The corridor

The best exercise for two players

The corridor is an exercise in which you and your partner alternatingly do drives, this means that you and him are going to oscillate between the back corner and the center of the court.

While doing this exercise you can tweak it a bit so that you can work on:

• Your stamina
• Your accuracy
• The depth of your shots
• The rhythm of your exchange
• Forestalling your opponent
• Your volley
• Your drop shot and volley drop shot
• Your court movement

The corridor is a simple exercise to learn but really hard to master, to start you just need that you and your partner are able to throw the ball in the back of the court and that you both can retrieve the ball from the backwall.

Video Tutorial - The corridor 

How to retrieve the ball from the back wall :The side step technique - Video tutorial

Retrieving the ball from the back wall

To retrieve the ball from the backwall you must abide by many principles, such as:

• Wait for the ball to bounce out of the backwall before moving for it
• extend yourself to the maximum capacity
• Bend your knees
• Shorten the forearm to increase the space for your swing
• Position yourself so that you can make a drive

The #1 mistake squash players make is that they move in a way that makes their body face the back corner, by doing so they cannot make a drive.

A huge problem when learning how to retrieve the ball from the backwall is that you need to stay far away, yet you have to be close enough to actually retrieve the ball.

A easy to implement solution I've found to this problem consists of making a side step toward the backwall.

The side step

Try this:

When moving for the ball (remember that you must move in a way that makes you stay in the center relative to the sidewalls and then eventually make a side step), when you are close to the backwall, make a side step toward the backwall so that you are really close to it, and then make a step toward the sidewall.

By doing so you will be able to make a drive which is the foundation of all of squash.

Here's the three step to follow:

1. Move for the ball
2. Make a side step toward the backwall
3. Make the final step toward the sidewall.

By following these three steps you will be closer to the ball and it will be easier to retrieve it.

Video tutorial 

How to increase the strength of your shots - 3 tips to improve the strength and speed of your racket swing Video tutorial

Three Tips To Increase The Strength Of Your Shots

Video tutorial

If you have a grasp on the basics of squash, you understand that all the fundamentals are intertwined.

What I mean is that if you move correctly, you will tend to make more accurate shots, if you make accurate shots you'll tend to use the proper tactics of squash and score points whenever you can.

Therefore the easiest way to work on your shot is to work on everything XD

Now, let's get to the meat of this game:

To increase the strength of your shots:

1. Create a stable base
2. Open way before the shot
3. Stay away from the ball

Create a stable base

If you place your legs in a way that makes you grounded you will be able to put more of your momentum and weight into the ball.

The best way to create a stable base consists of making a sidelong step and then bend your knees.

The most common error here is that many squash players tend to make their final step to the front of them, just like if they were on a balance beam.

Instead focus on creating a large base, like a circle.

Make sure to bend your knees and place as much of your weight on the front foot (the one you place in front of you when making a shot).

Open way before the shot i.e. prepare the racket soon

This is so simple and important and yet most of us don't do it.
If you place the racket over your should and then swing it you will use gravity to enhance your strength, but this just one side of the coin.

In fact I recommend opening the shot as soon as you know in which side the ball will go because by being ready to make a shot whenever you need you will be able to capitalize on the occasions that will happen during the rally.

I think opening is the most important foundation to all of squash because it allows you more choices which will lead you to dominate the rally.

Stay as far as you can from the ball

As i said in my introduction to squash video you don't have to walk on half of the court.
That's because if you extend yourself by moving properly and extending your arm you can reach the side wall from the center with just one step.

Plus if you stay far away from the ball your racket will have more momentum and therefore your shot will be stronger.

This is critical because many of the mistakes squash players make in court are due to the fact that they stay too close to the ball.

A rapid way to change this bad habit consists of always touching the red line in the center with at least on of your feet, this way you will build a habit of always coming back to the center relatively to the side walls which is more important than coming to the T.

Squash Video Tips #6 On Court Movement: How to Move on court, theory and practice. 2 Videos!!

How to move on court 2 Videos And Article!

As i suggested in my philosophy of court movement, in squash you should always keep moving during a rally.

What i mean is that instead of making rapid start/stop movements between the ball and the T and back again, i suggest to always keep your body in movement, so that your feet are never stale.

That's because to start and stop consumes more energy than it would if you move slower and keep your momentum going.

So the next time you make a slow shot don't rush to the T, take the time to slowly go there this way when you get there you will  quickly move away from it with less effort.

Ghosting

Ghosting means exercising as if the ball was there without using a ball.

Basically I'm moving around the court while making shots in all the four corners while always coming back to the T.

This is a great exercise to improve your stamina on court and it is pretty heavy on the legs.

The basic principles that are implied in this practice are:

• I tend to move in the center in respect to the side walls and then i make a step to the side,
• I always come back to the T,
• I open the racket before moving,
• I face the front wall when going back to the T.

