2013-05-24T15:20:18-04:00 James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=james-willstrop Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for James Willstrop Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3203733 2013-05-02T16:50:52-04:00 2013-05-04T14:07:24-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
Perhaps it is easy to see why when hearing his interview. He seems to be what people would call a character, and he fizzed his way through the five minutes or so animatedly recounting stories in his Yorkshire tones.

At one point in the interview -after recounting a story in which he answered Allan Lamb's mobile phone on the field only to hear Ian Botham in the dressing room at the end of the line - he unfortunately declared that 'there aren't the personalities in sport that there once were'.
What a pity he said this. It is so easy for people to hark back to a golden era, or their era. It is common in older, retired sportsmen and women for a sense of nostalgia to cloud their perspective on the present. The memories often burn strong, and tend to make things seem better in 'the good old days'. I have heard some of the great athletes of all time denounce the present era in their sports, comparing it to their own and I have heard it in squash. We are all probably guilty of looking back with affection to the past, and of thinking that things are not the same as they once were, but this is an unhealthy principal by which to be led.
Have all the characters in sport really gone? I often cite Roger Federer as an example. Just because he doesn't walk on the tennis court doing the can-can, and rather is quiet and introverted, does it mean he is deficient of personality?

It is very pleasing for an audience when an athlete shows emotion, but does it mean that those who don't, lack personality? Because Alistair Cook's England team don't play mobile phone pranks, does it make them bland and boring?

I hope that the public - rather than expect outward displays, obvious and calculated outpourings of emotion or funny stories - may find the character in the beauty of Federer's passing backhand, or Cook's exquisite cover drive.

James Willstrop's book 'Shot and a Ghost' is available to buy at willstrop.co.uk or on kindle.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3067002 2013-04-12T04:08:39-04:00 2013-04-15T10:36:02-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
What a result that is for the girls, all involved in England Squash and Racketball, and for all those behind them. Having two finalists of a major event from the same country is extremely unusual; there is such strength in depth on the women's tour. Nicol David was again beaten by Massaro in the semis, validating the theory that David's indelible, spellbinding hold on the number one spot, whilst not in danger of yet being lost, is now being seriously challenged by a hungry pack.
Waters battled through the bottom half of the draw -enduring a series of brutal matches- in which the number two seed Raneem El Weleily from Egypt was dispatched by 35 year old mother Natalie Grinham.

Massaro's dismissal of David in the latter's back garden, where her image is displayed on motorway or airport billboards along with other world sporting icons, and where she is considered THE sporting celebrity, is even more remarkable because of this, though the pressure on David is considerable.

She is the equivalent of a Dame, and if she walks outside will usually get mobbed by celebrity seekers. The eyes of the country are on her and perhaps the fact that she has made The Netherlands her home for most of her professional career nods to the fact that an escape from the pressure is necessary.

The press too in Malaysia are unbelievably misguided and take a shamefully critical stance when she loses one match, which has been a relatively rare occurrence. She is almost the highest achieving squash player of all time, a genial and hard working ambassador, and such a dignified loser, and she should be continually showered with praise by the whole of Malaysia.

Unfortunately praise does not make interesting news articles. At least the benefit for us here being English is that people don't care enough about squash to criticise.

The fantastic performance of the English players in Malaysia certainly bodes well for the lead up to the British Open, the next major, in Hull from the 20th-26th May.

There are some tickets still available from www.britishopensquash.net.
James' book 'Shot and A Ghost' is available to buy from Willstrop.co.uk or on kindle]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2863026 2013-03-12T17:17:42-04:00 2013-05-12T05:12:01-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
These sorts of issues are always a matter of hotly debated conjecture, but Jahangir's achievements lend him a strong case. He was World Champion six times and British Open Champion a record ten times. Most amazing of all - and I'm not even sure there is a sporting record that beats this - is that he went for five and a half years unbeaten, and not from just playing a match when he fancied it: he crammed in 555 matches in that spell. It's an incomprehensible, unfathomable achievement. Grafting as we players do on the present professional tour, to win five matches on the bounce is something to shout about. But five hundred...and fifty five?

Jahangir remains involved in the squash scene; he retired in 1993 but we have become accustomed to his presence. When he is around, I know I'm not the only person thinking: ' That there is Jahangir Khan.'

Because he stands in an elite group of athletes: Ali, Federer, Redgrave, Gebrselassie to name just a few, if not in profile then in achievement. It is perhaps only this profile which stops people from thinking he should be at the top of that group. This is a man who if celebrity was bestowed upon those truly deserving of it, would be idolised the world over. To have such a standing in the world of sport, it feels almost unjust that he is so accessible. He really should be running around with armed security and bodyguards, in blacked out cars.

Within squash Jahangir is so genuinely understated considering his outrageous achievements. He owns a squash club in Karachi, Pakistan where he is considered only a rung or two down from God, and he runs his own business.

Any Internet search on squash, apart from yielding recipes for root vegetable casseroles, will at some point mention his name. When I jump in a London cab and tell the driver I'm a squash player, they have heard of Jahangir.

His legendary athleticism was spawned from a training schedule that would frighten most people to death: his long early morning runs were merely gentle precursors to the day's activities. He didn't even consider it part of the training, merely an add on.

Squash has been lucky to have such a legend. Legend in the true sense of the word.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2804766 2013-03-04T05:48:05-05:00 2013-05-04T05:12:01-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
It struck me more than ever that the game at a professional level is played in a way that is almost unrecognisable to what it used to be. I re-watched some classic squash matches from the late eighties recently, when the custom was to build winning opportunities through long, gruelling rallies, with hefty phases of play from and to the back half of the court.

