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PREPARING FOR THE DOUBLES  Nobody more than me realises that squash singles and doubles are a completely
different sport. As far as I’m concerned, a bad shot in singles is a good
one in doubles, but I’m sure it’s not as simple as that.So I had a little chat with charming as hell Richard Castle, RSA national coach, about the preparation his guys received before this double event… “We organised a three day camp in Cape Town and Rodney came back from England where he lives to work with doubles partner Adrian Hansen, who hasn’t been able to go on the tour for the past two years because of injuries. “When we came here in January, for the World Doubles, we came in blind, not knowing what to expect, except that we were going to have tough opposition, and we just had a weekend of preparation before the event. We were hoping to use that World Doubles as a preparation for the CWG. We did a lot of videoing, and when we came back to SA, I did a lot of analysing, and from that point on, we worked on several points. First, the communication between the players, if the ball gets in the middle, who gets it, how to warn the other one that we can’t get it, etc. “Then, adapting the movement, which in doubles in much more straight than in singles. Also on the speed at the front on the court. And of course, we tried to encourage those two to spend more time together, to hang out, train, run, eat, go out, etc. “And it shows on the court, they show quite a good spirit, and it’s obvious that they are proud to play for and represent our country. “We also worked on finishing off the rallies, and on the concentration skills, because the rallies can go on and on, and you need to stay focused… “Today, I was disappointed in myself more than anything else, I’m the coach, maybe there is something I could have done differently, but I really thought we were going to win that one, I’m happy with the game plan we had, and the two tie breaks prove that we were playing the right game… Unfortunately, like in the World Doubles against the pair Kneipp & Jenson, we didn’t seem to be able to finish the games off… “As far as the future of the game of doubles is concerned, I feel we should be able to “change the game”, shorten the tin, widen the court… “Squash doubles is a potential growth area, and maybe we should start by establishing some rules, for lets and strokes, like we did for the singles, instead of playing lets on every ball… I think that events will benefit for having more doubles, and so will the sponsors…” So ladies and gents, get on those double courts, and put your thinking caps on… We need that sport to become more attractive to all… Me included… |
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