Continued from yesterday: The Victor Neiderhoffer story part two:
I should have started this disclaimer. Much of this is hearsay. What I know and what I heard are two different things. Remember that-Victor Neiderhoffer is famous. Look him up but before he became a successful stock broker he was famous for beating Marty Hogan after Victor said he would and he was famous for being the North American hardball squash champion in the 1970’s.
More legends-again if anyone can “yay or nay” please let me know. I know there are players out there like Ruben Gonzalez who used to work out with Vic so maybe someone can fill in the blanks here.
As a kid Victor pitched pennies and learned to gamble on the streets of NY City.
He walked into Harvard as a sophomore and high school and asked for a squash scholarship. The coaches asked him what tournaments he had won. He told them he had never played squash, only one wall handball. They laughed at him but guess what?
Two years later he made the team and got a scholarship.
He was banned from squash clubs because he was Jewish (remember this was the 60’s and early 70’s and anti-semitism was the norm in private clubs)
He was finally allowed to play and won the North American title after being banned for four years.
At the Dave Peck camp where I was an instructor, Victor made an appearance. He was asked how he accomplished such a feat, winning a big tournament without ever playing competition for such a long time.
Victor’s response?
“For four years I played the toughest squash player in the world, myself”
He was alluding to court work, physical work, and training.
He also said something else that I never forgot;
“ In order to be unconcerned about conditioning in a match, you should be concerned about conditioning in practice!’
Fast forward 35 years later….and I messed up! About 10 years ago Victor contacted me and asked me if I could come to New York and coach his son who was a squash player. I was to work with his boy teaching footwork. I went to watch video of the top squash players. At that time the top squash players took big lunging movements and hit the ball with their wrist and I was not confident I could a great job. Being very respectful of Victor’s stature in the game and his wishes for his son, I passed on the opportunity.
In the next five years I watched squash footwork evolve and re-read the correspondence. Victor was not happy with the big lunging footwork either. I should have had more confidence! Today’s modern game of squash employs the same footwork I teach, and top tennis players use. I hope his son did get great coaching.
I have had the pleasure of discussing racquetball with some great minds out there like Dr. Bud Muehleisen, Charlie Brumfield, Dave and Gregg Peck and Kane Waselenchuk. I would love to talk some ball with Victor someday. The greats I am mentioning above all created their own approach to the game.
Today’s game features many athletes who do what coaches tell them to do. Thinking outside the box and developing your own approach to the game is something I urge the kids I work with to do (within reason-). The early athletes of this game invented their own approach. I keep pushing the athletes I work with to do the same.