SQR+ Squash Radio
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Episodes
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Conor O’Malley & Bill Buckingham invite on the Head of College Squash to share what’s the latest as the season gets underway.
REACH OUT: FAN FOLLOW UP > The Appendix!! In this segment, we will be sharing the feedback, comments, insights, you name it! So reach out us on social media or email squashradio@gmail.com. As always, thanks for listening! SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.
Friday Oct 22, 2021
Friday Oct 22, 2021
TBD #20 has arrived! On this milestone episode, PJ, Conor and Bill are joined by 2021 US Open Semi-finalist and team USA member Olivia Fiechter. Olivia talks about the many ways to pronounce her last name as well as her stunning run to the US Open semis in her hometown of Philadelphia. In the R&R segment we look back at our most memorable encounters with famous people (not including our interactions with PJ) . The doubters said we would never make it to 20, so give a listen and enjoy this episode of the breakdown!
REACH OUT: FAN FOLLOW UP > The Appendix!! In this segment, we will be sharing the feedback, comments, insights, you name it! So reach out us on social media or email squashradio@gmail.com. As always, thanks for listening! SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.
Friday Oct 15, 2021
Friday Oct 15, 2021
Welcome back, squash fans! This week’s guest is Chris Smith, and the episode is structured a little differently than the others. The majority of it was recorded over three years ago, but was never released, so Conor recently recorded a quick follow up to bring it all together.
The episode starts off with a brief conversation about where Chris is now and what has changed in his life over the past few years since the original conversation was recorded back in 2018. Most well known for being the Head Boys and Girls Squash Coach at St. Paul’s School, along with the Associate Dean of Admissions at the school, Chris has recently added the title of Associate Director of Athletics to his title.
After the intro concludes, the episode recorded back in 2018 begins with a conversation about how Chris started at St. Paul’s and his experience working on the admissions side of things while being the head coach, and how the two intertwine. He discusses his experience working with both the boy’s and girl’s teams at the school, and how he’s helped them grow. He talks about the recruitment process, including the ins and outs of prep school championships. Chris has interesting input about what sets St. Paul’s apart from other boarding schools, and how he was working to bring in more international students as well.
This leads into a conversation about Chris’ coaching style, and how attending a boarding school while playing squash can really help to set players apart from others in terms of the college recruitment process. He talks about how he was trying to bring more of a college level coaching style to high school, and his hopes for growing the prep school league.
Conor brings up the topic of technology and Chris discusses how he has utilized it to help evolve the squash courts at St. Paul’s through scoreboards and microphone sound systems.
The conversation shifts when Conor asks about Chris’ three and a half year old daughter, Avery, who at the time had recently received a cancer diagnosis. He talks about what the road ahead was going to look like, how she was doing, and how their lives were changing, but especially how they were keeping their positivity. He mentions the support they had been receiving, and what they were doing to support other families in similar positions. Conor asks a couple quickfire questions, which ends the episode from 2018.
There’s a brief follow up in which Chris discusses where Avery is now, how she’s doing health wise, and how they’ve managed to stay positive through the years.
Be sure to tune in to an episode filled with advice from someone very involved in the boarding school squash and recruitment world, ideas on how technology can change the game of squash, and emotional words and stories from a rock star dad!
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REACH OUT: FAN FOLLOW UP > The Appendix!! In this segment, we will be sharing the feedback, comments, insights, you name it! So reach out us on social media or email squashradio@gmail.com. As always, thanks for listening! SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.
Thursday Oct 07, 2021
Thursday Oct 07, 2021
Welcome back to another episode of Squash Radio! This week’s guest is Aidan Harrison. Known for developing the squash program at the Onwentsia Club in Illinois, Aidan built the program from the ground up. 20 years later, he’s still enhancing the program daily. He’s responsible for growing the league’s participation by 800% by creating one of the most competitive programs in the state. Aidan is also one of the members of past guest and current #3, Amanda Sobhy’s coaching team.
The episode starts off with Aidan discussing what brought him to the US from the UK, and what made him want to start coaching juniors. This leads into a conversation about the beginnings of the Onwentsia Club back in 2001, especially focusing on some of the unique and creative events and tournaments Aidan put together. Conor asks the question of how Aidan grew the women’s program at the club, and Aidan speaks more about how his creative group classes and events helped to draw in a diverse crowd. This leads to the question of how Aidan would come up with these events, and he talks about his brainstorming process.
Conor poses the question of how Aidan works with and coaches his elite players, and Aidan gives examples of some of his favorite coaching styles, and gives the listeners lots of advice and pointers. He tells some stories from his coaching career, and how he helps players deal with the stress of competing.
The conversation shifts when Conor asks Aidan about his experience being a Lulu Lemon ambassador. Aidan explains how his passion of deejaying and teaching spin classes got him involved with the brand, and the reasons why he’s so impressed with Lulu Lemon as a whole. This leads to a dialog about Aidan’s passion for spinning and teaching spin classes.
Towards the end of the episode, the two talk about Aidan’s work with the Love to Be foundation, which has helped to bring two of Aidan’s greatest passions together (deejaying and playing squash). Conor thanks Aidan for his support for Metro Squash, and how it’s changed the Chicago squash community. The conversation ends with the classic “quick fire” section.
REACH OUT: FAN FOLLOW UP > The Appendix!! In this segment, we will be sharing the feedback, comments, insights, you name it! So reach out us on social media or email squashradio@gmail.com. As always, thanks for listening! SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.
