South West Coach Upskilling Session

Thanks Dan Taylor!

The Busselton Squash club took it upon themselves to organise an opportunistic workshop with David Fear to grow our capacities as a club to train juniors. This tied in well with the planned Sunday second upskilling event based in Bunbury preceding.  With originally a small social based city V country tournament planned but registration numbers being low the ability to facilitate via David and Ally Fear a secondary junior coach upskilling event was an amazing opportunity.

With a contingent of coaches present from the previous event based in Bunbury on March 29, it was a great chance to further their education in the roles of junior coordinator and coach capacities. Over a dozen juniors present and multiple local and traveling coaches/mentors/club junior facilitators present it was received well. David boosted by the content of the first session laid down further foundations to enable our club to be better prepared to increase our junior skills and offer the diversity of skills and training regime that are required to maximise both retention of junior members and the efficiency of imparting skills.

Watching David work with our coaches and junior coordinators along with traveling junior coaches was, as always, impressive and inspiring. His wealth of knowledge is significant and given more opportunities like these we will without a doubt see a significant boost to our capacities and output as a club with juniors looking to take their journey in the sport further. Ally running fun small skill-based activities with a court full of juniors while the adults were schooled next door was great to see. Then both courts running with ability-based training for a further hour until a much-needed break for food in the form of fresh fruit and fresh snacks and warmed goods and drink break. What followed was a rapid-fire short form tournament where all present juniors under supervisions and a few reminders of practiced skills participated for the honour of a small clap and a pat on the back. 

The Busselton squash club thank David and Ally for their time and skills and smiles, and every junior present enjoyed themselves and all adults attending picked up at least one but mostly a multitude of skills they can add to their squash bag for the future of junior squash both local and further afield.

Thanks Jason Mennell!

What a fantastic day for junior squash in the South West!

On Sunday, WA Squash hosted  an all-day coaching masterclass delivered by the WA Head Coach David Fear, bringing together around 15 enthusiastic juniors and 10 coaches and parents eager to learn and improve.

The session focused on building strong foundations for young players — from agility, balance and coordination through to key technical skills like posture, grip, movement and swing. Just as importantly, it reinforced a simple but powerful coaching philosophy: if players leave with a red, sweaty face and a big smile, you’ve done your job right.

Coaches and parents were guided through practical ways to break skills down, use fun and engaging drills, and tailor their approach to suit different stages of physical and mental development. The importance of creativity, positivity and variety was a consistent theme, ensuring sessions remain enjoyable while still driving improvement.

The day also covered how to manage mixed-ability groups, use effective feedback, and structure training sessions that keep kids active, learning and having fun.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to such a positive and energetic day — a great step forward in strengthening junior squash across the region!