With this type of squash, you lose weight
If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, take up squash, advises Phil Wilkins, a ”“ what else? ”“ squash pro who is based in Tuxedo Park.
“On an average, a player burns 600 calories in a half hour,” says Wilkins, who is squash instructor and fitness trainer with LiveTechnology. The Tuxedo Park-based marketing communications technology firm this spring hosted the American Open at its own squash court. It was the largest tournament on the Pro Squash Tour, which coordinates stops across the country from August through April, culminating in a May championship event in Detroit. In Tuxedo Park, the tournament attracted international pros and was coordinated with Friends of the Barn, a local squash organization.
Wilkins was born in England, where the game originated. He points to the irony that squash had its birth 150 years ago as a prison game played by inmates in Harrow and has come to be a favorite with society”™s elite. There was even a squash court on the ill-fated RMS Titanic.
A favorite sport with Ivy League schools, squash is “a sport that is an avenue for high school students to get into a good college,” Wilkins says.
Although born in England, Wilkins was raised in northern Wales because of his father”™s job relocation.
“Both of my parents played squash, and my brother and I used to watch them,” he recalls. “They live now in northern Wales and are still promoters of the game today.”
Graduated in 2005 from the University of Manchester where he majored in sports studies, Wilkins sought to take time off from academics to go into coaching. He wanted to see the game of squash more widely recognized in the United States, connected with friends in the U.S. and wound up assistant squash professional that same year at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, remaining there for three years before moving to LiveTechnology.
Wilkins credits the firm”™s founder, Wayne Reuvers, with encouraging physical fitness for his 60 employees. “He has made the company”™s squash court available to the community to use. Squash courts are hard to find, because they are a foot wider than the usual American hardball court.”
Wilkins calls squash “the healthiest sport there is,” adding that in addition to weight control, it contributes to healthy hearts. He also has several private clients whom he coaches. The game is played by 20 million people in 185 countries and has shown sustained growth in the United States in recent years, he says.
In his Tuxedo Park post, he also coaches martial arts and mountain biking, advises on nutrition and even serves as a physical therapist.
In a sad story to which airline travelers can relate, Wilkins tells a horror tale involving baggage handling.
“I flew back home and put my rackets through luggage. Every one of them arrived broken,” says. “Now I carry them on (board).”
On his semiannual visits to his parents”™ home, he carries two to three rackets; but when participating in a tournament, the number rises to five or six.
As a coach for his private clientele, he considers one of his major challenges the younger teenagers who have natural talent for squash.
“Those with natural talent tend to get lazy and complacent because things come easily. They, above all others, need guidance.” In this aspect of his career, Wilkins takes satisfaction in his belief that he is training the future pros of the game.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be emailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.