Nick Matthew Academy Update

2017 was an incredible year for the One Health Nick Matthew Squash Academy and South Yorkshire squash.

With the Academy going into its third year, we’re very excited to see how well South Yorkshire’s squash players are progressing, with a record number of juniors representing the Academy and Hallamshire squash club across the country, all the while wearing their One Health shirts.

Founder of the Sheffield-based Academy, Nick Matthew OBE, has provided us with an update on what will happen in 2018, and how our support is helping the Academy achieve its goals. Here’s what he had to say:

“Developing and working with the next generation of squash players is very important to me, and to do this I needed to find a sponsor who shared the same ethos and values as myself.

“In the One Health Group, I’m delighted to be partnered by an organisation which understands the demands of sport and how to get the very best out of every individual, and their support can be seen throughout the Academy.

“This January will see our second ‘This Girl Can’ Campaign run for a 6-week period, with every participant receiving a NMA/One Health/Hallamshire vest. We’re hoping to mirror last year’s campaign, which resulted in several members joining the programme on a regular basis and even forming a team in the Sheffield & District league.

“This campaign will be the catalyst for our main focus for 2018, which is to get more schools involved in squash. More schools than ever were active in the last One Health school’s festival, and we’re hoping to increase that number further this year.

“As an Academy, we have provided taster sessions to Bents Green, Porter Croft and Sharrow schools, with all three committing to an 8-week coaching course for their students in 2018. This will then culminate in their participation in the 2018 One Health school’s festival (please clarify when this is), adding more Sheffield schools to the mix.

“On a personal note, 2018 is the year that I’ve decided to announce my retirement from the PSA World tour. I look forward to having a greater involvement around Hallamshire and the Academy going forward to fulfil our long-term vision of getting more young people playing squash.

“We certainly could not have got this far without the team at One Health and look forward to their continued support over the next few years.

“From February, Jayne Bonner will be joining the Academy as Business Support manager. It is fantastic that Jayne is joining us as it will strengthen our ability to grow the business and carry out our vision.”

As part of our continued support for the Nick Matthew Academy, we are running a competition to give away two free tickets to the Nick Matthew masterclass on 11/12 August 2018. To be in with a chance to win the tickets, all you need to do is retweet and like our posts on social media. The closing date to enter is 27 February 2018 and the winner will be notified on 28th February 2018. For information about the masterclass, email jayne@nmsquash.co.uk

The masterclass is hosted at Hallamshire in Sheffield and is open to all standards of all ages. It will give an insight into the methods Nick uses day to day in training and will allow the winners to receive coaching from Nick’s expert team.