Barker's two immense victories over Palmer on American soil at the start of the season, in Chicago and Baltimore. Willstrop will now be licking his wounds and trying to work out strategies, with his father Malcolm and English national coach David Pearson, of how to deal with Egypt's dominance of the game. Palmer won't be around for much longer, but this group of Egyptians certainly will be.

Darwish followed up his appearance in the World Open final by winning the Qatar Classic, which hoisted him to a career-best position of No.2 in the PSA rankings. New world champion Ashour found it impossible to repeat his Manchester success and he suffered an ankle injury as he lost in the quarter-finals to Lincou, who then went out to Shabana in the semis.

Nick Matthew produced an excellent result to beat Palmer in a marathon match lasting 111 minutes, but then fell to Darwish, who had already removed Gaultier 3-2. Darwish beat Matthew in the semis and destroyed Shabana in straight games in a one-sided final lasting just 27 minutes.

This was three minute shorter than the women's final, in which Nicol David followed her Manchester triumph against Vicky Botwright by beating Dutch Australian Natalie Grinham.

While David clearly dominates the women's world tour, the men's game is a melting pot with mainly Egyptian ingredients.


CLUB PLAYERS REJECT PAR

My article last week about point-a-rally (PAR) scoring produced several responses from club players who are clearly unhappy about plans to impose it at all levels of the game.

One reader, Steve Snellgrove from Kent, wrote in to offer the following valid observations:

This debate will continue to rage on until someone is courageous enough to impose one or the other type of scoring. Once this is done then the problems of game length and game quality can be addressed such as PAR to 11 or 15 or whatever is decided.

Having played club team squash at the lower levels my preference is with the Hand-in/hand-out system of traditional scoring as the ability to make a comeback is always possible with a few mistakes along the way. This you can’t do with PAR as you are punished for every mistake. That’s fine if you are so good you can make a living at it, but for those of us who go to the club for a bit of physical exercise and to forget the days' stresses two, three or four times a week, a close fought 3-2 match has become nothing of the sort with PAR. You can find yourself playing anything from eight or more games within a 40-minute session.

If it were possible to organise an official referendum for all UK members I feel a large majority would prefer to stick with Hand-in/hand-out. After all, squash has always been regarded as the most all-round demanding of the racket sports, requiring physical stamina, mental stamina and the racket skills to out smart your opponent in a confined space.

PAR only really produces this at the higher levels from what I have seen. As an example I watched my club's first team win 5 – 0 last night in the Outer Kent League Division 1 using the Hand-in/hand-out scoring. All the matches were finished fairly quickly, by 9:45pm from a 7:30 start, and having watched most of the matches if it had been PAR I’m sure it would have been over even earlier, which would make some of the evenings very short with a lot of travelling in between. To encourage people into squash, and to want to play team squash, these evenings should be about a good night out with a few laughs and a couple drinks and something to eat afterwards with your opponents, not a really short match where every error made contributed immediately towards your downfall.

I have no doubt there are plenty opinions for exactly the opposite, hence the huge debate. But at the end of the day is anyone going to be brave enough to make a final decision and say squash will use this scoring system and this one only?




SQUASH ON TV IN THE UK
Forthcoming PSA events on the SKy Sports channel:

World Open 1 18/11/08 19:00 Sky Sports Xtra
World Open 2 18/11/08 20:00 Sky Sports Xtra
World Open 1 19/11/08 02:00 Sky Sports 3
World Open 2 19/11/08 03:00 Sky Sports 3
World Open 1 20/11/08 09:00 Sky Sports Xtra
World Open 2 20/11/08 10:00 Sky Sports Xtra


Qatar Classic 1 07/12/08 07:00 Sky Sports 3
Qatar Classic 2 07/12/08 08:00 Sky Sports 3
Qatar Classic 1 07/12/08 14:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Qatar Classic 2 07/12/08 15:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Qatar Classic 1 08/12/08 04:00 Sky Sports 3
Qatar Classic 2 08/12/08 05:00 Sky Sports 3
Qatar Classic 1 08/12/08 08:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Qatar Classic 2 08/12/08 09:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Qatar Classic 1 08/12/08 17:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Qatar Classic 2 08/12/08 18:00 Sky Sports Xtra


