PSF holds online course for players, coaches, amateurs

ISLAMABAD, Jul 26 (APP):A group of 49 players, trainers, coaches, and amateurs are participating in the Online Level-1 Squash Coaching Course organized by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF).
The nine-day course that began on July 20 will conclude on Tuesday, says a press release issued here on Sunday.
Owing to the restrictions of COVID-19, this course is being conducted online through Zoom Application where all participants can interact and understand each other easily. The PSF respects all the senior coaches of Pakistan who have vast coaching experience and have trained many great players. However, it is time to pass on the talent to amateurs to create more good coaches. Therefore, this course is planned for amateurs who want to start their career as a squash coach to train players starting from the grassroots level.
The participants include 14 from Punjab, nine from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine from Sindh, five from Balochistan, seven from PAF, three from SNGPL and one each from Army and ZTBL. Besides local participants, few overseas Pakistanis are also attending the course. The main purpose of this arrangement is to keep the players, local coaches, and amateurs actively involved in squash activities during the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the aim of this activity is to train the trainers for providing standardized training starting from the grassroots level, educate them on the changing rules and latest techniques of game development to get better performance and results from amateur players. The PSF coaches Rehman Gul, Fazal Shah and Asif Khan who have vast professional experience and sound knowledge of modern squash, are conducting the module of squash and conducting regular sessions for on-court practice/ game development. Whereas, Physical Training module which is already being run since March this year, is being looked after by PSF strength and conditioning coaches Muhammad Boota, Muhammad Anees and Muhammad Kashif. They are providing their expert services to maintain and improve players’ physical strength, fitness and stamina which is essentially required for a player to sustain throughout the tournament.
There has been a very healthy participation in this Level-I coaching course and all the participants have been appreciating the trainers and such efforts. Most importantly, all the participants are very respectable and they have also been sharing their experiences with the coaches which has created a very healthy & interactive learning environment. We hope that this would help Pakistan to create best performing players in the future.
After Level-1, PSF will also conduct further advanced level courses on the same pattern in the near future. Such coaching courses are also conducted by other countries all over the world and PSF would continue to conduct more courses of Level-II and Level-III in the future as well. It is expected that this activity would help PSF to increase the pool of coaches in Pakistan and raise their qualification level in the coaching profession. Moreover, these courses will equally provide an opportunity for the amateurs to gain professional experience and utilize it in a better way to promote and expand the game of squash at the grassroots level. These are Pakistan level courses and it is expected that such courses would provide a platform to Pakistani players, trainers, coaches, and amateurs to attend coaching courses of various levels organized by Asian Squash Federation (ASF) and World Squash Federation (WSF) and increase their professional knowledge/qualification in the field of coaching. In future, PSF also intends to hold ASF and WSF coaching courses in Pakistan.