Squash academies not serving their purpose

KARACHI: A mushroom growth of squash academies has been witnessed in the country in the recent times, but they are flouting the basic purpose of a squash academy, which means there will be no long term gain.

It has been learnt that most of the academies, run privately or under the patronage of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), completely ignore two main aspects: having qualified coaches and focusing on beginners.

“The basic purpose of a squash academy is to promote and develop squash at the grassroots level, particularly at the school level nation-wide, and to identify and nurture young talent,” said a qualified coach while talking to ‘The News’.

“We also have to provide a large base of qualified coaches in all divisions, especially in schools and sports clubs, to properly develop players. “In an academy we have beginners, intermediate, advanced and elite level squash players. The most difficult part is to train beginners. We have to learn modern techniques of teaching and follow them properly,” said the coach.

He said there was no shortcut to success and fame. “The academies in Pakistan usually hire ready-made players. That will not do,” said the coach.

“These ready-made players may exhibit special talent for a short time but they can’t give podium performances consistently at the international level,” reasoned the coach.

“Therefore, these academies don’t have any back-up squad for the future. They also don’t have qualified coaches with modern teaching style. All such academies and coaching programmes are bound to fail since they are ignoring these two main aspects,” said the coach.

“Everybody is trying to hire good players and not willing to work hard to produce high-performance players,” said the coach. “We should bring young qualified coaches forward with respect and utilise their expertise,” he suggested.

Former great Jahangir Khan sometime back launched an academy in Karachi but it was shut down very soon.

PSF also launched an academy in Peshawar last year and is planning to open one in Sindh. “We have doubled the number of players, from 16 to 32, in our academy at Peshawar and eight coaches are training them. Lahore already has a good academy set up,” said PSF secretary Amir Nawaz.

He added that Karachi was going to have an academy soon. “We are sure it will attract new players at the beginners’ level. Players with good potential in these academies will get to play in our central academy at Islamabad,” he added.