In squash - The Podcast

2 time world junior champion Mostafa Asal, aka the raging bull, brings his enormous talents to the podcast and does not disappoint. We cover the whole 9 yards here, but in particular Mostafa looks back at his break out season last year, and his decision to turn pro over going stateside for the US collegiate experience. He also gives an impassioned take on Rami Ashour, and he explains who every Ube...

Damien Mudge won every professional doubles title, set every record, and reigned supreme with several different partners on the pro doubles squash circuit; he announced his retirement a few weeks ago after dealing with a series of injury setbacks. Squash journalist and pro doubles aficionado Rob Dinerman provides a look back at Damien's illustrious career and what made him a truly unstoppable forc...

2018/19 was a break out season for Millie Tomlinson, reaching a career high of 20, earning her first English cap and defeating legend Nicol David in Hong Kong of all places. Millie sort of flew under the radar until last season, but she's definitely among the best players in the world now. Nantes is her first event of the 2019/20 season, and she's looking to hit the ground running.

Fresh off a 3 medal haul performance at the Pan Am Games in Lima this summer, Hollie Naughton is set to get her 2019/20 season under way at the China Open next week. Hollie talks about the highs and lows of the Pan Am Games and her 2018/19 season. Obviously she's had an eventful summer with the Pan Am Games, but even more she enjoyed a bit of R&R in Colombia with Nicol David and Amanda Sobhy, and...

For the past few years Gary Nisbet and Jesse Engelbrecht have provided the squash community with a wealth of content via SquashSkills and their own respective academies. On this episode we flesh out several very practical things that I think apply to all of our games regardless of your level including the mental game and winning the critical points, injury prevention techniques, and the subtle dif...

Canada performed admirably, reaching 6 of 7 possible podiums at last month's 2019 Pan Am Games in Peru, and calling the shots was none other than former world number 4 and 6 time Scottish national champion Martin Heath. Martin gives us his assessment of the Pan Ams, how things went for his Rochester Yellowjackets in 2018/19 and how he's grown over the years as head coach. We also reminisce about y...

Jonathon Power was a player like none before or since. World champion, world number 1, British Open champ, 8x Canadian National champion, and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, JP was must watch squash whether it was round 1 v. a qualifier or the World Open final v. Peter Nicol. JP and I talk about the whole nine yards, including his unique development as a junior, the Peter Nicol rivalry, winning...

A brief backstory of the In Squash Podcast and its host Gerry Gibson as a prelude to Episode 100

The greatest female player of all time graced the In Squash podcast online studio with her presence, and she well exceeded all expectations. Her resume is the stuff of legend: 109 consecutive months at #1 in the world, 8 World Open championships, countless medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, very much in a nutshell. Nicol looks back at how she was able to overcome the physical adversity of...

2018 Canadian national champion Danielle Letourneau is coming off her best professional season to date, reaching a career high of 36 in the PSA rankings. In fact, 2018/19 was noteworthy for the entire Canadian women's team, all of whom are inside the world's top 40. Danielle describes her 2018/19 season, the wave she rode after winning her first national title, and how the wins and losses at the h...

The winningest coach in US varsity sport history is undoubtedly someone who knows a thing or two about the team aspect of the game of squash; Paul Assaiante is a US Squash hall of famer and a guru of the game, particularly the team aspect. He heads up the US Pan Am Games Team that is competing in Lima, Peru at the end of the month. Paul gives us a break down of the US men's and women's team and ho...

Don't look past Jamaica at the 2019 Pan Am Games; Christopher Binnie leads the Jamaican squad which also includes PSA tour vet Lewis Walters and Bruce Burrowes. They're certainly one of the dark horses to hit the podium at the end of the day. Chris has had an impressive squash career to date, including 4 stand out years at Trinity College and 4 PSA titles along with a career high 65 world ranking....

The US ladies team are the reigning Pan Am Games women's team gold medalists, and Olivia Blatchford Clyne and her teammates Amanda and Sabrina Sobhy are favored to bring home the gold again. Olivia and I have a great chat about this year's team, the threat that the Canadian women pose, recent changes to her strength and conditioning under the guidance of Scottish guru Neil Gibson, and of course he...