In general the rallies (and matches) in Richmond were shorter than they were back then, played at greater speed, and the players made much more use of the frontal areas to make attacks.
A lot of this comes from external factors. The biggest rule change that may have affected this is the lowering of the tin, which came in in the mid nineties. Factors like type of court (full glass or traditional) and temperature in the venue are key contributors to the outcome of a match. Undoubtedly the trend is that professional squash has naturally become faster and more attacking, but these other factors have contributed.

The North American Open was played within the confines of a less than warm sports hall and on the glass court, encouraging an even faster front court game than at other venues, with an emphasis on explosive movements. In such conditions, players seek the opportunity to attack more often because the ball doesn't bounce as much. It is tempting to play short because it is more likely to stay short to win the rally. In view of all this players have had to improve their speed of movement.

Tennis is similar in that the conditions play a considerable part in the outcome of matches, and i'm sure that, as in squash, no two courts the world over are the same. There are also similar additional factors which have helped to make tennis evolve significantly over time too.
The good thing is that the changes in neither sport have been detrimental. If anything they have made them more attractive visually, and let's hope it stays that way.

James Willstrop's book, 'Shot and a Ghost' is available to buy at Willstrop.co.uk or on kindle]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2804747 2013-03-04T05:45:19-05:00 2013-05-04T05:12:01-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
True that may sound, but presently the media cultivates two types of story: one which is scandalous and one which is intolerably dull. There aren't many 'middle of the road' stories. You can understand the scandalous, but it's hard to fathom why the dull. There is lots of evidence of this at the moment and none more so than in the world of sport: Lance Armstrong's unrepentant and surly confession, and the mystifying case involving Oscar Pistorius and the death of his girlfriend have been worldwide sensations.

Not long ago, the world nearly stopped for the Tiger Woods saga. Cricket has had a few horror stories to deal with: Hanse Cronje and the Pakistan team's match fixing and Mike Atherton's 'hand in the pocket' business. Rugby has had 'blood-from-the-mouth'-gate and Sean Long's betting calamity; Snooker and Tennis have had a few front page scandals, often related to betting, match-fixing or drugs.

We digest rock stars' stories of recreational drug use easily enough, but when Andre Agassi reveals he has taken Crystal Meth it is exactly the kind of shock Mr Bradley means. Athletes and drugs don't generally go together. When they do, the shock factor is emphasised.

Alongside the scandals run the trivial stories: the world's press recently flocked, like it was some kind of earth moving event, to Paris to report the signing of David Beckham to Paris St Germain. He claimed he was to donate all his wages to a charity, which was well received by press and public alike. It is a good deed but there has to be a question as to what his motivation was for announcing that. Nobody needed to know. Sales of his aftershaves and underpants will no doubt soar.

Even more inane is the story of the football 'transfer window' closing deadline. In January, sports channels endlessly churn out the same filler, trying desperately to make it sound so much more interesting than it actually is!

It is the same within the wider arena. Last week we heard about the chilling trial of Pistorius, alongside a story about the Prime Minister's views on writer Hilary Mantel's comments regarding Kate Middleton.

Contrast is of great interest though. The apposition of the banal with the shocking perhaps compels us all the more. Whatever happens, you won't just be getting the results...

James Willstrop's book, 'Shot and a Ghost' is available to buy from willstrop.co.uk, or on kindle]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2564700 2013-01-28T01:59:48-05:00 2013-03-29T05:12:01-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
I travelled out to the Big Apple well before the start with my manager Mick to visit three very contrasting clubs in the area. First we headed for the Heights Casino squash institution in Brooklyn -where former world number 3 woman player Linda Elriani and husband Laurent are resident professionals- to give a talk and book signing.

The following evening we visited the HQ of the urban youth squash programme 'Streetsquash',where I practiced with the students and talked about my life as a professional; and the third club, situated in prime position on Park Avenue, was the Tennis and Racquet Club, a silkily opulent male only club, quite a world away from my Pontefract home, literally and figuratively. Members in their palatial surroundings were so comfortable in the changing rooms that they even found time to have a nap on the sofas provided.

Mick, adapting to the contrasting social differences of home, adorned himself in a conservative outfit of checked blazer, mustard tie and slacks, appearing inexorably comfortable, whilst I gave three of the club's best players the run around on court. We received such a warm welcome from everyone and and it felt like a great success.

The tournament was soon in full flow, and the court shimmered as usual in the Vanderbilt Hall, one of the thoroughfares leading to the famous and often photographed iconic main hall. This positioning gives the sport unprecedented exposure to thousands of travellers during the week, impacting more for the promotion of squash than any other event by a mile.

Ramy Ashour beat me in five sets in the semis, and I was disappointed not to push on having had a 1-0 and 7-4 lead. He also came from 2-0 down to beat Greg Gaultier in the final.
Natalie Grinham beat Kasey Brown 3-0 in the women's event.

Next are the National squash Championships in Manchester, UK, from 11th-17th of February.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2433730 2013-01-08T14:44:40-05:00 2013-03-10T05:12:01-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
The women's tour, the WSA, has an increasingly competitive look about it. Standing at the top of the list is one of the game's all time great players, and possibly its most valuable asset: Nicol David is a celebrity in her home country, Malaysia, and she won her seventh World title in the Grand Cayman Islands.

The challenges to David are coming thicker and faster than they ever have before: Raneem el Weleily is a seriously good squash player who exhibits a typically fluid Egyptian style and behind her an exciting team of younger Egyptian compatriots Nour El Sherbini and Nour El Tayeb are doing damage to the pecking order. Additionally, Omneya Abdel Kawy has thundered back in to form just in time to help Egypt take the World Team title last year. Laura Massaro, ranked three on the world list, leads the English charge at present, and she reached the final in Grand Cayman, beating Weleily in a tie-break in the deciding game of their semi. Yorkshire girl Jenny Duncalf has hit good form recently and she lost out to David in the semis after beating teammate Alison Waters in the quarters, who has herself enjoyed a positive period of rejuvenation since enduring a year's worth of nasty injury problems.

