The Empty Chair...Not!
by Bob Hanscom
October 12, 2012 - In her loss to Raneem Weleily of Egypt at the 2012 $70,000 Malaysian Open, and to Alison Waters in the $50,000 Weymuller Open in New York following, next to Nicol David between games we noticed one obvious thing...an empty chair, where Nicol's personal coach of ten years, Liz Irving would have ordinarily been sitting!
Did this one fact contribute to the two most devastating losses Nicol has suffered in over five years? Perhaps not totally, for Nicol has been spending a great deal of time and energy in her unselfish efforts to promote the 2020 Squash Back The Bid initiative in having squash become an Olympic sport in the year 2020. This must have somewhat compromised her focus, normal training and tournament preparation.
Well...whether it was this, the fact that all the top girls are getting better and/or that Nicol is now 29 that contributed to these two losses...at the 2012 U.S. Open, that "Empty chair was...NOT!"
There was Liz Irving, sitting next to Nicol in "that" chair, offering whatever amount of moral and/or tactical support she is obviously very capable of doing. How important was this to Nicol's success in winning her first U.S. Open?
To quote Kasey Brown who lost to Raneem Weleily in the quarters and commentating with Lee Beachill for the ESPN-3 live coverage during Nicol's semi-final match with Joelle King, "It makes a big difference having your coach in your corner!"
Sports psychologists agree that this is true! They say that the most valuable advice a coach offers to his/her player between games is to offer emotional support and tactical expertise. They claim the coach will have a far greater chance of helping the player if they have them focus their attention toward a game plan and specific issues of shot selection, i.e. “Hit hard and low cross court to her forehand”, “Use your straight drop from the front of the court if she's hanging back”, “Cut the ball off on the volley on the backhand," etc.
All of the sports psychologists agree that being there to offer this type of advice will absolutely enhance a player's performance, regardless of the level of play, junior to world champion!
Whatever the case, be it that Nicol was able to re-focus her attention to match play, paying a little less attention to promoting the game of squash generally and/or "backing the bid" for squash becoming an Olympic sport...having that "Empty chair...NOT," didn't hurt her success there in Philadelphia!
Liz Irving & Nicol David During the US Open Semifinals
Next up...the WSA 2012 $55,000 China Open taking place in Shanghai over the week of October 23-28.
Stay tuned!
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