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| Team Kneipp reaches Qatar via Germany |  |
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Kneipp is:
Joe Kneipp - squash professional, current world ranking
22
Dan Kneipp Joes coach, manager, trainer and little
brother.
Joe has been a professional squash player since 1994. His career highlights
to date include winning the Greenwich Open, making the semi finals of
the U.S. Open, the quarter finals of the British Open and he has beaten
most of the top ten players. Although an Australian he has lived in
Amsterdam for the past five years.
Daniel has been working with Joe since January 2002. He has postponed finishing a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma of Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne to focus on helping his brothers career. He also lives in Amsterdam. Team Kneipp Chronicles aim to give a different perspective on the life of a professional squash pro. They are written by either Joe or Dan, or together in brotherly harmony (with occasional arguments).
SIX COUNTRIES IN FOUR DAYS THE ROAD TO QATAR
Its easy to follow the results of the mens squash, and not be aware of some of the smaller details, like travel logistics. Considering certain times of the year are quiet on the squash front, April has been nothing short of a squash smorgasbord. Although the players are always extremely happy to have all of these tournaments one after the other, coordinating the travel can sometimes be an accomplishment in itself.
Following the British Open was the World Invitational Doubles, which was held in Manchester from the 16th to the 19th. Immediately after were the German Bundelsiga finals in Paderborn, on the weekend of the 20th and 21st, and then the PSA Masters in Qatar beginning on the 23rd and finishing on the 27th.
As you can imagine these dates dont allow too much time for traveling. As a result of my partner and I not making the finals of the Doubles tournament, I was able to leave Manchester a whole twelve hours earlier than my tight itinerary had allowed for. I jumped on a plane to Frankfurt that took a couple of hours and from there caught a train to Koblenz, an hour away. I stayed at the mangers house, a luxurious abode on the Rhine, even though he was already in Paderborn ready for the semi finals the following day. Saturday morning saw a two and a half hour drive to Paderborn where I met up with the rest of the team and Danny.
BUNDESLIGA
I currently play league in Germany, Holland, Czech Republic and Slovakia
(occasionally). The rules vary from country to country as to how many
foreign players are allowed in each team. In Holland your team can have
up to three foreigners in a team of four. In Germany youre only allowed
one. The four international players that led their German teams to the
finals were David Palmer (Bonn), John White (another Bonn team), Peter
Nicol (Paderborn) and myself (Koblenz). I played David and had a marathon
match that lasted over one hundred minutes and in a dramatic finish I
finally won 15-14 in the fifth game! Unfortunately the rest of my team
lost and our German League season was over.
STOPOVER?
The following day (Sunday) Danny and I caught a train from Paderborn at
5pm arriving back home in Amsterdam at 10pm. As you can imagine after
a week in Manchester and a weekend in Germany it was great to get home.
Trips like this really reinforce how wonderful it is to sleep in your
own bed. But unfortunately there were things to do, and sleep was not
an option until ten days worth of dirty squash clothes had been washed
and dried. We had a 7:30 flight the next morning, which meant a 4:30am
wakeup. By the time everything was done, and I put my head on the pillow
it was nearly 3:30am!
TO DOHA
Our flight first went to London, with a two-hour stopover and then on
to Bahrain where we had a pleasant wait on the tarmac for an hour, before
arriving in the sweltering heat of Doha at 9pm (26 degrees Celsius that
late at night). The first match of the tournament was 4pm the following
day (Tuesday). Fortunately my game against Chris Walker wasnt on until
Wednesday, but I wouldnt have been able to get to Doha any earlier even
if I was playing on the Tuesday. After that type of travel schedule one
days rest can be invaluable.
A lot of things are taken into consideration in your overall training to try to maximize your performance so that it peaks for a particular tournament. Travel days are usually taken into consideration when you first sit down and plan your program. But it makes it hard when youre in Manchester on Friday, Germany on Saturday, Amsterdam on Sunday, and London, Bahrain and finally Doha on Monday. As you can see this kind of traveling adds another hurdle to getting the most out of your squash game, but its all part of the fun.
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