Cathay Pacific Open 1 28/12/08 06:00 Sky Sports 3
Cathay Pacific Open 2 28/12/08 07:00 Sky Sports 3
Cathay Pacific Open 1 28/12/08 14:30 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 2 28/12/08 15:30 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 1 28/12/08 19:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 2 28/12/08 20:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 1 29/12/08 01:30 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 2 29/12/08 02:30 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 1 29/12/08 09:00 Sky Sports 3
Cathay Pacific Open 2 29/12/08 10:00 Sky Sports 3
Cathay Pacific Open 1 29/12/08 13:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Cathay Pacific Open 2 29/12/08 14:00 Sky Sports Xtra


Saudi International 1 20/01/09 20:00 Sky Sports 2
Saudi International 2 20/01/09 21:00 Sky Sports 2
Saudi International 1 20/01/09 24:00 Sky Sports 3
Saudi International 2 20/01/09 25:00 Sky Sports 3
Saudi International 1 21/01/09 09:00 Sky Sports 3
Saudi International 2 21/01/09 10:00 Sky Sports 3
Saudi International 1 21/01/09 15:00 Sky Sports 2
Saudi International 2 21/01/09 16:00 Sky Sports 2
Saudi International 1 25/01/09 08:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Saudi International 2 25/01/09 09:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Saudi International 1 25/01/09 13:00 Sky Sports Xtra
Saudi International 2 25/01/09 14:00 Sky Sports Xtra

 

The Views And Opinions Expressed In This Column Are Not Necessarily The Views Of
Squashplayer.co.uk or Squash Player Magazine

Thursday 30th October 2008
THE GREAT SCORING DEBATE RAGES ON

The debate on scoring continues to dominate debate at the club bar. This has to be a good thing, because from my experience of inhabiting club bars for more years than I care to remember, I can tell you that most squash players spend more time talking about their favourite football teams than their favourite squash players. This is not a good thing, because it means that the sport is failing to promote itself to its own target audience, the club player.

The heartbeat of most squash clubs in the UK is to be found in the team players, and they probably spend more time at the club bar than anyone else, especially after inter-club matches.

So, in the interest of research, I have spent a little time at the bar recently listening to these discussions unfold.

Several players at the top level were keen to see PAR scoring introduced to avoid over-long matches and late finishes which denied them any time in the bar at all!

Lower down the scale is where the resistance is being felt. Some players are simply averse to change and love the scoring system the way it is.
They simply see no good reason to change.

However, the biggest factor to emerge from my discussions is that most squash players have a fear that they will be LOSING something if they switch to PAR to 11.

Whether this is true or not requires careful and prolonged research.
Stated simply, squash players always want value for money, and that desire extends from getting the best possible deals on rackets, shoes and clothing to their playing time on court. The biggest fear is that by adopting PAR to 11 they will have shorter matches, and that somehow they risk being cheated out of a major part of their competitive framework.

Squash players are often conservative and cautious and so they are simply not willing to take the risk, as they see it, of devaluing their match experience.

It's a bit like their time at the bar. They don't want to be served a short measure as they enjoy their post-match pint.


CHINESE WISPAS

WISPA, the organisers of the women's world tour, recently decided to
switch their scoring system to PAR to 11 (and called it Pro Scoring) and
the official line is one of success.

The World Open showed at the highest level that the new system can
produce matches of longevity containing extended periods of high drama.

However, in the new tournament in China the following week we saw some
rather short matches.

In Manchester, the match between Omneya Abdel Kawy and Laura Lengthorn
Massaro lasted 85 minutes largely because of two pehenomenal tiebreaks
in the opening two games, the first falling 23-21 to Laura and the
second 19-17 to Omneya.

The tiebreak is a feature of the new PAR system that is frequently
overlooked in debates and quite clearly when it does occur it produces,
as here, an extended phase of enhanced excitement with a succession of
crisis points.

