Cost: $4800
cost includes: room and board, transportation costs in New Zealand, and fees for all outdoor activities. The cost does not include airfare to and from New Zealand.
Head coach: Paul Hornsby, NZ national coach
Tour director: Zafi levy, head squash coach Williams College
Squash and Beyond in New Zealand
June 11-28, 2019
By some accounts, 2019 will mark a century of squash playing in New Zealand; indeed, one Herbert N. Watson revealed to a friend that year that he was keeping fit by playing squash on a court he had built at his home in Palmerston North, on New Zealand’s North Island Over the 100 years since, squash in New Zealand has become a prominent national game and its many clubs have produced an inordinate number of prominent players for such a small and remote country.
In June, 2019, Squash & Beyond will conduct its second tour of New Zealand. Led by executive director and Williams College coach Zafi Levy and Blair Academy coach Jim Moore, and hosted by former New Zealand National Coach Paul Hornsby, the Squash and Beyond contingent will begin its squash activities in the northern city of Auckland and wind its way south to the country’s capital, Wellington. Focusing on training and competition for three hours of each day, the group will also find time and opportunity to explore what many consider one of the most dramatically beautiful countries on earth.
To be sure, the squash instruction and training will be demanding and thorough. Head coach Paul Hornsby, who has served as private coach to a host of former and current professionals in addition to serving as coach of the national team, played on the professional circuit himself and has been a popular member of the Squash and Beyond coaching staff for many years. Zafi Levy and Jim Moore have coached hundreds of successful school and college players over their long tenures at their respective institutions. Accordingly, players can expect well-organized sessions that focus not only on squash skills and fitness but on developing the habits of mind that lead to success in squash and beyond.
Off the courts, we will sample the many delights of New Zealand. We’ll tour the relaxed, yet vibrant cities of Auckland and Wellington, enjoy the surf and sun on the beaches in Coromandel and Napier, hike in Tauranga, go spelunking in the caves of Waitomo, and visit the Lord of the Rings set in Matamata. We’ll try the famous Hokey Pokey ice cream and wash it down with a bottle of the celebrated soft drink Lemon & Paeroa. Each night, we’ll stay in comfortable hotels, ensuring a good night’s rest before the next exciting day.
For more information about the 2019 Squash and Beyond New Zealand tour, please contact Zafi Levy at zlevy@williams.edu.
The Coaches
Paul Hornsby enjoyed a successful junior squash career, earning 3 caps for England. After school, he embarked upon a professional playing career under the guidance of Malcolm Willstrop and training alongside players such as Lee Beachill and James Willstrop- both of whom went on to become World number 1 ranked players. At the end of his playing career, he became a teaching professional, working under English national coach David Pearson at Harrogate and eventually becoming a regional coach for the national team. In 2011, Paul moved to New Zealand, where he ultimately became head coach of the team that competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Now, as a private coach, Paul continues to work closely with Squash New Zealand, focusing on training the country’s top professionals and developing its national junior squads.
A 2001 graduate of Williams College who played at the number one spot on its varsity team, Zafi Levy has been the head men’s and women’s coach at his alma mater since 2002 and the executive director of Squash and Beyond since 2003. He has recruited, trained, and coached hundreds of players, ranging from beginners to college All-Americans to some of the top players on the PSA tour. His teams at Williams have been consistently strong throughout his tenure, even as admission to the College has become more competitive. Zafi maintains a wide an deep network of squash friends throughout the world, which has allowed him to both recruit top teaching and playing professionals to the Squash and Beyond summer staff, but has enabled Squash and Beyond to conduct trips throughout the United States, Europe, and, most recently, New Zealand.
Jim Moore founded the squash program at Blair Academy in 1993 and has helped dozens of his players become college squash recruits. The chairman of the school’s English department, Jim lives on campus with his wife, Wendy, a clinical psychologist. Their son is a former Squash and Beyond camper and their daughter is a teacher and squash coach in Wisconsin. Jim has been a Squash and Beyond staff coach, writing teacher, and international trip leader since 2012. In 2015, Jim and Wendy led the Squash and Beyond trip to the Netherlands, where their campers played in the Dutch Junior Open and toured Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague.