Category Archives: Youth Sport

December 28, 2014 · 6:01 pm

Backing the Squash Bid for 2020 Olympics

In honor of the 2012 World Squash Day, we celebrated by kicking off the 2012-13 Kidsquash season with 15 juniors just beginning their foray into the great game of squash. Lead Coach Luke Hammond, a former coach at SquashBusters along with Octavio Chiesa, a former Kidsquash participant who has returned to volunteer coach this season both brought their energy and enthusiasm to give the beginners a good start.

Kidsquash Backing the 2020 Bid

Kidsquash Backing the 2020 Bid

Later in the evening, I returned to Concord Academy to screen the documentary film called “Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story.” It was an educational experience for Concord Academy students to learn about the legacy of the Khan dynasty as well as the historical origins of squash and how the sport emerged. At Concord Academy, my predecessor was Enamullah Khan, an accomplished squash coach and member of the Khan dynasty.

Keep_Eye_On_the_Ball

Even though the numbers of participants for both events were low they did play a part in shaping the bigger picture.  Today over 20,000 squash players mobilized across the world to back the bid for inclusion of squash into the 2020 Olympics. Hopefully the International Olympic Committee will respond favorably to this campaign to rightfully include a truly global sport.

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Education, Leadership, Olympic, Paralympic, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering, Youth Development, Youth Sport

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 11, 2014 · 11:14 pm

Visiting Maria’s Public School in Guwahati, Assam

Thanks to my aunt Nellie Ahmed Tanweer, Managing Trustee of Maria’s Public School, an elite pre-K to 12th grade educational institution in Guwahati, Assam I was invited to spend a few days at the school interacting with students, alumni and administrators. My first visit to the school was in 1999 and so I was keen to see the school’s progress.

Following the chief guest and other esteemed educators, I was asked to give brief remarks during the 12th graduation ceremony, where I spoke about the importance of sport and community service. Thereafter, I visited the school again where I spent a morning facilitating questions and answers in 9th and 10th grade classes, touring the new campus and brainstorming with teachers and coaches.

Q&A with Maria Public School Students in Guwahati, Assam.

Q&A with Maria Public School Students in Guwahati, Assam.

Despite the differences in infrastructure with Concord Academy in terms of relatively ill-equipped classrooms, lack of playing fields and limited information technology, there was no shortage of curiosity and enthusiasm on the part of the teachers and students at Maria’s Public School. Perhaps in the future, more student or teacher exchanges between the two schools would make for an enriching educational experience for both school communities.

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

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 7, 2014 · 3:19 pm

Honoring the Game

I have been overwhelmed with emails from around the world and so pardon this slow blog entry. I am grateful, humbled and honored by the United States Olympic Committee’s recognition as the 2011 Developmental Coach of the Year for coaching student-athletes at Concord Academy while simultaneously serving as Director of Kidsquash, a community squash program situated at Harvard University.

On the day I received news of the USOC recognition, I attended a Massachusetts Squash event at Dover Squash and Fitness in Natick, Massachusetts where I was fortunate to reunite with Jahangir Khan, (a legendary squash champion from Pakistan who dominated the sport in the 1980s) and thank him for inspiring me 23 years ago to want to play the sport during an exhibition match against Chris Dittmar in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Engrossed by the long, lively and exciting exchanges between Jahangir and Chris, definitely made an impression on me at a young age, but I never expected it would lead to a national recognition for coaching at Kidsquash and Concord Academy.

Jahangir Khan and I after his exhibition match at Arabian Homes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1989.

Jahangir Khan and I after his exhibition match at Arabian Homes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1989.

Jahangir Khan and I at Dover Squash and Fitness in Natick, Massachusetts, April 2012.

Jahangir Khan and I at Dover Squash and Fitness in Natick, Massachusetts, April 2012.

The award is a testament to the bright, inquisitive and imaginative student-athletes at Concord Academy as well as the aspiring squash players who participate in the Kidsquash program. Both groups have challenged me to find new ways of teaching and growing the sport of squash. I would like to reach out to thank fellow coaches, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni and members of the Greater Boston community who have all contributed to the USOC’s recognition. In particular, I would like to give my deepest thanks to my family members, in particular my parents, and friends for their support. Also, my mentor and colleague – Coach Bajwa deserves a special thanks for believing in me. I hope this recognition demonstrates the values of teamwork, fair play and opportunity for all.

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Education, Leadership, Networking, Olympic, Philanthropy, Private Public Partnerships, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering, 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