I’m Oliver Coulcher-Porter, I play in the u15 and live in England. After the lockdown, I was wary that I needed to have a solid programme in place to get back to my original standard before the lockdown.
That is when I found the Return To Court programme. Having also completed the fitness version of this I had high expectations. Now I have finished I realise it blew my expectations out of the water.
The programme started with an initial introductory call and explanation of what the format and the way it was going to be run was like.
The call was a great way to meet everyone and ask any questions relating to the training club or squash in general. The weekly sessions are placed on a homepage where you can see them, download a pdf and watch videos on certain techniques. The sessions in week 1 covered freestyle solo practice to get used to being back on court. It also included an endurance edge to it to get used to the fitness demands of squash and some basic drills to regain the accuracy after being away for such a long time.
I was surprised how rusty my shots were but by the end of the week I was much more accurate than I was previously.
The second week was testing combined with some harder endurance work. The endurance was a bit of a shock to the system but really helped improve my squash fitness for the return to the court. The testing was a great way to measure the accuracy which had been lost and the weaknesses which needed to be addressed. I especially found my volley drops on the backhand were weaker but through the testing, I recognised it and was able to work on it. It was all recorded on an online training diary where you could measure where your weaknesses were and highlight those areas that could be improved. The diary also allows you to keep a track of those sessions you have completed in the six weeks.
The following week included the mid-course call with Jesse; I found this very interesting as it discussed how effective solo practise is and what the aims of the sessions were. It gave me an insight firstly into how they help the return to the court but also how useful the sessions are to take forward and use in future training.
The programme also included a call with Gary which really dug down into the depths of fitness training for squash and especially how to use fitness for the return to the court. The weeks up to this point had focused on different aspects of the fitness side so it was really beneficial for everyone in the group to learn the purpose behind some of the training, the reasons for doing it and it’s relevance to squash.
The last week was again retesting to see the improvements the training had done. My results had improved significantly. It finished with a call with Jesse finalising the training club and the chance to ask any questions or queries about squash. It was a great way to finish and everyone left on a high note.
One nice addition was that the calls were recorded for the other participants who could not make the call. However, I think the best part of the training club was the chat where everyone motivated each other and asked questions.
I left the Training Club with a mass of knowledge and lots of solo sessions and pairs sessions which I could take forward into my future training. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for professionally constructed squash sessions for the return to the court but also for people who want to add solo practice as an element to their training.
Oliver Coulcher-Porter
SquashSkills Training Club participant
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