From the east the threats come from Hong Kong's Annie Au and Low Wee Wern, David's Malaysian compatriot; Joelle King from New Zealand is winning tournaments, and France's Camille Serme is on an upward curve. More experienced campaigners Rachael and Natalie Grinham, and Ireland's Madeleine Perry aren't going anywhere either, and stubbornly maintain their level. All this depth is making for a very interesting women's tour.

Both the women and men were straight back in last week for the World Series Finals, at the Queen's club in London. David retained her title beating Laura Massaro 3-0 in the final. It was the second year in a row that Sky (and this year Eurosport) televised the semis and finals live. Notably Massaro did notch up another win over David in the group stages though.

I lost in the best-of-three semi finals 2-1 to Amr Shabana, who beat Nick Matthew 3-1 to win the title.

Next stop for the men and women is New York City.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2314541 2012-12-17T07:09:09-05:00 2013-02-16T05:12:01-05:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
21-year-old double world junior champion and current world number six El Shorbagy fought with me for nearly two hours, after which most experts practically dismissed any thoughts of a win the following night. Facing the fresher legs of an in form Ashour, already a winner of the title in 2008, it looked like a daunting prospect, yet proved to be anything but.

Shorbagy romped home in the first game 11-2, and Ashour, undoubtedly feeling the mental pinch, looked edgy. After the older Egyptian recovered to take the next two, the fourth game lifted the whole occasion to another stratosphere. A packed crowd went absolutely mad at 9-9 in the fourth when the two produced the most outrageous rally. A piece of advice to people reading this: go on YouTube or psasquashtv.com and find this rally. Already and without thinking I would put it in the best ten I have ever seen, and I have quite a library to access. When squash players combine together to weave such magic entertainment, squash is as exciting a spectacle there is.

Lead commentator on psasquashtv Joey Barrington incredulously mused mid rally that it "was like something out of a comic book" and immediately after claimed that co-commentator Paul Johnson had ended up rather dubiously in his lap such was his amazement at what had unfolded.

Shorbagy nicked the fourth 11-9, and despite clocking up 180 minutes of squash within 24 hours, the young man found himself within a game of becoming world champion against an unsteady and tight Ashour, who hadn't found his range. Shorbagy even held an 8-7 lead in the fifth before Ashour managed, to his relief, to close out a highly exciting and unpredictable finale.

English hopes were extinguished in the semi finals where Nick Matthew lost in four to the champion. Peter Barker and Daryl Selby made the last sixteen.

It's now the turn of the girls, who fight for their World title in Grand Cayman this week. Hold on to your hats for arguably the most competitive women's event in years. Watch it live on psasquashtv.com.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2035927 2012-10-28T19:06:41-04:00 2012-12-28T05:12:01-05:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
This last week i've been in San Francisco, where there was a big build up to 'the game' at the weekend. I haven't researched this, but the Giants baseball team have made the playoffs. The locker room chat at the Bay Club, venue for the first round squash matches, has been full of game-talk: "Are you watching the game tonight? What are their chances? They're playing well! I think they'll do it! Oh by the way, did you hear about some squash tournament they're playing here this week?"

Baseball is scrutinised with passion here. Like football in England, people watch and analyse it endlessly. I watched twenty minutes of the big game on Friday, and I couldn't quite grasp the situation. There were long phases where very little happened, and some of the participants were fat.

Maybe there is more to this than the entertainment factor of sport. I like watching test match cricket, and admit that the same negatives are repeated by people about this quintessentially English sport. Football, our very un-beautiful game, can be an intolerably dull spectacle, yet people still herd round pub tvs on Sunday afternoons transfixed.

It is interesting how the two countries and their people have evolved so differently in terms of the sports they like, and in the ways they show their love for it.

Squash, though, is not the most popular sport on the west coast of America; in the locker room I was approached by a kind gentleman who very jovially shook my hand and asked about the tournament: "Now tell me, is it the best players in the WORLD playing here tonight? Or is it the best in the club?"

"Erm...well, the world", I replied.

"Oh wow, oh my that is so fabulous. And you are one of them?"

"Well, yes I am."

"Wow!! Congratulations, the best players in the world in our club, that is amazing."

"Thanks. It is a pleasure to be here. So you are coming to watch tonight then I take it?"

"Oh, oh I can't. I'm hosting some friends tonight. We are watching 'the game'."

"You compliment me like that and then shun me for 'the game'. Shame on you."

For a moment he looked hurt. Then after a pause, he smiled, clocking the English sarcasm.
Maybe the two nations are starting to relate to each other through sarcasm if not through sport...]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1960159 2012-10-12T00:11:28-04:00 2012-12-11T05:12:01-05:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
Amateur players are often blighted with niggles and they tell me so, craving a magic answer. I am not a physiotherapist so it is not my place to be diagnosing or offering solutions, but the amount of work professional players put in off the court (advised by our strength and conditioning coaches and physios) is vast and time-consuming. It is our day job though, and it is far harder for amateur players to devote precious time to expensive physio sessions and conditioning workouts when they just want to play the game.

Most of the off-court work I do is in part an insurance policy, which I hope will offset the damage I have inflicted on my body over 25 years, during which I have dragged the poor thing relentlessly around a glass box in to positions it was never designed to make.

The following are examples of recent squash retirees' experiences: my Vanessa is, after a long career, presently prostrate on a sofa unable to move because of a debilitating and repetitive back injury. Anthony Ricketts, Chris Robertson, Rodney Martin and Lee Beachill are a few big names who have had their careers cut short by injuries, and Geoff Hunt and Jonah Barrington, legends in the 70s and 80s, both had hip replacements, and you might know it if you saw them walk today.

