Tennis-Squash Varsity Team Training

Why tennis and squash together?

  • Over the last 20 years, tennis has gradually become a more athletic sport with physical conditioning becoming more and more important, with the top players becoming fitter and fitter – during the same time period, squash rallies and matches have become shorter and more “explosive” due to a lower tin and a switch to point-a-rally scoring.  The result is that the physiological profile and training requirements of athletes in both sports have become very similar.
  • The Smith College Varsity Tennis and Squash Teams have always had a very close connection during Chris Davis’ tenure – more than a few top Squash Team members learned their squash at Smith (Clair Oblamski, Eunice Zhao, Kanta Murali, Ashley Kilgore, Talia Williams, etc.).
  • With recent changes to NCAA III rules concerning out-of-season training (must be conducted by a Strength & Conditioning Certified Specialist – Tim Bacon holds this certification) it makes sense that the two teams join forces to synergistically improve the performance of both teams.

The Program

Core Performance is the world leader in both program design (rehab & performance specialists) and education (web, video, publications, etc.) – they have carefully designed 13-weeks of progressive programs for racquet sports – we have chosen the tennis program as it places a slightly higher emphasis on power and agility – which is what both of the current teams need most.

  • During the summer off-season, at the start of every week, Chris and Tim will send out the program for the week.  Often in PDF form, the program can be downloaded onto a laptop or smartphone – and further instructions (including video demonstrations) can be found by doing a search using the “name of the exercise” in the search box on the Core Knowledge page of the Core Performance website.
  • The program parameters are for a 20 year-old, fairly active woman, who wishes to train three times a week for 75 minutes.  If you are an experienced fitness person feel free to modify the program (always a good idea to check with Chris or Tim first).
  • If you need encouragement or daily reminders to workout, try following Core Performance on Twitter – the tweet exercises, nutritional and other health-related info several times a day.
  • If you miss a week, just continue with the program, don’t worry about “making up” (do check in with Chris or Tim).
  • During the tennis academic off-season (Nov. to Feb.) the members of the tennis team will be invited to train together with the squash team on a Monday or Tuesday to set-up their physical training for the week (more information to follow in the fall).

Week 1 (Aug. 5-11, 2013):  CP SQ TEN 1

Week 2 (Aug. 12-18, 2013):  CP SQ TEN 2

Week 3 (August 19-25, 2013)):

Week 5 (Sept. 2-8, 2013):

Week 6 (Sept. 9-15, 2013):

Week 7 (Sept. 16-22, 2013):  CP SQ TN Wk. 7: 

Week 8 (Sept. 23-29):  CP SQ TN Wk. 8: 

Week 9 (Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2013):  CP TN SQ Wk. 9

Updated Guidelines for doing Core Performance without coach supervision:  SmithStrength.Guidelines.

Leave a comment