Accepted to law school, about to complete a masters degree, and a swan song appearance for Team Canada at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima Peru, Andrew Schnell joins me on episode 92 to chop it up. 2 time Canadian National Champion, 2015 Pan Am Games gold and silver medalist, reached the top 60 in the world in 2016, and winner of several PSA titles including the prestigious Bankers Hall event in his...

Since 2002, Adil Maqbool has maintained the UAE's #1 ranking, and after some time away from the pro game he's back playing again. One of the game's most talented with the racket, he's had his hands full over the past few years juggling parenthood duties (father of three), a new business (IT related), and his pro squash aspirations. His squash backstory, teaming up with his father, is unconventiona...

Andrew Douglas is no stranger to representing the US on the big stage. He was part of the US junior men's team that finished 3rd at the World Championships a few years back, and led the University of Pennsylvania to its highest ever finish in 2018/19. Andrew is pumped for the Pan Am Games in Lima, and relishes this opportunity to represent the US in what many feel is squash's Olympics along with t...

Framboise Gommendy has covered the professional game at its highest levels for several generations now. Squashsite (run by Fram and Steve Cubbins)is the go to online squash news source for the global squash community, and it's Fram's intimate, passionate, and blow by blow journalistic approach that gives squashsite that special appeal. Fram and I cover a lot of ground, from her early years as an a...

Following in the footsteps of French greats like Thierry Lincou and Gregory Gaultier, Gregoire Marche has stepped things up in 2018/19 with the best squash of his career. A win at last weeks Montpellier Open over James Willstrop along with the Pittsburgh Open (his biggest win to date) earlier in the year, Gregoire finds himself on the cusp of breaking into the world's top 10. We have a great chat...

University of Rochester stand out Ryosei Kobayashi is a talent that you don't want to miss. Winner of the prestigious US varsity squash Skillman Award, Ryosei decided to forego pro squash for a crack at the private sector; seemingly it was just a brief bit of respite as he's hit the ground running in his first year on tour. Winning a few satellite PSA events along with several wins over players ra...

Founder and GM of Infinitum Squash, Chessin Gertler has parlayed his successful junior and collegiate squash playing days into a squash business and development model that is most certainly making inroads. Chessin, who teamed up with Infinitum Director of Squash Nick Taylor in 2017, is one of squash's young outliers; His approach to developing the game across the board is showing promising results...

2018/2019 has been a campaign of new heights for Saurav Ghosal. Saurav became the first-ever Indian male to win the Asian Championships a few short weeks ago, and in April he reached the world's top 10 for the first time. Saurav explains that it took a certain wherewithal and perseverance to get there though, and his explanation of this journey is awesome. His relationship with Malcom Willstrop is...

Since 1976, Andrew Shelley has been laying the groundwork for developing the game of squash, and he took this skill set to the highest level in 2010 when he became WSF CEO. His list of accomplishments in terms of what he's done to grow our great game are too long to mention here. He leaves his WSF post in June, and it was great to speak with Andrew about his squash experience to date, what he acco...

Two time US National Champion, proud New Yorker, and current world #68 Chris Hanson graced the podcast with his presence on Episode 83. He lit up the TOC this year with a great first round win followed by a near upset of world #16 Omar Mosad. Currently with Rodney Martin in his corner, and Rodney Eyles and John Power Sr previously, there's good reason to believe that results like this are bound to...

For squash players who grew up playing the game in the 80s, we grew up idolizing Jahangir Khan, and synonymous with Jahangir was his iconic coach Rahmat Khan. Rahmat helped guide Jahangir to a record 10 British Open titles, and the backstory behind their success is one we can all learn from. Rahmat describes the challenges Jahangir had early on following the death of his brother Torsem, and how th...

Squash renaissance man Richard Millman is fighting the good fight, and always has been. Richard emerged in the US several years back and has embarked on an incredible squash journey that currently has him as the teaching pro at a squash club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, not exactly a squash hotbed which is why Richard is there. Richard is an outlier, always pushing the envelope, and through all of t...