In to my 30th year, I am slightly perturbed by the fact that I am (if lucky) well down the back straight of my sporting career but to think of retiring in to a life of inactivity through chronic injury is more upsetting still.

Michael Vaughan presented a thought-provoking programme on the BBC recently exploring the subject of retirement of well-known sports personalities and how they have dealt with the mental implications, and revealed how many athletes just cannot cope with the void that quite suddenly exists and needs to be filled, by what they don't know.

And I would guess the strange world of retirement is faced with even greater apprehension if there is added physical decapitation to endure. I will endeavour to enjoy and savour every day I can as a squash player, and hope it will not be my ruin!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1826178 2012-08-23T17:23:46-04:00 2012-10-23T05:12:11-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/ Saturday 4th August

All hell broke loose in the Olympic stadium tonight, and presumably in all venues in Britain with television sets. It always looked like being a good night for GB with Jessica Ennis top of the leader board going into the 800m and Mo Farah competing in the final of his favourite event, the 10k. Not only did they both bring gold home in incredible style, but Greg Rutherford joined the party in the long jump, an event that was wide open. It was Pontefract Squash Club's end of season club dinner and when the Sheffield girl finished the heptathlon with that brilliant 800 metres, everyone quickly abandoned any thought of food and merriment to cheer her to victory, a scenario surely repeated in pubs, clubs and front rooms all over the country.
This is where the Olympics comes good. Sportsmen and women performing at the top of their games and inspiring so many, is the great draw of such an event.
I came home early from the dinner and watched the replays from the evening. Lost count of how many times I watched Mo Farah coming down the home straight to the roaring, northern tones of Steve Cram.

Sunday 5th August

Woke up this morning with the British national anthem in my head. With all the success of the British team it is an unavoidable, yet it is an annoying presence. As national anthems go, ours has got to be one of the worst. "God save the queen"! This impertinent phrase makes up half the anthem, and strikes me as having nothing to do with Jessica Ennis winning gold medals; it's confusing and irrelevant. I can't think of anyone less in need of 'saving' than the monarch, and how does God come in to it? Aren't 50% of Brits atheists? At the height of British success what a shame we have spent most of the celebrations singing this atrocity.
I have therefore brought upon myself an enforced ban on the watching of medal ceremonies, unless the gold goes to Germany.

Why is it that when 100 metre runners now line up before the race, they all do the same hideous actions to camera? Since Bolt came on to the scene with his unique asides and poses, all the others have done is copy him, and they look ludicrous. Bolt is the only person who can talk to the audience, reenact all the little stories in his head, or cheekily say: 'I am gonna win' to the camera before a race. There are only so many athletes over the course of history that have displayed such superiority, class, charisma and arrogance. Ali and Bolt are the obvious examples and can get away with it. The rest should realise they are not in a position to even try, and settle for just waving to the crowd.

Apart from breathtaking Bolt himself, the highlight or lowlight of the night had to be watching the BBC commentary team actually watching the 100metres final. Colin Jackson got so wound up that he shouted: 'oh look there's whats-his-name!' during the race. I don't know about anyone else, but i'm holding my breath listening to Jackson and Denise Lewis talk, hoping that it's all going to be ok.

Christine Ohuroghu performed so well to get a silver, and would perhaps have beaten Sanya Richards Ross over 500metres, but the American was a worthy winner, and charming in her interview.

Not many people would know it, but the badminton men's final was brilliant. Lin Dan beat Lee Chong Wei 2-1 in a brutal encounter. Agility, style, speed, toughness and oodles of skill were on display, and Lin Dan was so happy that he almost forgot to shake hands with his Malaysian rival, instead racing around the arena.

Monday 6th August

I am busy thinking of ways I can make training as short as possible in order to get back to the television. I still feel horribly bitter not to be in London, and really want to slag the Olympics off in any way I can, but can't deny that watching the sport is too absorbing for me to be sulking. I find it fascinating to see all these dedicated, driven athletes getting the attention they deserve.
I have scarcely seen an athlete so overcome by emotion on the podium than Felix Sanchez was today after winning the 400m hurdles. Quite a story too. He last won Olympic gold in the event in 2004.
I saw Beth Tweddle's performance on the uneven bars, and it was - and this time I mean it - amazing. It's incredible to watch and must take thousands of hours to perfect. She was thrilled to get a bronze, even though it could have been gold.

Tuesday 7th August

Plenty to be interested in today. It was interval work in gym this morning, and I made it so that my session coincided with the men's triathlon. It meant that anytime I felt like I wanted to be sick I could glance at the screen in the gym and know that the triathletes were feeling deathly, at the very same time.

The Brownlees, Alistair and Jonny, who live just up the road from me, won gold and bronze. We share the same physio, Alison Rose, ( also physio to Jess Ennis) so I have followed their careers with interest and have met them at the odd awards ceremony in Yorkshire. They are understated, incredible athletes and at least now they might get recognition because of the Olympic games. It's a shame that winning multiple world titles and being ranked in the top few in the world isn't enough to have already made them household names.

The Aussies are getting some flack for not being as good as they usually are, but Sally Pearson held her nerve in the 100m hurdles, an event she has recently dominated.

Victoria Pendleton, surely the most emotional athlete at the games after Sanchez, finished her glittering career off with a silver medal, losing out to her big rival Anna Meares. Chris Hoy won his second gold of the games in the Kierin, and the pictures of his mother as the race was played out were absolutely priceless. If you haven't seen them, make sure you find them; I can't ever remember seeing anyone so horrified to be watching a sporting event. Well, she wasn't really watching. She spent the entire race either facing the wall behind her or occasionally peering gingerly at what was happening on the track.

