Parental Guidelines

Gail and I are delighted to have your children in our program, and that you are willing to come and watch them learn how to play the great game of squash. Based on our experience with running this program over many years, here are some guidelines for parents that we would like you to adhere to.

1. Please do not get involved in any way with what is happening on court while the children are playing (unless of course there is a safety issue involved). This means: do not coach, do not cheer, do not referee, and do not keep the score. Your job is to make sure the children get here on time (carrying their squash shoes); to sit at the back watching, working, or reading; and to bundle them up in warm clothes (otherwise they will run out in freezing weather in squash gear) and take them home when their time is up. We have found that many kids feel too much pressure if their parents get involved while they are playing, and we want them to have fun learning the game and getting some exercise. Time for such pressure comes later if and when they decide to go on the tournament circuit, and even then, the pressure should come from the match and not from parental expectations.

2. If you are a squash player yourself, and would like to help coach, please let us know. We sometimes welcome some extra help, but need you to take a short introductory course on our philosophy of coaching children, unless of course you already hold a coaching qualification.

3. If you see something on court that you are not happy about, come and find Gail or Richard and explain the problem so that we can deal with it. Please do not take action or deal directly with the coach working with your child.

4. If you bring other siblings to our squash sessions, please do not let them run around behind the courts in the spectators' gallery. This is not a safe area, and also this distracts those trying to run the program, who should be focusing on the action on court, not the action off court.

5. If you have suggestions about how we can improve the program, please talk to Gail or Richard. We are always happy to listen and learn.