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arrow pointing leftBack 08 March 22 - by England Squash

Rally Together | Proof that change can happen

Rally Together story
As part of our Rally Together campaign, Chris Robertson guest blogs for England Squash, reflecting on his time as a coach and how working alongside females has helped shift his perception of women in sport.

As a former squash player back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I was grounded in the belief that as professional players, men worked harder than females and as such, men deserved more as a result. It was purely a naïve opinion, grounded in selfishness and ignorance. Looking back, it is embarrassing.

When I retired from playing and became National Coach for Wales in 1994, I soon realised how wrong I was. As National Coach, my results came from both men and women. Pretty quickly, I realised my coaching career wouldn’t last very long if I didn’t base my opinions on more than a self-absorbed importance of myself. It took a little while to fully appreciate my obvious failings, with some people rightly pointing out my stance as a player won’t work as a coach. Humbling times for me on reflection.

One day it dawned on me, how ironic all this was as I was only ever coached in my entire career: by a female. Where did my perceptions come from if that was my coach/player history?

You see, my coach and I made a pretty good team. She guided me to world number 2 and made me the player I became and the coach I am now. Her ability to motivate, connect and communicate her immense knowledge are life lessons for any aspirational coach. It was about trust and respect, not gender. When I arrived back in Brisbane after winning the World Junior Championships in 1984, it didn’t matter my female coach was there to meet me at the airport, it was just mattered they were there, which she was.

"Joining England Squash as National Coach in 2011, I got the opportunity to see first-hand the enormous qualities female coaches like Tania Baliey and Fiona Geaves brought to the coaching team. It was refreshing to feel that connection again as I had in my playing days. Equally, I got to witness how hard it was for these coaches at times, to get the credibility and respect they deserved."

Of course, they got recognition and respect from the girls and women in the programme, but sadly not always the boys or men. It wasn’t nasty or overt stuff, but I could sense it and I am sure they could feel it.

That barrier for women coaches in our game still exists. We would be as ignorant as I was as a player to think otherwise. It is about opportunity and acceptance. If every coach is given that, then the abilities they impart is the only outcome we should care about.

Some of the squash fraternities are still quite rigid in their views. I will give you an example.

Often female coaches will be seen as very able to work with the female players but not the men, whilst a male coach can work with male and female players, and no-one thinks otherwise. I don’t know the reason some hold this opinion, but they do. I have seen this and felt this for many years when deploying male and female coaches throughout my programmes. Not always, but enough to know how much harder it is if I was starting out now as a female coach in squash.

Remember, I was only ever coached by a female coach, and it made my career. If you give it a chance you might never regret it.

The narrative needs to shift to judging the value ANY coach brings to the table. Be hard on what you expect, that is your right. However, do it fairly, giving the female coaches an equal chance to be part of the conversation. Campaigns such as this, shine a necessary light on the real-life issues in the growth of our sport. It clearly says we are not doing enough for our female coaches if we were, we would have more in our system.

Rally together seems a great title for me. If I watch a player and they construct rally after rally of real quality, you want to know who coaches that player. The gender isn’t important, just what they did together to create that. Like my coach and I created in my career. The fact her name is Rita Paulos might surprise some, but hopefully in that it opens your mind to what is possible, not what is impossible.

Click here to find out more about our Rally Together campaign and sign the pledge.