Weds 8th and Thursday 9th August

The women's 200metres final was a real prospect. It was a strong line-up, peppered with quality. Sanya Richards Ross, Alison Felix and Shelley Ann Fraser-Price seem to be great role models for young people. It has been a pleasure watching them, and their engaging personalities will have endeared them to many viewers over the last week or so. Felix, with a languid and effortless style, won well. To win an Olympic gold is one thing, but to do it so elegantly as she did, puts an athlete in a special category. Michael Johnson, Phelps and Usain Bolt are rare examples of athletes who make it look as if they might be able to win with their eyes closed, and when these athletes come along, all there is to do is sit and gawp.

The winner of the men's 800 metre final could well sit in this category. David Rudisha ran an incredible race to win the gold medal and break the world record, a very popular winner. I always think you can tell by the tone of the voices of the commentary team, and it was clear they absolutely loved him. I'm not sure I could have said the same a few nights before for the 1500metre final, when Steve Cram and Brendan Foster's reaction to the Algerian winner was ever so slightly muted. Maybe they knew something we didn't, or maybe they just didn't like the guy, but they showed their enthusiasm freely for Rudisha. And it was not hard to see why; his interview oozed class and understatement, and you couldn't help thinking that this man has not been lavished with the praise he deserves for his achievement there.

Meanwhile on the campaign trail for squash's inclusion, Ben Dirs, a BBC blogger, wrote a chirpy little article on synchronised swimming and how he feels sorry for squash players.

He had an interesting point. These swimmers undoubtedly work so hard, but how accessible a sport is it? Is synchronised swimming a sport even? Are there clubs and is it widely played by the public?

Anyway I'll leave that to him to work out. I'm tired of working out the puzzle.

Friday 10th Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th August

There has been some interesting stuff going on in the boxing and Taekwondo; at one point the other day I thought the speakers in my car were going to explode, so excited were Colin Murray and co-commentators getting over Jade Jones, who unexpectedly won gold in the 57 kg category. The boxing has been successful for Great Britain and not bad at all for Yorkshire: Luke Campbell and Nicola Adams flew the flag for the nation's most successful county.
More muting of the television for renditions of 'God Save the Queen'.
You can tell the Olympics are nearing the end when the relays begin.
Saturday evening was yet again filled with tension and excitement. Mo Farah repeated his success last week, completing an unbelievable distance double. What an incredible achievement, and justification for those endless weeks pounding out mile after painful mile.
Almost simultaneously Tom Daley won a bronze medal at the Aquatics centre, and must be relieved with that. He has had immense pressure on his shoulders being a face of the games, and with the death of his father so recently, this is a magnificent effort.

It's all over after tonight's no doubt excessive ceremony, and for certain there will be some sore heads for the next week or two.

My Alternative quick fire Olympic Awards:

Best gold medal winning story: Katherine Grainger, rowing.
Best BBC Presenter: Hazel Irvine
Worst BBC pundit: Tessa Sanderson
Most entertaining sport: athletics
Olympic Sport that is least like a sport: synchronised swimming
Least watchable sport: water polo
Biggest disappointment of a sport: fencing
Best venue: velodrome
Most impressive athletes: tough one, but the gymnasts
Best overall moment: Mo Farah's win in the 10,000m
Most excessive high-fiving: a three way tie between badminton and tennis doubles and volleyball.
Most inflated ego: all 100metre male sprinters
Best medal ceremony performance: Felix Sanchez, 400m runner
Dullest National Anthem: GB

Most competitive athletes: the women's doubles badminton teams
Best parent reaction: Chris Hoy's mum, Carol
Best interview of the games: Greg Rutherford or Chad le Clos' father

James' book 'Shot and a Ghost: A Year in the Brutal World of Professional Squash' is available to buy from Willstrop.co.uk, Amazon or on Kindle.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1749237 2012-08-06T17:49:48-04:00 2012-10-06T05:12:17-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
Apparently some badminton doubles players have been throwing matches so that they could finish in their desired place within the chosen group. Two pairs played against each other trying to lose with no subtlety whatsoever, taking it in turns to serve in to the net several times. The Badminton Federation consequently disqualified offending teams and players.
From Gail Emms to Seb Coe, largely everyone has been critical, but I can't understand why people are so scathing towards them. What they did was terrible for the sport and the Olympics, and it looked truly awful on television, but their actions were borne out of the desire to want to attain a dream, and if the federation don't want to see this happen, then wouldn't they first be advised to take it upon themselves to change the format? If I were those players then I would have wanted to play the weaker team earlier, and in doing so give myself the best chance of winning a medal. Is it not unfair to chastise these athletes for purely going about the competition in the way that most aids their efforts to win medals?
Michael Phelps perhaps eased down in his qualifying heat this evening, presumably saving some energy, and there is no way anyone would reprimand him for that. If Usain Bolt finishes second or third in his heats to qualify but then wins the final by a country mile, would he be penalised for not putting everything in at all times?

