Growing up in Africa, I started playing squash in my university days. I love the game so much that when I was younger I used to meet my friend at the courts at 5.30am – 3 mornings a week so that we could play and I could still be at work to open up my factory at 7.00am which is a common time in Africa for manufacturing facilities to start.
Squash is a funny game that starts out with a lot of running, but as you get older and wiser and more skilled, you can make the other guy run a lot. One of the reasons that I love the game is that yes, it takes skill and fitness, but also a lot of strategy. It is like a chess game and once you get on the court, you have to adapt your game for each new opponent.
It was only in my 40’s after coming to the USA that I really got some great instruction from a professional squash player. It cost quite a lot at the time, but I had the opportunity to learn from someone who was #7 in the world. Stephan Castelyn this year became the Belgium champion for the 19th time! Having twice been the USA National Professional champion, there might be one or two things I could learn from him …..
There were a number of lessons that I learned from this experience later in life that went far beyond the squash court.
1. After more than 20 years of playing squash, he changed the way that I help the racquet. What’s up with that? It was “Go back to basics” Here is how to hold the racquet correctly. It changed my game completely – it got a LOT worse. I learned that sometimes we think that we are doing OK with things in our lives, but no matter how long we have been doing things, there are times when we need to unlearn old habits. Stefan warned me that my game would get worse first, but if I followed his advice, it would get better than before. That’s exactly what happened.
2. Practice, practice, practice! Nobody gets good at something without working on it. We would do squash drills over and over and over again. It was boring, but it made my game a lot better eventually. For most people to get really good at something in life, it takes an average of 1000 hours of practice – no matter whether it be our job or if it is our hobby or playing an instrument.
3. Learn from someone who has “Been there, Done it” I often counsel students who are contemplating their careers to go and interview people who are already successful in what they do. There is something that they are doing that is right in order for them to be successful. It is often helpful for us to learn what others went through in order to avoid the mistakes they made, and to learn what the good decisions were.
4. Learn something new every year. Since the time of those lessons, I have tried to learn to play a new shot every year. This takes time and effort, and I have not been able to master each shot that I have tried to learn, but my game has certainly expanded and this has been extremely helpful. It takes purposefulness to learn something new every year. In our professions and any other walks in life, if we learn just one new thing every year, we will be way ahead of the pack by the time we get to 90!
5. As you get older, your energy might not be what it used to be, but you can compensate for that with experience and skill. One of the great things about squash is that if you work at it, you can still play competitively into your older years. There are many guys at our club that are in their 50’s and 60’s that can still beat the younger guys. We often joke that by the time the younger guys learn to play the right shot, they will be old enough that their knees will be shot.
Stefan just won his 19th Belgium national title at the age of 41. As we progress in years, there might be many things that the younger generation laughs at us for (like my kids do), but experience and skill can still keep us going for a long time.
Stefan showing the correct racquet technique
I guess we are never too old to keep learning – it just takes some effort, but learning something new each year will eventually make us experts at what we do. We don’t have to learn everything, just get good at what we do. We all have a lifetime to live!
Apply for a College Planning America Scholarship