US Squash is proud to announce the appointment of Nick Taylor as the new Ganek Family US Squash Head National Coach. Taylor is expected to start in the role in early fall and will focus on the training and support of Team USA Squash and its high performance programming at the Specter Center and nationwide. Taylor takes over the role from Ong Beng Hee who was the first to serve in the full time role for nearly three years.
Taylor, a native of Manchester, England, competed as a professional player on the PSA World Tour from 1991–2004 reaching a career high world No. 14, England No. 3, and won ten PSA titles. He represented the English National Team and was twice European Champion. He has been a regular face on the Masters circuit since 2007 winning 8 English national titles, 3 British Open titles and is a two time World Masters Champion.
Taylor brings two decades of coaching experience to the role, having served as a coach at Manchester University, with England Squash at the Manchester Squash Academy, as the Director of squash and a National Coach for the Jersey Squash association and in positions in the Boston area, most recently as the Owner and Director of the Nick Taylor Academy operating out of Cross Courts Squash in Natick, MA. Taylor was a part of Team USA’s coaching staff at the record-setting 2023 and 2024 British Junior Open.
“It’s a wonderful honor to be joining US Squash as their new National Coach,” Taylor said. “This role presents an exciting challenge and I look forward to leading the high performance program. I have a huge passion and energy for coaching and I am looking forward to working with the athletes and coaches in the pursuit of excellence. As important is inspiring the next generation of talent, who I am sure will reach the highest level with the support and guidance of what is shaping up to be an outstanding team-behind-the-team.”
US Squash President and CEO Kevin Klipstein added, “We’re fortunate to be able to leverage Nick’s experience to advance our high performance program during a critical juncture for squash in the U.S. Nick will have an immediate and positive impact on the training of our top athletes and will bring the coaching community together in support of our long term need to continue the development a deep and talented pipeline of squash players. Our goal is to win gold medals and World Championships.”
Paul Assaiante, the Ganek Family US Squash National Coach Emeritus who served in the role part time for fifteen years commented, “I’m looking forward to supporting Nick in advancing Team USA Squash towards success on the world stage. Especially given squash’s inclusion in the Olympics I believe that as a coaching community it’s more important than ever that we come together and collaborate to identify, develop support our top players to realize their full potential. We all have a role in this endeavor.”
Team USA’s next senior level competition will be the 2024 WSF World Team Championships, December 9-15, in Hong Kong. The tournament will mark the first time in fifty-seven years that both the men’s and women’s events will he held alongside each other having previously been held on an alternating biennial basis.