Wednesday Sep 29, 2021
Wednesday Sep 29, 2021
Welcome back, squash fans! This week we’re highlighting a guest that’s very near and dear to our hearts here at Squash Radio. He’s a former #4 player, gold medalist, one of the highest leading coaches in the world, lead commentator on Squash TV and (most importantly), cohost of The Breakdown with Conor and Bill: the one and only, Paul Johnson (aka PJ)!
PJ begins the episode by giving a little background about his coaching career, and talks about the adjustments he had to make in his coaching style after moving to the states from the UK. He talks about the importance of being confident in oneself as a coach, how he spotted talent in young players, and the need for a strong work ethic in his players. He also brings up the importance of players actually participating and learning from matches, rather than solely learning from the technical side of being coached. He continues on to answer a couple of questions about how he stays sharp as a coach (along with fellow coach, David Pearson), and offers advice to the listeners on simple things he does. Conor and PJ continue to talk about fellow great coaches and favorite stories.
Midway through the episode, Conor asks PJ for more details about his transition from the UK to the US back in the day, and PJ tells a tale of one of his early experiences, getting whisked away to coach in the Hamptons, only to witness a tennis match with one of today’s most highly ranked and well known female players of all time. PJ tells another story from his early days in the US, and his experience with burn out, along with how he handled disappointment within himself. Conor asks PJ about his experience at the Commonwealth Games, and PJ describes the feeling of winning a gold metal.
The conversation shifts when Conor brings up PJ’s other passion, which is music. Pj discusses what originally made him so passionate about various music types, what he listens to now, and his relationship with music in between. The episode ends with a couple of Conor’s classic quickfire questions.
Tune in for an episode filled with coaching advice, stories from the past, musical choices, and more!
REACH OUT: FAN FOLLOW UP > The Appendix!! In this segment, we will be sharing the feedback, comments, insights, you name it! So reach out us on social media or email squashradio@gmail.com. As always, thanks for listening! SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
Welcome to TBD #19! Gather round boys and girls, its story time as Conor, PJ and Bill welcome Squash Stories founder and moderator Jamie Maddox to the show. Jamie discusses the growth of his Facebook group, his alter ego Eshan, and his love of all things "El Shorbagy". You don't want to miss this episode of TBD. It's so good PJ may even give it a listen!
REACH OUT: FAN FOLLOW UP > The Appendix!! In this segment, we will be sharing the feedback, comments, insights, you name it! So reach out us on social media or email squashradio@gmail.com. As always, thanks for listening! SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.
Monday Sep 20, 2021
Monday Sep 20, 2021
It’s that awesome time of the year again when the community takes time to highlight women’s squash with a week-long, multi-state and country celebration for Women's Squash Week!
We thought this would be the perfect time to connect you to Kim Clearkin, who has been at the forefront of driving women's squash initiative forward for 15 years now, along with being the Senior Vice President at US Squash and Co-Chair of the Women’s Committee.
We go through a quick background of this week, give you a snapshot of women's squash in the U.S., and talk about the Howe Cup; one of the most beloved events in the Country.
If you want to find ways to join in the fun this week, go to USSquash.org to learn how to sign up, and join in the fun!
Thursday Sep 16, 2021
Thursday Sep 16, 2021
Welcome back, squash fans! This week we have Manek Mathur on the podcast. Most well known for being ranked the #1 doubles player on the SDA Tour, four-time College Squash National Team Champion, DJ and music producer and his new career path in the world of real estate.
The episode starts with Manek’s experience playing at Trinity and the relationships he formed with his coach (Paul Assaiante) and fellow teammates. Originally from India, the transition to being an international student at Trinity was welcoming, in large part to the squash family community built over the years. This was huge for Manek and a common theme throughout the episode.
He shares what competition was like among teammates, including tension, but how they moved past it to thrive and create lifelong friendships. There’s a shift in the conversation when Conor asks about a former teammate (Shaun Johnstone) and how they all handled the news of him being diagnosed with Cancer. Manek shares how the community dealt with it and what can be learned from it.
The episode continues with Conor asking about Manek’s experience moving from singles to doubles, and eventually being ranked #1. Manek talks about the transition and how he took pointers and tips from other players along the way.
Manek then discusses his time at the Racquet and Tennis club, and how much he enjoyed his time and his community there, along with the changes he made to improve the club.
The conversation shifts to the topic of Manek’s passion for creating music, more specifically, as a DJ/Creator. He brings up how music used to help him before playing matches, and has since become a lifelong passion. Conor and Manek talk about the “flow state” and how that’s a common theme in both Manek’s music making and squash game. He gives advice on how to be productive in one’s craft, but not let it take up too much time.
The episode begins to draw to a close when Manek talks about his fairly recent career change into real estate. He’s currently working in Brooklyn, NY, and loving his new job. Of course, the episode finishes with the classic “quick fire” section, where Conor asks questions about Manek’s interests and passions beyond the squash world. Tune in for an episode filled with topics about community, creativity, finding one’s passions, and how it all intertwines!
Music Credit@ Manek Mather ‘Seeing Ghost’
SPONSOR: This episode of Squash Radio (SQR+) sponsored by ProSportLED – the most advanced lighting technology for your racquet sport needs.
ProSportLED and Squash Radio (SQR+) are both aligned about the importance of sharing the stories of people involved in our Sport. Reach out to us at squashradio@gmail.com if you know of anyone interested in LED lighting.