Category Archives: Squash

December 28, 2014 · 2:16 am

Witnessing Sport and Development Unfold Before One’s Eyes

My travels in India would not be complete without paying a visit to Khelshala, a sport-based youth development program founded and led by Coach Bajwa, my former college squash coach, colleague and dear friend. Khelshala celebrated its third year anniversary on August 13th, 2012 as covered by the Indian Express with the opening of a new tennis program on a 4-acre facility in Village Majra, a rural area near Chandigarh.

Khelshala Tennis program in Village Majra

Khelshala Tennis program in Village Majra

This was my 3rd visit in 4 years to Chandigarh and can say with confidence I have seen first-hand how Coach Bajwa has transformed Khelshala and the community through sport. The photo above was taken during a visit to the Majra facility where 100 village children from low-income families were learning tennis for the first time. Furthermore, it has been 3 years since the squash, academics and yoga activities have been taking place at Village Attawa and the results are beginning to show.

Khelshala is a non-governmental organization (NGO) and a registered charity that relies on the goodwill of donors, volunteers and friends. As a founding member of Khelshala, I am proud to be associated with the organization and plan to continue to assist remotely until a future trip materializes. Overall, my 3-day visit to Khelshala was short on time, but long on inspiration.

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Filed under Capacity Buidling, Coaching, Community Development, Education, International Development, Leadership, Philanthropy, Planning, Squash, Volunteering, Youth Development, Youth Sport

December 26, 2014 · 3:52 pm

Bridging East and West Through Sport

During my travels in India, I made time to visit Kodaikanal International School (KIS), my former boarding school in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. I attended Kodai, approximately 20 years ago and enjoyed my time as a student living and learning in such a vibrant community.  Below is a recent photo taken at the renovated squash courts.

 KIS_Squash Courts

Even though I technically did not graduate from Kodai, I was grateful for the KIS Alumni Association for featuring my professional squash coaching activities in the United States and India in their latest newsletter. This can be read here at KISAA Newsletter 2012 Issue 1.

Upon returning to visit, I found the school had maintained its character of providing a global education with an Indian flavor. I met with former teachers, staff and alumni who helped me reflect upon the intricacies of personal and professional growth. Overall, my visit to Kodai was a pleasant confluence of the past and present.

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Education, Leadership, Networking, Professional Development, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement, Youth Development

December 12, 2014 · 4:32 pm

Blending Service and Sport in the City of Joy

Thanks to my second cousin Daniel Ghaznavi, owner of Taam, an upcoming restaurant in Kolkata, I was able to spend an action packed week of service and sport in Kolkata.

Eager to build on last summer’s volunteering experiences, I chose to spend 3 half-days volunteering at Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity where volunteers from many nationalities, including Indians, registered at “Mother House” to be assigned to sites around the city. My volunteer site was Prem Dan, a residential facility for elderly, abandoned and neglected men and women.

Another reason I was keen to visit Kolkata was because it is home to one of the oldest private squash clubs in the world – the Calcutta Racket Club. Thanks to the members and Head Squash Pro, I was able to conduct a junior clinic for 30 beginners for 2 hours with the help of 2 local instructors. After sharing tips on technique and drills, I also conducted a 3 hour clinic at the Tollygunge Club, a private club with 4 glass-back squash courts for 10 juniors and adults.

Visit to Calcutta Racket Club

Visit to Calcutta Racket Club

Looking back, it was a privilege to be able to volunteer and teach squash in what is understandably the “City of Joy.”

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Education, Networking, Philanthropy, Poverty, Squash, Volunteering, Youth Development

December 9, 2014 · 11:00 pm

Developmental Squash at Concord Academy

Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve been supervising a group of 12 students in my co-ed intramural squash class. Most of the students have had some prior squash experience, having taken the “Beginning Squash,” class in the fall. As such the approach is on game-based learning (ie. conditioned games, round robins, tournaments etc.). Balancing competition with fun, below is a moment from our last day of class.

Spring_2013_IM_Sq_CA

When working with a broad spectrum of collegiate and junior squash players, sometimes the coach or parent, may lose sight of why intramurals are important. At Concord Academy, the athletics program is designed to be developmental allowing young high school student-athletes to progress to the next playing level. We’ve had students go from “Beginning Squash” to being co-captains on varsity CA squash teams. Some have even gone on to play in college and in one case even go on to be a captain for their college squash team.

I hope this trend continues in the future. If we help build a foundation for high school squash players to be able to play at the collegiate level (as we have done in the past) or remain active playing squash or other sports then we must be doing something right.

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Filed under Coaching, Education, Leadership, Squash, Youth Development, Youth Sport

December 8, 2014 · 11:26 pm

Change the Game Conference: Sport System re-Design

As the Director of Kidsquash, I was fortunate to attend a thoughtful, inspiring and engaging conference called Change the Game on how to improve outcomes in sport-based youth development programs.  Stepping back from the world of squash and learning best practices from other sport programs helped to rethink how to better serve the Kidsquash community.

re_Design

To use the language of “sport system re-design,” is new but changes to sports by way of playing area, equipment, structure, rules or roles has a long history as learned by the above historical milestones, created by conference organizers. Even in high school squash- a minor sport – re-design has happened in terms of Point-A-Rally scoring to 11 points as opposed to the British scoring of 9 points. There is debate in the squash community as to whether this has been a step in the right direction.

As per the stories of conference speakers, winning people over to the re-Design involves a multitude of strategies and requires patience. Overall, I came away from the conference with a toolkit to take time to bounce ideas off other practitioners in the field of sport-based youth development as well as reflect on Kidsquash’s strengths, weaknesses and outcomes. Hopefully this process will fuel additional action to get the re-Design of Kidsquash “just right.”

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Filed under Capacity Buidling, Coaching, Community Development, Conferences, Education, Grant Making, Leadership, Networking, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement, Youth Development, Youth Sport

December 5, 2014 · 10:06 pm

Coaching Winning and Losing Teams Simultaneously

Allow me to begin with a preface that this blog has been revised to take into consideration the reader’s interests as well a desire to balance my privacy. This is my third attempt at blogging. Earlier iterations were in the public domain and were experimental in nature.

Some of the blog posts you will read are from earlier editions and hence the later publishing date.The nature of the posts are themselves at times reports of events, reflections of thoughts and actions or lessons for oneself and others to carry forward in the field of sport for development and peace.

During the 2011-12 squash season, the boys varsity squash team at Concord Academy was undefeated, while the girls varsity were 1-11. As the Head Coach, who directs the squash programs at Concord, it was a good lesson in moving beyond winning and losing.

Surely, no one likes to lose. However, when you run practices day in and day out with student-athletes who are, for the most part, intrinsically motivated and striving for self-improvement, it takes the sting out of losing. In an increasingly competitive world, results do matter. However, more importantly, I hope students take the life lessons with them.

Concord Academy Girls Varsity at 2012 New England Championships at Pomfret School, CT

Concord Academy Girls Varsity at 2012 New England Championships at Pomfret School, CT

Above is a photo of the girls varsity team at the New England Girls C Division Squash Championships, where the top 3 CA players finished either second or third in their flights. All three of these girls were upperclassmen who I have enjoyed watching grow on and off the court. Overall, I am proud of the CA squash teams for winning with grace and losing with dignity.

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Filed under Capacity Buidling, Coaching, Education, Gender, Leadership, Squash, Youth Development, Youth Sport