Coaches

Busani Xaba

Head Coach at Amherst College

A former national champion in his native Zimbabwe, Xaba rose through the junior ranks during his playing career and helped the national team finish 15th overall at the under-19 Junior Men's World Championships in 2000.  

An England Squash Level 2 coach with 18 years of experience on three continents, Busani was, most recently, the Director of Squash and Athletics at the University Club of San Francisco and, previously, an assistant coach at Dartmouth College.  Busani was hired in 2020 to begin as the Head Coach of the Amherst College Men's and Women's Program. 

Lauren Xaba

Coach

Lauren founded SquashDrive in August of 2009 and began serving students in the Spring 2010. 

As a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Lauren was a two-time All-American squash player, playing on the national championship team in 2000 and captaining the team the following year. Lauren graduated with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School with a Management concentration. Lauren sits on the board of the University of Pennsylvania Squash Board and the Northern California Squash and Racquet Association. Lauren grew up in Philadelphia and now lives in Amherst, MA with her husband Busani and their twins Zoe and Zachary.

Yuri Franca

Volunteer Assistant Coach, Men's & Women's Squash Amherst College

Yuri Franca came to us after a successful career as a top junior and professional player in South America.
Founded Yuri Squash in 2008, service provider specializing in promoting health, wellness and quality of life through squash. He worked on developing individual training, organizing clinics/workshops and tournaments. He was able to coach the best juniors and professional players in Brazil.

Franca previously worked as squash director for Access Youth Academy and he stood out as one of the best urban squash coaches after winning three consecutive urban squash team titles. He was named to work as a head coach for the SEA Summer Squads at Stanford and Deerfield. Yuri was hired in 2022 to work as assistant coach of the Amherst College Men’s and Women’s Program.

Nadiia Usenko

Volunteer Assistant Coach, Men's & Women's Squash Amherst College

Born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. Nadiia Usenko joins the Amherst coaching staff after a successful college career at Trinity College, Hartford.

Usenko graduated from Trinity College in 2022 (B.A. in Language and Culture Studies). Besides English, speak five languages: Ukrainian, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Japanese.

She played in the middle of the lineup for Bantams (position #7 to #4). During her time at Trinity College, her team won NESCAC 3 times in a row. The squash team was ranked as high as 2nd in the country and advanced to the semi-finals at the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 Howe Cup. In her senior year was named the captain of the team.

Usenko was given the "Outstanding Scholar-Athlete" Award her senior year for high achievements in academics and athletics.