Leeds Beckett Squash coach leads England Squash Under 19s to European glory

Leeds Beckett Squash coach Kirsty McPhee was an integral part of England Squash's Under 19s success at the European Championships in Poland.

Kirsty worked as an assistant coach for England and helped the team achieve Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in both individual and team events.

England won a Gold Medal in the Team event; Gold and Silver Medals in the Women's Individual event and a Bronze Medal in the Men's Individual Event.

Fantastic U19 European Championships for Team England. Team Gold, Individual Gold, Silver and Bronze. Well done to all the team and thanks to @englandsr and @LeeDrewSquash for having me. Great trip! #proudaspunch #winners. Now back home for camps 💪 pic.twitter.com/NqrEWNo8jo

— Kirsty McPhee (@CarnegieCoachK) April 3, 2018

Kirsty believes the key to England's success in the European Championships came down to their event preparation, and Kirsty felt her own preparations were better for the Championships.

"I feel like I was a lot more prepared for the European Championships than I was for last year's World Championships in New Zealand." 

"I feel like my preparations helped me bring a more relaxed approach to the group - which enabled them to go out and focus on their matches and be more business like in how they handled their opponents." 

Kirsty was also incredibly proud of the team's performance after England claimed their ninth successive Under 19s European title.

"I thought the team were brilliant, the players were extremely professional and there was a good group dynamic, with the team gelling together really well."

They’ve done it! 🏆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #England have beaten France to claim the European Under 19 Team title for the ninth year in a row 🙌

Massive congratulations to Tom, Lucy, Nick, Curtis & Alice! 👏 #Squash #Champions #FutureStars #Proud pic.twitter.com/pho1N3IbVm

— 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Squash (@englandsr) April 1, 2018

The Championships were an opportunity for Kirsty to work alongside other high performance coaches, including fellow England Coach Lee Drew.

"It was definitely a great experience for me - I got so much insight from a lot of high performance coaches in how they prepare their players and how they prepare for a match and competitions, it's certainly helped me and given me some more ideas and strategies to do off of the back of it."

After a great experience in Poland with Team England, Kirsty is now back at Beckett and is looking forward to her next lot of Junior Academy Camps.

The next set of Junior Camps taking part will be over the Spring Bank Holiday from Tuesday 29 May until Friday 1 June.

Kirsty will also be running more Junior Camps over the Summer holidays from Monday 30 July until Friday 31 August - which you can find information about here