Watched the women rowers win the pairs this morning straight after my morning session, and for the rest of the day, as each news bulletin goes by, have heard of their transition from just ordinary rowers to household names. Listening to the radio on the way home we, the public, were informed that the Prime Minister had sent a message to Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, saying how thrilled he was. Nice bit of PR for Dave there.
They seem like lovely girls, and brilliant athletes. One of the pair only decided to take up rowing four years ago, having applied to a Steve Redgrave talent pooling project, which sounded like the sporting equivalent of X factor. When I heard this I felt both depressed and cheerful all in one. To give a little perspective here, you can say goodbye to a world class squash career if you haven't started by about the age of ten.
It does though give my Olympic hopes a serious and unexpected boost. I am tall and rangy, the perfect build for a rower; I love the physical pain of training in a strange way and if I start now I could probably eke out another three Olympics, seen as though Redgrave himself won his last at 38. That's it, decision made. I can't wait all my life for squash to get in, and no-one can ever hope to play professional squash at 38, so i'm going for rowing. What have I been waiting for?
Bradley Wiggins has done marvellous things in the last two weeks and is quite rightly being lauded as British sport's man of the moment. To follow up winning the Tour de France by, only days later, winning a gold in the time trial today is quite frankly an amazing mental and physical effort.
Talking of the word 'amazing' I am hearing it far too much. To all Olympic athletes and BBC presenters: let's hear a different word, please. Repetition is inevitable when considering how much coverage is being devoted to the Olympics; presenters can only smile for so long, athletes can only tell us how amazing it was so many times, and they can only think of so many words. But anything other than amazing.
Adrian Moorhouse at the swimming began repeating his own phrase, 'going nuts'. He said it once about the crowd, that was bad enough. A second time he said it about a swimmer which was taking it too far.
I found myself teasing Vanessa when she kept going on about how cute Michael Jamieson was. What's more he was actually bloody good, and swam a gutsy breaststroke to get a silver. I'm looking forward to Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Ennis coming on later on in the week so I can do my own swooning.
I decided to give the GB mens football a miss and get an early night.

Thursday 2 August

Dreamt last night that the PM called to congratulate me on my gold medal, and I kept trying to tell him that he had got it wrong, as usual. He was having none of it. He had a car ordered to fetch me to Downing Street where I was to give a talk to many of the GB Olympic athletes. It all got a bit murky after that, and then I woke up, realising these dreams are the closest I will ever get to the Olympics.
There were medals all over the place for the home nation today, no dreaming required. Gold and silver in the canoeing, and gold in the shooting. The shooter, Peter Wilson, mentioned squash at least three times in his interview with Gary Lineker. Lineker seems to be holding fort quite nicely in the studio, passing the baton handily between Inverdale, Balding, Humphreys and co. but I'm beginning to think it must be getting quite difficult for him to think of other ways of asking the question: 'So, how does it feel?' to Britain's winning athletes, on his posh sofa. Likewise, it must be becoming even more difficult for these victorious athletes to think of another way of answering this question, other than: 'It was amazing'.
Apart from the dodgy camera angles at the rowing though, and the perpetual repetition of the usual superlatives from some commentators, the apparently recession-dodging BBC are making a decent fist of their Olympic coverage.

Some disappointment tonight on the first day of the cycling: Victoria Pendleton and her partner Jess Varnish were disqualified in the women's team sprint semi final, when Pendleton's front wheel went over the line too early, an eventuality that would sadly repeat itself in the final: later China got round first in the final against Germany, only to have their win rescinded. Pendleton seemed to say in her interview that changeovers were not something they had thought too much about, seen as though they had never had a problem before. And the Chinese girls seemed to react incredulously, as if it was a murky or unwritten rule that had not been clear. Disqualifications like that are not what the Olympics needs, so strict enforcements need to be made to stop this kind of dissatisfying thing happening again. Hoy, Kenny and new boy Philip Hindes stormed to a pulsating win in the men's sprint and brought the roof off the Velodrome.
I watched a little bit of the men's badminton quarters this afternoon, and appreciated the speed and movement of the top eight in an event dominated inevitably by eastern countries.
The evenings are left free for the off beat musings of the incongruous combination of Clare Balding, Ian Thorpe and Mark Foster at the Aquatics Centre. Balding is running the show, bossing the boys about; Foster tries to get a word in whenever he can and ends up saying not that much because of it, and Thorpe...well Thorpe just says 'look' at the beginning of every sentence, as Aussies do, and he can be dramatic and stern but his comments aren't coated with gold dust by any means.
Finished the evening's sporting entertainment watching Lochte and Phelps go head to head in the medley. My message to Phelps: it's time to finish now. Come on pal, stop rubbing it in. We know you are super human by now, you eat 10 fried eggs for breakfast for christ's sake. How many gold medals does one person need? Swimming has far too many medals for their own good. They could divide them up and hand them out equally to the 'inferior' sports: squash, karate and roller sports. We would all be happy then.

Friday 3 August

Before gym this morning it was time for some archery. Being at Lord's cricket ground it was all very prim and proper and English. It sounded like the competition MC was having a bizarre conversation with himself in the background; to the tv viewer it sounded like continuous and informal dialogue rather than commentary. The English lad competing gave it a modicum of interest, but other than that I won't be pressing the red button for any more.
Managed to catch a couple of those ultra-sentimental montages that are becoming a BBC speciality on Princess Jessica over coffee before heading down to London. Saw her run that staggering 100m hurdle race.
Taking three stops on the central line to get to Stratford at 5 o clock on the busiest day of the Olympics was far from fun, and I couldn't help thinking what a terrible way to go being squashed to death on a tube train would be. This was a distinctly unglamorous side of the Olympics. Was it worth it?
Well apart from the circle line, everything else was fairly well ordered, and quite easy to navigate. Lots of pleasant volunteers were on hand to be very nice to everyone and make you feel better after the ordeal of the underground. All in all for such a vast event, not bad I have to say.
Vanessa and I wandered through the park and wondered if I should have brought a few books down to London to sell. I had overlooked the fact that I could have set up a stand and got rid of a few in Olympic Park. Not only could we have sold at least 13 books to all those Rebecca Adlington fans, but when they bought the book, I could have explained what squash was and given Alan Thatcher's back the bid campaign a bit more promotion. Never mind.
Phelps was majestic in the butterfly, and Adlington fought hard for her bronze. And those British crowds and the atmosphere? Simply..amazing!

