Four Coaches from South Africa – Graham Prior, Alan Stapleton, Liz Mackenzie and Maryna Fourie – will attend the WSF Coaching Conference in Krakow, Poland from 25th-28th June.
Coaches submitted CV’s and then according to the following criteria the results were weighted : Ability to create a return for coaching in SA (90%) : Level of Coaching experience (80%): Level of Players being Coached (70%): Level of Qualification (if not level 1 or 2 =0) (60%): City Location (Area of influence of the coach(60%) : Coach’s investment in Own Development (50%): Relevance of attendance to Coach (50%): Organisational /Administrative Involvement (25%).
Chris Hewitson, the Coaching sub-committee convenor, consolidated the results as allocated by the members of the coaching sub-committee.
Graham Prior, who originally hails from the then Rhodesia, was National Coach for that country for 14 years: he was South African National Coach for 4 years: he coached in Alberta, Canada for 2 years. Graham wrote South Africa’s Squash Organiser, Level 1 and Level 2 manuals.
He attended the WSF Coaching Conference in Sweden in 2006. Graham has also attended the 3 coaching conferences hosted by SASCOC .
A member of the coaching sub-committee, Graham is very involved in coach education, having presented a number of Squash Organiser and Level 1 courses: made presentations at national coaching workshops, he was one of the presenters at the 2013 Level 2 course which had 37 delegates. Graham is responsible for the Central Gauteng High Performance Programme .
He is completing the final stage of a MSc degree in High Performance Coaching through the University of Queensland.
Born in Zimbabwe, Alan Stapleton has been active in coaching circles in the Eastern Cape and nationally. While teaching, he was the Master in charge of squash at Grey College for more than a decade , having a strong influence on many junior and senior Eastern Province players. Alan has also been heavily involved in coach education presenting various courses in the Eastern Cape and Western Province. Alan has also contributed at provincial, national workshops and the Level 2 course in 2013 . Alan initiated a Fast Track league system for the players knocking on Jarvis Cup selection ( there is coaching assistance and video analysis with progress being monitored throughout the year).
Alan is presently chair of Eastern Province Squash: previously chaired Eastern Province Schools and S A Schools committee: been Tournament Director for 4 Jarvis/Kaplan Cups held in Port Elizabeth. He serves on the Coaching sub –committee . Alan writes a monthly squash column for Sport Elizabeth.
Liz Mackenzie, like Graham and Alan is also a Level 2 coach.
A full time coach and administrator , her job description encompasses all aspects of the game – coaching from young beginner to senior level : club administration, tournament organisation, managing the TUKS Club as well as programme organisation for the BSport Science Hons students.
The World of Squash junior programme has approximately 150 juniors registered, ranging from a beginner level through to provincial and national level including 7 players : 2 under 19 girls: 2 under 16 girls: 2 under 16 boys and 1 under 14 girl who were ranked in the top 10 of their age-group at the S A Schools Closed in March 2014.
TUKS was USSA winners for 7 years in a row until 2013. Senade Haupt started as a beginner and was selected for the senior national women’s team: Wian Louwrens Thoboki Mohohlo, Robyn Baptiste and Makgosi Peloakgosi were selected for the national junior sides.
Many of the players on the Menlo Park Academy programme have attained provincial colours as have those on the TuksSquash programme.
As the Academy Head Coach, Liz is in daily contact with Sport Scientists and Biokineticists. Liz organises an annual High Performance Training camp attended by 40 juniors from all over South Africa.
She organises the annual TuksSquash and Menlo Park Open tournaments.
As Head of the B Sport Science Honours programme, it is her responsibility to ensure that the students get the correct exposure to various players at all levels and within all age groups so as to complete the practical assignment requirements of the year.
Liz has attended, mostly at her own personal expense, WSF conferences in Australia, Egypt, Sweden and Hong Kong.
Maryna Fourie is a full time coach in the North Gauteng area where she has run Centurion Junior Squash for the past 12 years. Currently, together with 9 assistant coaches, Maryna is involved in coaching 192 pre-school, primary and high school players from 13 schools in the Centurion area.
According to the Northerns junior ladder of 9 May , 69 of their players are active in the Northerns Junior Squash Association ladder.
Maryna is also involved in hosting clinics and social Saturdays with Eeersterus Junior Squash Club and Entheos School.
Maryna attended the WSF Coaching Conference in Hong Kong at her own expense.
The programme for the 2014 Conference with the theme “From talent to Excellence” is varied and extensive. The various sessions chaired by Heather Deayton, Major Maniam, Michael Khan, Maciej Klis, and Ronny Vlassaks cover topics ranging from the “ State of Squash”, How to recruit and retain players”, “Creating a players’ environment”, “ Biomechanics in Practice” – in fact 19 topics in 4 days.
On their return the coaches will submit notes on the presentations. These will be disseminated to coaches and provinces in the country. The information will also be used in various workshops.
Hi sir I’m the squash coach working in dubai if u have to need squash coach so I’m ready fore hard work.
Hi sir I was national and international player and squash coach 10 years experience and I still a job in pakistan.i am Asian level two coach.I need job in your country.thank you