Fram: Are you aware that you are considered controversial very often?
“Controversial, Moi??”
Rob: “It’s not my thing to be controversial. I just try to be honest and factual. Sometimes people take that as controversial, but it isn’t.
Believe it or not, I like most people, even though plenty of people who don’t know me don’t seem to like me! When people spend time with me, we nearly always get on well.
A lot of the things I’ve said over the years are tongue-in-cheek. You have a bit of fun, and people take it terribly seriously. I have a great sense of humour with my players. We laugh, go out for a drink and socialise together. We do everything together – well, almost everything. Humour is important, and that gets lost.
‘I’m lucky to coach squash’
Preserving Individuality
Fundamentally, playing squash is a job, but the minute it feels like a real job, there’s a problem. We’re very lucky to play squash and to be involved in the sport. I’m lucky to coach it. It’s a passion and a love.
I don’t coach squash for the money; in fact, the more I coach, the less I earn. I have several players I don’t charge, but that is my choice. Young players often need help at the beginning of their careers because they can’t afford coaching. If you like somebody and want to make a difference in their life, that’s why you help.
I coach more than twelve people full-time, as well as the juniors, and they’re all different. I try to preserve them as individuals.
Sarah Jane Perry, Paul Coll, Jonah Bryant, Joel Makin…
SJ came to me when she was about 11 in the world. She was different: a wonderful shot player. I didn’t want her to lose that. I didn’t want to turn her into a robot. I wanted to keep the creativity, imagination and flair, but give her some structure.
Paul was completely different. He had discipline and a decent structure, but he didn’t really know how to hit the ball properly. His movement was a bit of a disaster. Everyone thought he was a good mover, but he was terrible: diving everywhere, getting too close to the ball, on the wrong foot and ending up out of position.
With Paul, it was about teaching him how to use the front and back of the court properly, when to play shots, and how to think more strategically. Then we made his movement smooth and balanced. Now he doesn’t get as tired, and his movement looks lovely. Technically, we changed just about everything too, and he is now an incredibly skilful player.
Jonah Bryant is different again. Every player is different, and you can teach the same thing in four or five different ways. People learn in different ways, so I believe it is a mistake to teach everyone the same way. But you might use video, let the player watch, ask them to feel the movement themselves, or demonstrate it. Each person picks things up differently.
Jonah is a very quick learner. Joel Makin was a slower learner, which is fine. Eventually, the slow learner may end up better than the quick one because he has practised and practised until he or she gets it right.
I shouldn’t use Joel as an example so much because I don’t coach him now, but he remains a great role model for what can be achieved from a lower base. Joel had nothing much to recommend him on the surface when he came to me. He was one of the weaker players in my group.
Clearly, I made a big difference to his squash, but I have huge admiration for what he achieved and how he did it. We had a great relationship. I loved coaching Joel; he was fantastic.
