One of the best squash players ever in Finland (PSA 25 in 1990), Pentti “Pena” Pekkanen, is sharing his wisdom by coaching at GoGo in Tampere. All five training sessions are fully booked, but if you want to meet Pena then you need to find your way to GoGo on Thursday evenings between 18:00 and 19:30. Pekkanen was persuaded to keep the trainings by Raoul Öhman and Angel Iglesias whereas Krister Koivula took care of all practical arrangements. Thanks to everyone.

In the first training session Pena emphasized ball control in several exercises. For example, in the normal drive-boast drill he asked players to variate the length of the drive by controlling the power and height of the shots whereas with boast Pena asked to make a clear difference with defense (3-wall “straight to nick” boast) and attack (2-wall “bounce to nick” boast).

In cross court volley exercise Pena reminded that in all racket games shots start from the legs meaning that it is important not only to move to the ball but also to use the legs when hitting the ball for better ball control and power. Third point related to ball control was an advise to “hit through” for perfect control of direction and power. See Pena in action here.

Tags: Coaching, Technique, PSA

Finnish Squash Association (SSqL) selected Leo Hatjasalo as a new president for a two years period. FSA board meeting was opened by resigning president Jari Mether who was the FSA president for total 6 years. Meeting chairman Lauri Tarasti, honorary president of FSA, conducted voting maybe the first time in the FSA board meetings’ history as there were more persons willing to join the board than there were open positions.

New board consists of 8 members: Naseem Ahmed (ESQ), Kyösti Mustonen (LahtiSq), Arttu Moisio (TSK), Tomi Niinimäki (TSK), Jukka Nummi (NääsSq), Pirjo Piekäinen (ESRC), Harri Valasma (OSK) and Lauri Valtola (MiSq), and 2 deputy members: Juhani Rautiainen (ESRC) and Mikael Rundman (HSK). Squashdevil.com wishes best luck for the new board.

Tags: SSqL

Now the story how to loose fat is finally ready as promised in the first blog entry Goals achieved. Many of us have tried to loose weight. Many of us have also tried to loose fat. But how many of us has actually noticed the difference between loosing weight and loosing fat. Most of people don’t make the difference, but actually the whole point is in the difference! And believe or not, but it is as easy as shown in the screencast (but only if you are disciplined).

First ask your personal trainer or nutritional specialist to define your daily energy consumption level, then tune carbs level and follow screencast’s advices and examples. Buy a kitchen scale (0-1 kg) so that you know how much you are eating. Throw away or hide your body scale and use a tape measure to follow progress once a week or bi-weekly. And remember that the devil is in the details!

Tags: Health