Q and A With Team Canada Head Coach Yvon Provencal At The World's
from DailySquashReport.com
August 22, 2011 - DailySquashReport caught up with Team Canada head coach Yvon Provencal following his team’s 2-1 victory over Scotland yesterday in the first round of pool play at the World Teams in Germany.
The Canadians take on Mexico today, a winner over Namibia.
DSR:
Can you give us an assessment of each Canadian team player - their
game, their style of play, their current form, what you might expect
from them in this event?
Coach Provencal:
Shahier Razik, 7th World Championships, the most successful active canadian player. Will be playing in first spot for the first time so will have many difficult matches. He has not played any events this summer so might need a few matches to get his level up to his usual level. Is known for his long matches, plays attritional squash, moves the player around the court and he is a very smooth player
Shawn DeLierre, 3rd Championships, plays a very important role on the team and he will have to win most of our matches at his position for us to have good results. Just came back from his first event of the season where he reached the final and is very fit. Very agile and fast, he plays a unique style of squash and likes to keep his opponent guessing all the time.
Andrew McDougall, rookie on the team, he has been improving his ranking steadily in the last years. He plays a consistent game based a lot on fitness. Suffered a bad loss in his only event this summer but showed excellent form in the trials back in July to qualify for the team.
Andrew Schnell, also a rookie and youngest player on the team (19). He plays fearless squash and is one of the most promising canadian players. Likes to attack a lot but is also blessed with good speed and good hands. Keeps improving every month and is difficult to assess his form as he is quite new to the circuit.
DSR:
What will be your normal starting lineup, and who is the alternate?
Coach Provencal:
Starting line up is Razik, DeLierre and the third might vary between McDougall and Schnell
DSR:
How do you evaluate your pool? How do you see yourselves
matching up against Mexico? Was today's Scotland match what you expected?
Coach Provencal:
We just beat Scotland and I thought the only match we could lose was in the first spot where they are quite strong. Unfortunately, Shahier has not played many tournament matches lately and even though he wasn't match fit, he lost a very close one.
Mexico will be a tough battle, we are used to playing them in Pan Am competitons where they do very well in high altitude. Every position could be very close, so difficult to evaluate our chances.
DSR:
How much coaching do you do during individual matches, and what is
your objective as a match coach? What is your objective as the overall
team coach? How much difference can a coach make in a world team event?
Coach Provencal:
The coach does a lot of coaching in invidual matches but the veteran players help too. These Championships are one of the rare occasions of team play so team spirit is very important even though squash is an individual sport. The coach has to make sure the players are well prepared to compete and that is why we bring a therapist to optimize recuperation between the many matches.
We work as a team by discussing opponents and helping everyone in their preparation for their individual matches. Same thing goes with post match comments, we do it as a team and if needed one on one. The coach can make a difference but I would rather say that the team makes a bigger difference. These players are used to travelling alone so are used to competing by themselves. They therefore welcome having a coach (and teamates) in their corner.
DSR:
What do you see as the key to Canada advancing to the main draw and
performing well there?
Coach Provencal:
We are seeded 7th but the difference between the 7-10 seeds is very small. The two teams that will perform the best on the right day will advance. It is my objective to make sure the players are ready to compete at their best on those days.
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