Squash Tips #1 The grip + Video

Video Squash Tips #1 The Grip, How to hold the racket

This is the first step you need to be taking to learn how to play squash.

Learning how to hold a racket with the proper grip is foundation to everything in squash so i suggest you to take the time to understand carefully how to do it.

I also made a pretty crappy video to teach you how to do it. It's the first of a series of video that surely will improve it's quality over time!

So let's get on with the how to:

• Form a V with your index and thumb, then hold the racket with only this two fingers, the racket must be put on your palm so that you can control it.
• When you can comfortably do this, close the hand.
• Make sure there is a space between your index and the rest of your hand.

Since the racket is the extension of your arm, the inclination of your wrist will affect the inclination of the racket. Learning the proper grip will allow you to learn how to open properly which will be the topic for next week's video.

Advanced tips for squash grip

The first thing you will ask yourself when able to play at a decent level is:
-What influence does changing the grip's height has on the shots?

What changing the grip's height does is allow you to perform the swing at a variable angles, this means three things:

1. You can perform a swing with less space (i.e. near the back wall) or by moving less (if you extend it)
2. You can make a stronger or more controlled shot (the more the leverage the more the power)
3. You can use different angles for making shots.

I suggest an exercise to train this 3 aspects of changing the racket grip:
-Go near the backwall and perform drives while in the meantime you change the grip's height at every shot.

Do this exercise until you can switch from a long grip to a short grip in a matter of instants, as you know preparation and speed are everything in squash.

The first two concepts are pretty easy to understand but the third one is the most interesting, if you change the grip's height to a shorter one you can more easily try shots like hitting the nick in volley.

I suggest you to find out how to better enhance your game by changing the grip as much as you need.

See you next Tuesday, Gallo.