James' book 'Shot and A Ghost' is available to buy from Willstrop.co.uk, amazon.com or on kindle]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1742798 2012-08-04T21:29:00-04:00 2012-10-04T05:12:10-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
I decided to miss the Opening Ceremony last night, if only for the fact that I (we)have been forced to practically visualise the whole thing a thousand times by various presenters and television 'personalities' who have been predicting this and that for what seems like years. Instead I went out to eat with a few squash playing friends, where we licked our wounds over squash's exclusion from the Games. We felt like we were partaking in our own private boycott, as if to make some statement, but of course no-one listened or cared. Really we were just happy to turn up at a good Leeds restaurant on a Friday night without having to book a table.
Watched some badminton this morning to ease myself in to Olympic action before my training session. Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier lost in the doubles, but things didn't look good from early on when, after winning the first point they gave a laughably premature fist-pump.
My friends at BBC Radio Leeds decided to take pity on me this afternoon for the fact that I am not in London, where they interviewed me and played some of my favourite songs. Presenter Nick Hatton looked interested as I rambled on about squash bless him, but like me, was possibly more intrigued to see how Cavendish was faring in the road race. As our interview continued it was clear the news was not what the Englishman had hoped.
Thank god the actual sport has finally begun. Less hype, more top class action.
I'm still entitled to be bitter about not being at the Olympics, so in the evening I trooped off with my pal Charlie to watch Morrissey in Manchester. His first between-song quip was aptly aimed at the Olympics: 'So I didn't get an invite to the Opening Ceremony last night. They deemed my smile too sincere.' I can always depend on Morrissey to share the pain.

Sunday 29 July

Dreamt that Jacques Rogge had heard about the Morrissey comment (in the dream Morrissey had also championed the inclusion of squash at the gig - aren't dreams good!) and that he had called an emergency IOC meeting. Squash was called in to London at the last minute. The dream then had me driving down a street in Leeds, where hoardings of Ennis, Daley and Adlington were dispensed with, and replaced by adverts of myself and Jenny Duncalf, Nick Matthew and Laura Massaro, the top four British players.
I woke up.... Rain.
Back to real life and I spent the morning off watching the GB men's volleyball team play against Bulgaria. I've seen quite a lot of them at the EIS in Sheffield over the years and they played well today in an entertaining match, but i'm not sure I can forgive them for temporarily stealing my strength and conditioning coach, Mark Campbell, who is part of their support team in London. How selfish. Not only do they get to include a sub-discipline of their sport that is played on the BEACH, but they also take the top staff with them.... Hats off to the sport of Beach Volleyball for tapping in to the glamour aspect though. Maybe we could get the World Squash Federation to follow their lead: squash courts in the sand? scantily clad competitors? We could even manufacture advertising campaigns exposing luscious derrières of the sport's best exponents. Certainly there is no athlete on earth (blame it on the constant lunges) who can demonstrate such trouser-busting gluteal definition in the way a squash player does.
Saw Leeds girl Lizzie Armitshead win a silver, the first medal for the British team. Very well done, immense effort.
I sat reading the papers for a while and then lapsed in to a harrowing period of depression, in which I contemplated a hard week of training ahead. This kind of depression is a normal response to reading the papers nowadays, but it was worse than ever this time. The blanket Olympic coverage on the box in the background wasn't helping, as, frequently panning on to the Olympic stadium and the athlete's village I saw where I could have been. Instead of Wembley Arena and the Olympic Park this week, it's Pontefract and Eastlands.
I calmed down after baking cookies, but then Vanessa (Atkinson, my girlfriend) and I watched Fencing. After exactly 27 minutes neither of us could work out what was happening, and not helped by the commentary team's analytical chatter, we gave up. Vanessa, clearly thinking Fencing was not up to scratch as a sport, then went off in to her own rage about the Olympics, and so I spent the rest of the evening calming her down.
Rebecca Adlington and Liam Tancock's spirited efforts in the pool helped to temper her rage. The atmosphere in the Aquatics Centre looked electric. I'm almost looking forward to going down there on Friday, even though the down side of this is to spend two hours in the thick of a London rush hour.

Monday 30 July


The BBC must be doing well off the licence fee, because I am losing count of how many smiling happy presenters there are. Even BBC Breakfast has temporarily moved down to the Olympic Park, renaming itself Olympic Breakfast. Apart from the odd mention of Syria, the Olympics is THE news at present.
Interesting how these presenters seem to be all of a sudden intrigued by sports that never usually get on the television. What about the rest of the time? Are these people secretly more interested in archery whilst their day job necessitates weekly commentary on the big boy sports?
I heard Alan Green, the boisterously over-opinionated 5 live football presenter who commentates as if he knows everything, gushing how brilliant he thought the rowing was, as if it is an oddity that a sport other than football could possibly be exciting. Well yes Alan many sports can be very thrilling if you would only give them a chance. He said with great surprise something along the lines of: 'It is completely different to football'. And thank god for that Alan. The differences between rowing and football could not be more pronounced, and I need not go in to them.
The British gymnasts did brilliantly today. I actually thought that I had decent strength, balance and stability as a squash player, until I started watching the gymnastics. More depression ensued as they just made me feel like I should go to the gym. Christ the biceps on them.


Tuesday 31 July

Read on the website that GB badminton players are out of the games. It's even more depressing to see Britain's racket sports doing so miserably. My article was published in the Huffington Post today, and I am looking forward to hearing the thoughts of the IOC; I'm sure they will take time out of their Olympic schmoozathon to read my blog.

Nicol David, the women's world number one from Malaysia has a slightly different way than me of purging her Olympic blues: she has been tweeting photos of herself in different Olympic guises over the last few days. Today she was posing as an archery player. A novel and fun way of keeping her 50 million followers updated over the period.