What are the basics of ghosting:

• You must act as if there was a ball
• You can focus on various things
• You will enhance your stamina and movement patterns
• It builds reflexes to come back to the T
• It is a pillar of squash skill

The structure behind court movement

The idea is that you should be moving the less and getting the most, therefore you need to know:

• How the ball bounces and when to meet it
• Extend yourself when moving
• Keep moving
• Go to The T
• Walk in the middle and make the side step only at the end, this way you choose not to choose.
• 
  

Step by step guide: How to move on court.

All these theoretical concepts will be very useful after you take a grasp on the basics.

In this video i provide you with all the step by step explanation you need to learn the movement patterns NOW.

Here is an extract of the concepts contained in the video:

You must always move in a way that makes you do a drive and eventually choose not to.

The movement pattern are 2, one for the right side of the court and one for the left side.

These are just schemes to start working on this skill, when you'll be good at those you will be able to change them according to your preferences.

The basic scheme is that you walk in semi-circle way so that you are facing the side wall when you reach the ball, this forces you to make a drive and it is great for a novice player.

Movement patterns

The movement patterns requires you to make 3 steps and are as follow:

1. The first step is toward the front/back wall
2. The second is diagonal toward the corner in which the ball is located
3. The last is a side step toward the side wall

The order of the feet involved changes depending on the side of the court.

They are:

Left/Right/Left for the Right side of the court

And

Right/Left/Right fort the Left side of the court

Train Hard and see you next week!

-Gallo

Squash Tips #3 The swing + Video

How to make and train a perfect swing in squash

So the key concepts when learning the swing in squash are:

1. The simpler the better
2. The impact point is always in the same place

The simpler the better

The easiest way to make the swing is also the best one.
The point is to have the least resistance so that you can have the maximum result with the least effort.

To do so use the shoulder to generate power, that's because it is the bigger muscle you use and the distancefrom the racket gives you more leverage which generates more momentum.
That's also why you shoul always make the shot with the arm as extended as possible. (for now focus on using the shoulder)

So, use the shoulder to make the swing.

Another key concept that is intertwined with opening consist of the usage of the wrist.
Simply don't use it.
The wrist is used a lot by professionals, but thats because they master all the required skills.

When starting out instead you must prepare the wrist when you are preparing the shot (opening) and then leave it like that and don't move it.

The forearm must be relaxedly exetend, don't rely on it to generate power, simply leave it extended.

The impact point of the swing is always in the same place

This is very important because it means the following:

1. Your body position determines where the shot will go
2. You must move in a certain way to make a good shot
3. You can learn the "proper" way of making the swing and then change it to trick your opponent

The Forehand Swing

In squash the swing must be prepared before you do it, this means bringing the racket up.

When the racket is up, your arm pit will be opened.

To make the swing simply close the armpit, extend your arm and hit the ball as far from you as you can.

The best swing is the simplest.

The Backhand Swing

The backhand swing is a little more complex.

That's because you have to hit the ball a bit on your side, not in front of you.

To open the swing simply close forearm and armpit, it's like you're hugging yourself.

To make the backhand swing simply open the forearm and then open the armpit.

If're starting to play squash now, simply use the shoulder to make the shot and leave the arm extended.

I suggest you to watch the video to understand.

The exercise to work on the swing

Simply stay in front of the wall and make the ball bounce by making the shot.
Use your elbow to generate power.
This simple exercise will profitably teach you how to play untill you reach the back wall, which will be the topic of our next week's video.

Train Hard!
-Gallo.

Squash Tips: Exercises to improve efficiently

Variability is the best thing

When training in squash we have two problems:

1. We have the ego and our self image that makes us tend to do the thing we already know.
2. We need to find our blind spots so that we work on the skills we need to improve.

So here's a list of exercises that will take you occupied for the months ahead.

Solo Exercises

When training alone we must always be leaning toward the edge and do the things we are kind of average on.

The problem is that as the ball keeps on staling on the floor we tend to start doing the things we already know how to do (for example 50% of player remains stuck on doing long backwall drives.).

Instead of creatively avoiding the training, simply try to do easier things, remember that strength is just a tiny factor in squash, instead control and precision are definitive factor hence you must work on them more.

I'm going to write on-goingly harder exercises, i suggest you to check them all out since you can never know what will work for you.

What to focus on

When starting never demand too much from your performance, you must simply choose a skill to focus on and make sure you train on that particular skill.

Since you have to make conscious effort to improve your technique it's always good to work on only one skill at a time, when you are good at that it will become automatic.

Of course the outcomes (i.e. depth and precision of the ball) are important but you should be focusing on using the right technique not on doing great shots, they will eventually come natural.

I made an in depth article about managing your learning curve for newbies.

