England Squash & Racketball ran a pair of ‘Coaching’ Roadshows on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st at Luton & Dunstable Squash Club and Woodford Wells Squash Club respectively.
A junior morning was supplemented by an afternoon of adult coaching and activities, both squash and racketball, culminating in an observed coaching session with World No.47, Adrian Waller.
Elite Coach Development Manager, Paul Carter, ran several coaching activities over the weekend including putting both sets of club team players and Adrian Waller through their paces. Gayle Pink, Head of Coach Education was also on hand to run a coach workshop and one of ESR’s brand new initiatives, Squashercise, which proved to be very popular.
Adam Fuller, the East Region’s Lead Coach was in attendance at Luton & Dunstable to run a combined County Coaching session of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire juniors.
At Woodford Wells people had the chance to ‘challenge the pro’, whilst at Luton & Dunstable Squash Club the crowd were treated to a match between Adrian Waller and Adam Fuller.
Both days were extremely well attended and received with over 100 people at Luton alone, the most ever seen at the club. Woodford Wells saw over 70 people involved throughout the day. The biggest positive was the number of juniors in the morning as the club does not currently have a junior section.
Paul Main, Luton & Dunstable Chairman, said: “I thought it was a terrific event and it is the most people I have ever seen at the club in my time. Everyone I spoke to from youngest to oldest had only good things to say”.
Marc Thornley, Woodford Wells Chairman, said: “Woodford Wells would like to thank ESR for holding the roadshow at the club. It was a very successful event and I have received lots of positive feedback from all those involved. Hopefully it will act as catalyst to start new things at the club, such as restarting our junior section”.
Mark Williams, Senior Regional Manager, said: “I’d like to thank Active Luton, who own the Lewsey Sports Park site, Luton & Dunstable Squash Club and Woodford Wells Squash Club for this weekend. Both days proved to be a success. We are going to try and learn from the experiences of these two and try to run more roadshows nationally”.