I also can't help noticing Alan Thatcher's tweets: the World Squash Day chief seems to be hell bent on getting 'Back the Bid' all over twitter in any way he possibly can. Was it today I saw him bombarding all the VVIPs - from Lord Coe to Sophie Raworth to Clare Balding- with messages of encouragement to support squash's bid for the games?

Speaking of twitter, it's on days like this as a relative twitter novice that I feel like saying to hell with it. Some imbecile decided to tweet to Tom Daley after his disappointing result in the diving synchro today to tell him that he had let his father down. There is of course little need in me throwing much comment in here about that, except this: there are times when twitter can be a positive mode of communication, but if it breeds this sort of poison then there have to be doubts.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1720453 2012-07-30T14:46:55-04:00 2012-09-29T05:12:39-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/ The sport is what is truly compelling, in case we forget, where the very best athletes in the world strive to achieve their ultimate performance.
The Olympic movement still seems confused though. It is regarded as the greatest sporting event in the world yet the stipulations and parameters within different sports, and in terms of its ethos, are indeterminate: why is the boxing still amateur when every other sport is open to professionals? What are they doing with the age rules in football? And how (i've said it before and i'll say it again) on god's earth are McDonalds a main sponsor?
The event claims to be the pinnacle of sporting endeavour and achievement, but could it be said with any great confidence that every athlete in every sport feels this way? Perhaps we could ask Gareth Bale about that. He evidently prefers playing for Tottenham in pre-season friendlies than competing in the Olympics. If that isn't a mark of disrespect to the IOC I don't know what is. Quelle surprise that an overpaid footballer should inadvertently belittle the efforts of every athlete in or away from London to whom the Olympics means so much.

And its most frustrating inconsistency of all? Well of course, that squash is excluded from the Games. You knew I would get on to this at some stage. As the number one player in my sport, I presently plod away at my summer training and watching the action sometimes makes for difficult viewing. It is hard not to envisage squash somewhere like the Royal Albert Hall, where myself and Nick Matthew could, as ranking positions stand and hypothetically speaking, have been competing in the gold medal match; the repercussions of such an eventuality, in London, are simply mind-blowing.
So if Bale seemingly dismissed a chance to be an Olympian without a second thought, as some sources have suggested, you can imagine how nauseating that seems, when we would gladly sacrifice certain body parts to be involved.
I went to watch Morrissey on Saturday night in Manchester, and abiding by his anti-establishment virtues, he quipped sarcastically that he was surprised not to be invited to perform at the Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Morrissey, you aren't alone in being left out.

James' book, 'Shot and a Ghost' is available to buy now from Willstrop.co.uk, amazon.com, or on kindle]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1566149 2012-06-03T13:02:44-04:00 2012-08-03T05:12:17-04:00

James Willstrop http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-willstrop/
What I didn't do England's world champion Nick Matthew certainly did in the final, and he has not been given enough credit. Ramy Ashour is talented with the racket and often his results are ascribed to him either being 'on' or 'off' that day. This can sometimes do his opponent injustice and in this case it was Nick's overall accuracy and intensity that forced Ramy's errors, and stifled the brilliance. This win confirms that the season has been one of England's most successful ever on the professional tour.

There was a smooth segue from the pressure cooker atmosphere of the O2 Arena into a period of down time and part relaxation last week. During the week off, with a little trepidation, I ventured back to my old school, Ackworth, where I took the morning assemblies for both seniors and juniors, coached some of the squash enthusiasts, and signed some of my books. I wandered around the impressive grounds, swathed in sunshine, and looked back on my time there. As I was re-acquainted with some of my old teachers, I struggled to know whether I should be calling them 'miss', 'sir' or by their first names. In the end I simply settled for calling them nothing at all, filling sentences with silences instead. There is no precedent for this. It's not everyday you bump in to old school teachers, but somehow when it happens it is like being transported back in time, and I was naturally inclined to fill the role of subordinate rather than equal. Quite bizarre I know.

The school itself seemed not to have changed a great deal; the same pictures adorned the corridor walls, the daily lesson timetables were the same, and even one or two of the dinner ladies that I knew were still there. It felt like I'd stepped back in time to the year 2000.

A day later came a trip to Chapel Allerton Squash and Tennis club in Leeds to watch a junior tournament, which showcased some of the best young talent in the country. My manager Mick's son Sam and nephew Elliot were playing, and so too were my nieces. Being a self obsessed sportsman, I get little time to see the superstars of tomorrow but for the odd time after training at my club in Pontefract. I find these junior events fascinating and reckon it is almost as much fun watching the parents, who are often much more intense than the children themselves. I have seen so many get it completely wrong, placing far too much pressure on their offspring for reasons even they themselves probably cannot fathom. Some parents watch their kids play like it is the most harrowing ordeal; their bodies twitch, they cheer for their kids like it is the most important thing on earth and often their facial colour changes markedly.

And what some don't quite see, is how these reactions can have such a huge impact on their children in the short and long term. I see some kids searching their parents' faces for signs of approval, in some cases only getting them when they win. And that is a sad fact. Speaking from my own experience, having forward-thinking parents helped me a lot. I was taking squash seriously from a reasonably young age, but my parents never put pressure on me to win or lose, or to play the game. Winning and losing was secondary, and at a young age it should be. Of course encouraging competitiveness is positive, but effort, decent behaviour and presence on the court or playing field are surely much more important.

My venture to Chapel Allerton showed me that not all were getting it wrong though. Happily, I saw and met some parents who seemed to be doing quite well: taking a back seat, letting their children find it all out for themselves, and keeping... yes relaxed. It was no surprise the children of these parents seemed to enjoy their squash and play better for it.

So, a varied and interesting week. From grand arenas to grass roots. It had it all.

James' book, Shot and a Ghost: A year in the brutal world of professional squash' is available now at www.willstrop.co.uk, amazon.com, or on kindle.]]>