Summer Junior Camp
Summer Junior Camp
13 Oct 2021
This was the summer of squash! Over the span of 5 weeks, we practiced for 2 hours a day. We coached 125 students in total with up to 30 kids on any given day. Our oldest students were energetic and enthusiastic 14 year olds, while our littlest munchkins were as young as 4 years old. Some of these students may end up being future junior elites, but for the camp, most were complete beginners, so our goal was to expose them to the basic skills of squash, and most importantly, teach them to love the game and have fun. Throughout the summer camp, we drilled forehand and backhand drives, cross courts, boasts, drops, volleys and serves. We also played fun games like tag and dodgeball, and improved fitness through court ghosting and relay races. The most popular game among students and coaches was probably Tic Tac Toe, because it is competitive and forces students to think critically while running and working together as a team. We put special emphasis on teaching serves so that the students would be able to play matches. Every Friday, we summarised what we learned that week and hosted a massive round robin for all the students so that they would be able to implement what they learned and see where they match up with their friends.
All the students improved tremendously. For the coaches, Fridays were the best days because we got to see students fulfill their potential by putting their lessons to the test in matches. Over the past month, since the end of the summer camp, I have run into a few students at the Club who are continuing to play squash and passionately improving their skills. Beyond their squash skills, we got to see students become more confident, independent, and mature, and make new friends. As coaches, we were also able to improve our skills by working together, learning new coaching techniques, and being exposed to differ- ent ability levels of students.
From all the coaches to the parents: thank you for putting your trust in us. To all the students: great job and keep playing! We hope that you enjoyed the summer camp as much as we did and that you will sign up for more coaching in the fall. See you on court!
Tim Calder