NSL Talk Ep. 3! Timmy Brownell, Spencer Lovejoy, Simon Herbert, & Fernando Valdizan

The Bragman Breakdown

Welcome to episode 129 of The Bragman Breakdown and episode 3 of NSL Talk. Great show for the people today as we are halfway through the National Squash League regular season with 2 huge matches coming up this weekend as the 1-0 Nashville Crushers are set to take on the Derby City Colts this Friday, May 17th and the New York City Knights will do battle with the Chicago Grizzlies this Saturday, May 18th.
We have 3 interviews on today’s show beginning with 2 gentlemen who both play in the NSL for the Nashville Crushers and Newport Dragons respectively, league cofounders, my bosses, and most importantly, friends of the program Timmy Brownell and Spencer Lovejoy. The Crushers and Dragons are each 1-0 to kick off the season, Timmy and Spencer talked about that and their teams, a little behind the scenes from their opening weekends. They also reflected on how far the league has come from the first ever NSL rules exhibition match in Louisville, Kentucky in May 2023 to the first season of the NSL being so successful with bigger and better days on the horizon (5:59).
Following that, the 22 year old from Leicester, England who’s seen a rapid rise up the PSA World Rankings Simon Herbet joined the show. We heard from Simon about joining the NSL, how it’s lived up to his expectations, as well as working with one of squash’s most polarizing coaches Rob Owen, who’s worked with the likes of former World #1 and current World #2 Paul Coll, current World #4 Nele Gillis, and British Junior Open finalist, the 18 year old phenom Jonah Bryant. The Englishman also told some funny stories of being on tour and answered some rapid fire questions (26:41).
Finally, NSL commissioner Fernando Valdizan joined the show to talk about the NSL’s new partnership with US Squash, the early success of the league in its inaugural season, and the future of the NSL (1:09:28).
Enjoy!
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