For advanced player what you must be focused on when making the exercises is to always fine tune the things you already do. 

For example if you're good at making drives you then must focus on walking less and extending yourself more, make a series of drives and always touch the T line with a feet before hitting the ball again.

Learn to really catch a ball from the backwall by making slow drives and making it really hard for you.

So let's get into the list!

The Exercises

All these exercises are developed with the usage of the babystepping technique.

1)Start by dribbling the ball against the front wall

When starting just focus on feeling the ball on the racket, try to maintain control over it.

Make sure you use the elbow to generate power and try to maintain a firm wrist

2)Develop depth in court and try to make the ball go into the serving box

When your coordination will improve you'll find it easier to make faster shots, just keep doing them until you reach the back wall.

3)Stay near the backwall and hit the deep drive.

This is a great test for your racket skills because you need to open, move and swing the racket correctly in order to retrieve a ball from the backwall

4)Learn how to retrieve the ball from the backwall with efficiency and hit the deep backwall drive

Start simple. If you want to train simply throw the ball onto the backwall and start to get a feeling of how to do it there are four main keys:

1. Take the racket UP
2. Stay as far as you can from the back wall
3. Wait for the ball to bounce out of it even if it means it is lower
4. Bend your knees

5)Make a series of drive on one side then make a cross-court and go on the other side.

This exercise is important to build power and stamina when making shots, try to do as many as you can.

6)Train the volley with the babystepping principles

Stay near the front wall and just hit the ball, make a step back when you can make 50 shots in a row.

When you are able to play a decent volley, alternate the volley with strong deep drives and try to always forestall the volley shot as much as you can.

7)Drive -> Boast -> Drop

Stay near the back wall and play drives, then make a boast (start with a high slow one) and go near the front wall, do the best drop you can and try to retrieve it. 

Then keep doing drives to go back to the backwall, you can make the volley in this moment. 

Repeat for as long as you can.

8)Create your own,

 You can add a cross court to exercise number 8 or use the lob instead of the drive. The important thing is that you mix it up to work on whatever skill you need.

9)The butterfly

The butterfly is a fantastic volley exercise in which you place yourself on the T and play volleys near the angle between the front and side wall in a way that makes the ball bounces back (hit the front wall before the side wall).
This exercises makes you work on the speed at which you open and the precision of your volley.

When you are able to play the butterfly consistently try to change the shots, alternating from "cross-courts" to  volley drives and then come back to the butterfly.

Exercises for two players

When playing in two the most important thing is clarity, both players must agree on which skill to work on otherwise it will be a mess and the training won't give it's fruits.

1) Long drives 

You can replace running on the treadmill with this exercise: Always go back to the T and give a hard time to your opponent by throwing the ball in the back corner.

When doing this you can focus on different skills such as:

• Precision
• Depth of the ball
• Strength and Speed of the ball
• Moving as less as possible 
• Maintaining control of the T
• Playing volley to keep high pressure

I recommend you to train at least 30 minutes per week on this specific routine.

You can also make variation in which you can play the drop or cross-court after a certain number of rallies

2) Boast vs Cross-Court

This exercise is a knee breaker, one player is in the front corner and the other is in the opposite back corner.

The player in the back can only play boast, while the one in the front can choose between cross-court and drop.

If it makes a drop, the player in the back has to choose to play a cross court or another drop.

3)Only long shot games

Make a game in which you can play only shots that bounces over the middle line. 

It's a great way to work on the depth of your ball.

Squash Tips - Managing the learning curve of squash skills

Clearly we cannot work on our squash skills all the time, we have to choose one to work on so that we can get tangible results in a moderate period of time. This implies effort and time.

Howhever when you go in court you should have one single objective to work on. Coherently with the principle of babystepping.

To do so i reccomend you to read just one article in this blog, write down a squash skill to work and possibly an exercise to use in order to work on it.

So what should you put first to work on in order to improve as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible?

-Squash Skill Number 1: Racket Swing

-Squash Skill Number 2: Court Movement

-Squash Skill Number 3: Tactics

1) Racket Swing

Work on this to make it as natural as possible. Start simple! You can begin by simply hitting the ball against the side wall and  using half of the racket swing.

Watch your impact point, the position in wich your racket head points exactly in front of you (the impact points for forehand and backhand are different, so watch it!)

From the position of the impact point take the racket slighly back , you will use this position as a starting point for your shot. Take the habit of placing your racket in this position before trying to hit the ball.

The best swing is the simplest, to make it just relax your arm and close your arm-pit for the forehand or open it for the backhand. It's as simple as this!

2)Court Movement

When you know how to hit the ball decently you will realize that the way you orientate your body determines the direction in which you will throw the ball.
Hence you will have to work on how you position your body, this squash skill is crucial.