This one match lasted longer than all four women's quarter-finals in the
recent China Open in Shanghai. The four contests were timed at 22, 11,
23 and 15 minutes respectively, although there is some confusion about
whether the referees had logged the actual playing time and not included
the breaks between games.

Using the analogy of value for money, I am not sure that that particular
programme of matches would deliver.

When WISPA made their move, president Natalie Grainger said:
"Pro-Scoring has been very enthusiastically received at our trial events
so I am excited that we have made the change. It will take our players a
short while to adapt to the different structure of games but I have no
doubt whatsoever that this is another forward step for women’s
international squash."

However, since the scoring system was adopted world number one Nicol
David and her coach Liz Irving have both made solid protests about it.

Andrew Shelley, chief executive of WISPA, emailed from Doha with the
following comments: "As for Pro-Scoring, here is what I wrote in the
WISPA Members Bulletin a few weeks ago:

'It is now six weeks since the CIMB Malaysian Open became the inaugural
WISPA Tour event to use Pro-Scoring (i.e. PAR to 11). The fact that it
is not a major topic for discussion any more is indicative of how smooth
the transition to it has been. Of course some members are still only now
playing it for the first time as they enter events and having to adjust
their approach but with them having watched so many men’s matches with
it being used, and with referees also familiar with marking it, smooth
is the word.

"Little has changed since then, with players becoming more and more used
to it. Of course it changes the dynamics and players cannot afford to
switch off for a few points, but you reach a point quite rapidly when
the system becomes so ingrained that you struggle to remember any other
way.

"You may well recall when the sport moved from two serves to just one.
Losing the second serve was thought by some to signal the end of squash
as a viable sport. After six weeks it was not mentioned again; after six
months the second serve was not remembered at all.

"While this is different as our change to Pro-Scoring was effected for
the international women's game as opposed to the sport as a whole, there
is not doubt that that it provides an effective formula for those who
watch the pros on site or on TV."



RESISTANCE AT LOCAL LEVEL

As chairman of the Kent SRA, I can tell you that our county AGM agreed
to put forward the motion by England Squash that all competitions should
switch to PAR to 11.

Because Kent is such a wide county, we have two leagues, the Priory for
the South-East London region and the Outer Kent League for the rest of
the county. Each one has an independent management committee.

The Outer Kent and the Priory men decided to stay with traditional
scoring, as did the Kent Junior League, while the Priory women decided
to try PAR to 15. Nobody wanted PAR to 11.

The Junior League committee made their decision after a number of
ten-minute matches in the County Closed competition, in which PAR to 11
was adopted. This was followed by a recent junior county girls weekend
at Guildford in which one match was over in seven minutes flat.

Other county leagues report a similar response, with most of those I
contacted this week confirming that they had decided to stick with
traditional scoring.


SEEKING SOLUTIONS

With this movement to persuade all levels of the game to adopt an
identical scoring system to the PSA men's world tour, my biggest fear is
that we will see a number of committees being formed to impose methods
of artificially extending the playing time for those below the elite level.

I am certainly looking forward to the debate at the England Squash AGM.


FEEDBACK FROM PLAYERS AND OFFICIALS

Tania Loughran, who plays in the Middlesex Women's League for Fitness
First Monument, says:

The Middlesex Leagues are using English scoring to 9. English scoring to
9 is my personal preference. Maybe Par scoring to 15 is a good
alternative, but I feel par scoring to 11 can make for a quick match,
with less leeway in general for a player to come back in a game.

I understand the need for time-boxing matches for recording, and have
seen some good competitive Par 11 matches. However, when the players are
slightly less matched in level I think the match can be a little short,
which can be disappointing for ticket holders, and possibly players too.

This is my impression, though I'd like to see some stastics on this, for
match duration etc. It would also be interesting to hear other
viewpoints from players of all levels.

In particular, there is only one ladies division in the Middlesex
leagues, which encompasses a wide range of levels. If this were to be
played as par 11 matches I think some matches may be too short.


YOUR VIEWS:

Please email your views to alan@squashuk.com

The Views And Opinions Expressed In This Column Are Not Necessarily The Views Of
Squashplayer.co.uk or Squash Player Magazine