BSRA Junior Programme

Squash is a sport for life. And it's good for you, having been voted the healthiest sport in the world by Forbes magazine.

As in the Caribbean countries against which we compete, we have a strong and thriving veteran presence at the BSRA. Better training methods, better diet, better medical and physio treatments mean we are able to compete for longer, albeit with the help of the occasional knee or elbow brace, or liberal applications of vile-smelling muscle rub. But let's face it, squash is a sport played best by young people. At the highest levels few compete past their early thirties.

A big part of the BSRA's focus then is to introduce young people to the sport, to encourage them, to teach them how to play, and to provide them with appropriate competitive opportunities. It would be nice if they all turned out like James Willstrop, former world junior champion and world number 2 at the age of 22, but in the twenty-plus years that the Junior Programme has been in existence, we have produced only two professional players, Nick Kyme and James Stout. Still, for an island and an association of our size, it is an accomplishment of which we're proud.

We're just as proud of the youngsters who stick with the sport until they leave the island for college, and when they come back to Bermuda years later, resume playing. It is very satisfying for a coach to have been associated with players like that: it is one way we measure success.

Most youngsters take up the sport because their mother or father plays, and in most clubs around the world the junior section is run by interested parents. As Patrick Foster, who is charged with grassroots development of our juniors, says: 'The club where I first played had a big junior section, and it was run entirely by parents. In fact the only children who played were children of members. We had fantastic support from the parents. You could always count on someone to help.'

Twenty-eight-year-old Foster joined the BSRA in February 2005. A former PSA member from 1999 through 2002, he won the Hi-Tec Czech Open and reached a career-high ranking of 69. He represented Ireland more than 50 times in European and World team competitions between 1997 and 2004. As a successful player who came through the junior ranks - he was county champion at U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-19 - Foster, who works with Director of Squash Ross Triffitt, is well-placed to develop our aspiring youngsters.

Foster is particularly impressed with the BSRA's schools programme: since the early nineties, the Association has offered free coaching to schoolchildren during school hours, as an alternative to other P.E. activities. This presents a great opportunity for youngsters whose parents might not know what squash is, much less play the sport, to take up the game.

His face lights up as he reflects on the inter-schools tournament held recently. 'We had 11 teams from 5 schools, some 75 children. For many of the parents, it was the first time they had been exposed to squash. They were so impressed with both the quality of play and the opportunities that the BSRA and the sport offer to juniors of all standards. Still, one of our big challenges is to get the players in the schools programme to transfer over to the Saturday and after-school sessions, and hopefully expand some of those sessions.'

Outside of the schools programme, there are national squad sessions on weekday afternoons, and ability-graded training sessions on Saturdays. We hold regular junior tournaments, and the better juniors are encouraged to compete in senior leagues and tournaments, much to the chagrin of the adult players. Last summer the boys' team came second in the Junior Caribbean championships, and Bermuda placed third overall.

And how do our top juniors fare against those stalwart super-fit veterans? There's no way of telling. Whenever such a match is scheduled, our veterans inevitably develop an injury that not even vile-smelling muscle rub can cure, and the fixture has to be cancelled.

To learn more about the BSRA's junior programme, please contact Ross Triffitt or Patrick Foster on 292-6881.

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