The forward leg is the one closer to the front wall, it will determine how your body is oriented. Always have your left leg on the right side of the court and your right leg in the left side of the court.


The other squash skill concerning court movement is that you always have to move back to the center.

When starting out you will tend to wait for the ball and then run like a crazy. Instead you have to move constantly and slowly. If you know how the ball bounces you can save a lot of energy and improve your shot in the meantime.

If you need to work on your cardio and be fit you can make a  exercise that will both be healthy and will also teach you to always move for the center of the court

Simply run toward each wall and touch it, the go back without turning around (retrorunning, which is healthy!)

After you master this you can advance toward court movement advanced tactics.

3) Squash Tactics

Don't worry too much about tactics when starting out, you'll soon learn them by playing.
Although it's good to know that the more you throw the ball in the corners, the more your opponent will have to run.

A great fun way to learn the tactics consist in watching squash games and making comment on them!
If you want to learn more i made an in depth article on tactics.

So to wrap up i want to remind you to work single handedly on one skill at a time
Start with simple things and work your way through. Persist and you shall learn!

Squash Tips - The Volley

The volley is the one shot that separates you from a novice player, you have to train this shot so much that you can make it in every occasion.

Wherever the ball surpass you in this game and you couldn't make a volley, probably your the one in defense.

I see a lot of player ''training'' only in deep drive shot of the back wall (most of them without bending their knees). When i took my squash to another level gaming i realized that i was good  on the drive, but i couldn't make a volley.When you know how to make a drive you should switch as soon as possible to train in the volley, the straightness of the shot will follow.

When hitting a volley you have to hit the ball when it's over your shoulder, of course you can hit it at a lower height but you're probably been to slow.
The volley is about high paced shots and controlling the T. When you'll start making it you'll see that you'll make points even with mediocre quality shot.
To improve the volley start simple, go toward the wall and start making simple volley even with the racket down. Babystep this exercise by making a step back everytime you make 50 volleys in a row.

The Volley is about high paced rallies and taking control of the T.

I'm sure this will give you months of training in court and you'll improve your squash greatly. To spice this exercise up i recommend you to do the ''butterfly'' drill in which you stay in the T and make volleys alternating the right and left corner in a way that gets you the ball in the center.
If you're very good you can switch this exercise to drive volleys and move both toward the back wall and toward the front wall, then return to the butterfly drill.
You'll inevitably feel pain in your arm. If it happens slow down and change exercise (maybe some drive off the back wall).

An exercise you can do in two consist of playing a forehand drive drill and occasionally making a volley by extending from the T, in the exercise don't move before your opponent makes the shot because that's cheating and your learning curve will get worsen.

If you'll stick to these routines you'll get such an improvement you won't recognize yourself one year from now.
So....Improve your squash, Start today! 50 Volleys -> One step back. Go! HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!

Squash Tips - THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING Part 1 (Training alone)

There's a huge number of skills involved in playing squash. Movement, balance, strenght, coordination, speed, power and raquet skill.

You cannot improve in all of them in the same time (even if playing a lot of matches will make you understand what to work on).
The best thing in order to get good in this game is to (obviously) play a lot, having a coach that gives you ''homework'' and doing them, and if you improve that greatly not only making the homeworks but creating a new series of exercises all by yourself that gives you the chance to improve.

So how do you get the ability to make your own exercises?

first you have to understand the game at a deep level. Here are the basics:

1)throw the ball at the side (preferably in the corners);

2)you  must stay in the center.


Just by knowing these 2 simple concept you can create a lot of exercise in order to improve your game.

You can focus on moving in the best way (not how you think)
or you can think about improving your shot maybe starting by increasing the angle of your plate and by preparing the shot (opening as i say) before.


In order to get a deeper comprehension of the game you need to develop 3 kind of knowledge:

-Intellectual  -Visual  -Physical

So the 3 activities should be:
1) learning about the game, rules, know-how, tactics and info

2)watching squash matches both online and live so that you get to understand movements, tactics, emotions(they play a huge role in the decision making processes) and techinique.

3) Doing exercise/training/ matches so that you internalize (slowly and constanly) all the concept that you need to understand.

It Takes years to become good at something, same is for squash. if you accept this the fun will start soon!

Tips to train alone

Practice alone is very important also because you get to have the control over everything you do.
The hardest thing is to accept that it has to be done.
It can be boring or even feel awkward (i honestly was ashamed of running in public) you just have to practice the thing on ''your level'' and keep on trying to take them over the edge.
Dont waste your time trying the impossible shot if you can't even make a straight shot.

Just do what you can and try to improve both in a quantitative way (i.e. number and speed of shots) and in a qualitative way (i.e. quality/precision).

Time for practice is the most valuble thing. Even a afternoon of just having the raquest in your hands is better than none!