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Bermuda’s elite squash players will, for the first time, have a dedicated coach to oversee training for major international events like the Commonwealth Games.

Former Dutch international Denise Sommers arrives on the island next week to take up the post.

She will be in charge of coaching national squad players from under-11 to senior level.

Sommers, who is half Jamaican, half-British and grew up playing squash in Holland, will coach the team for the Games in Melbourne in March.

She represented Holland at international level and has gone on to have a distinguished coaching career working with some of the best players in the game, including former world number one Vanessa Atkinson.

She will meet members and give some squash demonstrations at the Bermuda Squash Club in Devonshire on January 20.

Ross Triffitt, Bermuda’s director of squash, said the number of tournaments that Bermuda's top players were now involved in — ranging from junior Carribean competitions to major international championships - meant the appointment was a logical step.

“It makes sense to have somebody focusing on the development and somebody focusing on the elite players.”

Club pro Patrick Foster will continue to work with club members and to run coaching programmes for people involved in all levels of the game.

Triffitt added: “The programme has built up and got bigger and bigger and the demands for coaching in general from our members has increased.”

He added that the club was also looking to expand and build more courts as the sport continued to grow in popularity.

He said the post of national coach had been advertised in several countries and Sommers had been selected from a shortlist of around 30 applicants.

“She had the experience we wanted and we also thought it would be a good idea to go for a female. Women’s squash is behind the men's game in Bermuda and we wanted to develop that side of it,” he added.[[In-content Ad]]

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