Stafford Murray - Science of Sport: Squash

First published in 2016 by
The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

Stafford Murray 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 180 2

Acknowledgements

Stafford and the editing team would sincerely like to thank the following people: all the chapter authors who have given their time, effort and expertise to help make this book the first to pull together the various disciplines of sports science deployed in squash; the expert coaches that have willingly shared their incredible knowledge and insight, bringing this book to life from a pedagogical aspect and helping us all to look at sports science in a different way; the fantastic players that gave their valuable time to be interviewed, adding a player-focused dimension to the book that is unique within sports science texts; Peter Nicol MBE and Jonah Barrington for giving up their time and offering their kind and insightful words within the forewords; and Steve Cubbins and Tommy Berden for their help and work on the pictures. Steve Cubbins (SquashSite) provided all the photographs with the exception of Fig. 10.34 (Sarah Murray).

Stafford would personally like to thank his wife Sarah, son Bowdon and mum Lynda for being so helpful and patient with him during the pulling together of this book; he promises not to do another one anytime soon! He would also like to express his heartfelt gratitude to his Mum, Brother, Nan and Grandad for giving him the inspiration and capability to complete this project.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Stafford Murray (Editor-in-Chief) is a Performance Lead at the English Institute of Sport helping to coordinate the sports science delivery to five key Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic Sports. For thirteen years prior to this he was Head of Performance Analysis, Skill Acquisition and Biomechanics again at the English Institute of Sport. As a sports science practitioner he has worked as a consultant with over fifteen international and professional sports teams (including the Lawn Tennis Association, English Cricket Board, South African Cricket, McLaren F1, and Welsh Rugby) and to date has presented at forty-one international conferences (sixteen world congresses). He has published over thirty papers, (as well as seven book chapters) on both the technical and tactical analysis of squash. From 1998 to 2013 he was the head Performance Analyst for the England Squash Team, working with multiple World Individual and Teams Champions during his tenure. Between 2007 and 2010 he was the England Squash senior team manager culminating in being team leader at the Commonwealth Games Team in Delhi 2010, where England topped the squash medal table for the first time in the CWG history. He has post-graduate qualifications in Research Methods and Sports Performance Analysis/Coaching Science. As a junior squash player he was British No.1 and an England International.

Mike (M.D.) Hughes (Associate Editor) is Emeritus Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at Cardiff Metropolitan University, and a Visiting Professor at Middlesex University; Nottingham Trent University; OvG, Magdeburg, Germany; Zagreb, Croatia; WHU, Hungary; University of California, Berkeley, USA; UPM, Malaysia; Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia and the Institute of Technology Carlow, Eire. He was founder and is now President of ISPAS (International Society of Performance Analysis of Sport). As a squash coach he has produced players that have reached a World Top 30 ranking and successfully coached the British Universities Team to win the World Student Games in 2000 and 2002.

Nic James (Assistant Editor) is Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at Middlesex University, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. He is Chair of the International Society of Performance Analysis of Sport, a Member of the Coordination Council for the International Network of Sport and Health Science and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has represented Wales at senior level and was one of the national junior coaches for over ten years.

Goran Vukovi (Assistant Editor) is an associate professor in the faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is a member of the basketball and racket sports department and works with students on different study programmes such as sport coaching and physical education. As an athlete he was national champion (former Yugoslavia) in high jump, played professional basketball in the Slovenian Premier League and was national squash champion in 1995, 1998 and 1999. He is consultant coach and scientist for the junior national female basketball team and coaches the top Slovenian squash players. His research work is focused on performance analysis and motion analysis of athletes in different sports, with a special interest in racket and team sports.

Sports science has undoubtedly played a huge part in the development of all successful athletes and I attribute much of my success to the advances made in this area. Squash is one of the most physically demanding sports with all players looking for marginal gains. Stafford and his colleagues have been at the forefront of this development and they certainly played a major role in my success.

Lee Beachill, Former World Number 1 and 2 x Commonwealth Gold Medallist

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Edward M. Winter is Professor of the Physiology of Exercise at Sheffield Hallam University. He trained in Physical Education at Loughborough and took his BEd, MSc and PhD from that University. In 2011 he became one of only five sport and exercise scientists in the United Kingdom who hold a DSc, awarded to him by the University of Bedfordshire for his contributions to the study of the physiology of exercise. He has taught, researched and provided consultancy in exercise physiology for forty-one years. In 1985 he co-authored the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences criteria for the accreditation of physiology laboratories and personnel (and those criteria remain in use). In 2013 he led the Associations successful application for admission to the Science Council. On behalf of the Council, by dint of its accreditation scheme, BASES is allowed to award Chartered Scientist status to accredited members and Edward was one of the first recipients.

Mark Campbell works for the English Institute of Sport and is the Lead Strength and Conditioning coach for the Sheffield region. He delivers strength and conditioning service to the GB Boxing squad and in his capacity working as a multisport practitioner has delivered the physical preparation programmes for Nick Matthew and James Willstrop for a number of years as well as working with many other national- and international-level squash players. Before coming to the UK in 2007 he worked in professional rugby union in New Zealand with the Highlanders super rugby team based in Dunedin. He attended Otago University in Dunedin, gaining a Bachelors and Masters degree in Physical Education.

Keith Barker is a Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach with the English Institute of Sport, a National Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach for England Squash, and a UK Strength and Conditioning Association Accredited Coach, Tutor and Assessor. With a background in physical education and sport and exercise science, he has built an extensive track record of leading and delivering effective strength and conditioning programmes for elite athletes. Prior to leading the successful England Squash Strength and Conditioning programme, he worked as a Head S and C coach in professional rugby union and rugby league.