Arthur Gaskin has stepped back from his role as Ireland’s head coach, having made a significant contribution to Squash Ireland’s high-performance programme.
Gaskin joined in October 2024 at a time when the organisation made a concerted effort to strengthen its coaching capacity, providing high-performance coaching continuity and building a more professional high-performance structure.
During his time with Squash Ireland, Gaskin played a key role in advancing the programme, supporting the recruitment of David Noone and Michael Conroy as the respective junior performance and junior development coaches, and contributing to the establishment of the Junior Performance Academy.
Gaskin also supported Squash Ireland’s advocacy for recognition as a high-performance development sport, contributing to the review and refinement of selection criteria and policies. He was also a strong advocate for direct performance player grants.
Most importantly, he worked closely with the players to help them maximise their potential on the international stage, which has seen Ireland’s four top-ranked players all achieve career-high world rankings.
In recent months, Gaskin’s professional commitments in the United States have increased, making it difficult for him to dedicate the time required to the Ireland head coach role.
Following discussions, it has been agreed that he will step back from his position and does so with the best wishes of everyone at Squash Ireland.
Gaskin said: “Becoming Irish national coach was a dream job that I was honoured to hold. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such dedicated players and staff.
“I love the work we did together, am proud of what we achieved and truly value the relationships built with the players, staff and everyone involved with Squash Ireland.
“Unfortunately, increased professional commitments have made it difficult to devote the time required to do the role to the standard it deserves. I want to thank the senior players in particular for their trust and understanding throughout this period. We have incredible role models on our national teams whom our junior players can look up to and be inspired by.
“I would also like to extend my gratitude to our CEO, Scott Graham. Working closely with him during this period has been incredibly fruitful on many levels.
“We are very fortunate to have such a committed leader, and I am confident that great things will continue under his leadership.
“I remain excited about the future of Squash Ireland and wish the players, staff and the entire Squash Ireland community every continued success and am excited to continue to be involved, albeit in a reduced capacity.”
CEO Graham added: “I am very grateful to Arthur for his contribution over the past 18 months. He has played an important role in strengthening our high-performance structures, instilling a high-performance ethos and supporting our players. He was a pleasure to work with at every juncture.
“While I am disappointed to see him step back, I would like to wish him every success in his continued work in the United States. I have no doubt that Arthur will continue to give back to Irish squash in a positive and professional manner.
“Over the past number of years, we have built solid foundations for our high-performance programme, which provides an exciting opportunity for the next phase of development with the prospect of pursuing qualification for major events, including the European and Olympic Games, and pushing for greater success at European and World Team and Individual Championships.”
Squash Ireland will now review its future coaching structure, recognising the need to continue developing the next generation of players and maximising support for senior international teams, as well as helping players progress towards Olympic, European Games and Commonwealth Games qualification.
This will be considered in the context of available resources, alongside ongoing engagement with key funders and stakeholders.
