How to retrieve the ball from the backwall, conceptual approach.

Retrieving the ball from the backwall. A theoretical approach.

This is the theoretical perspective behind retrieving the ball from the backwall.

This concepts will be hard for you to understand until you have some practical experience, if you want some practical steps you can check this 2 videos.

The concept behind retrieving the ball from the backwall

The concept behind the fact that retrieving the ball from the backwallis hard is that the position of your body determines shots you make.

If you were to face the sidewall directly and have the ball in your impact point you will make a drive.

The problem with a ball near the backwall is that when moving there most players turn their body toward the back corner, forcing them to make a boast.

Imagine that your impact point is in front of you,like a straight line. 
If you have the ball behind you, the only way to have the ball inside the impact point is to rotate yourself, however if you can move closer to the ball while keeping your body facing the sidewall you are going to make a drive.

The problem with a ball near the backwall is that when moving there most players turn their body toward the back corner, forcing them to make a boast.

This is why the side step shown in the second video is so useful. In fact it allows you to move toward the backwall while keeping you facing the sidewall.

So, when thinking about retrieving the ball from the backwall try to find a way to have the ball in front instead of behind you.

The backhand technique, for beginners and advanced players. + most common mistakes.

The backhand technique

The backhand is performed by closing both shoulder and forearm to prepare it and by opening the shoulder and using the forearm to make the swing.

A simplified way to make a backhand consists of simply using the shoulder while keeping the arm extended.

To make a proper backhand you'll first of all learn to add the forearm rotation and then you'll prepare the shot by closing the shoulder and the forearm, as if you were hugging yourself, and to make the shot you'll have to also learn how to extend your forearm when making the shot.

Watch the video to better understand the backhand technique.

One more common mistake on the backhand

In the video i talk about using the wrist improperly and overextending your forearm as the most common mistakes players make.

Another common mistake consists of cutting the ball which is caused by the fact that you make the swing by only releasing the forearm in an oblique manner which causes you to cut the ball instead of pushing it.

To change this error you just need to tweak your shot by making sure that your forearm makes the racket head go downward as if you were drawing a semi-circle with the racket head.
If you have this kind of problem try to watch the video again and move as i move.

Stroke & Let when the ball bounces off the backwall

Let & Stroke the simple distinction

Video tutorial

Explanation of Let & Stroke when the ball bounces off the backwall

When the ball bounces off the backwall some potentially dangerous situations can occur, especially if the ball is in the center of the court.

Usually when the ball bounces off the backwall and in the center, at least a Let will always be guaranteed.
However for a stroke to happen two requirements must be fulfilled:

1. There must be a Stroke-like situation i.e. your opponent must be in a position in which if you would make a shot that goes straight into the front wall you would hit him.
2. You must haven't rotate when going for the ball.

The first requirement is fulfilled most of the time.

However it is the second requirement that will help you make the clear distinction between a Let and a Stroke when the ball bounces off the backwall.

Rotating while going for the ball means that even for a brief second you are not able to see your opponent, this means that you won't known where he is and by making the shot you could potentially hit him.

Instead if you don't rotate it means that you are aware of where your opponent is and by stopping you will gain a point.

This rule has been developed as a safety measure.

Generally a stroke off the backwall is awarded only when your opponent makes a really bad drive (that is in the center of the court) and then he just sits on the T.

The Stroke: An in-depth look - Squash Rules -

The Stroke

Whenever there is an impediment to you making a winning shot, caused by the fact that your opponent is in front of you or inside of your racket swing space. A point will be assigned to you. This judgement is called stroke.

A winning shot is a shot that goes directly into the front wall.

Therefore everytime your opponent throws a shot near himself, and you are behind him, you will receive a point and a stroke will be assigned against your opponent.

When does a stroke gets assigned

A stroke can be assigned for many reasons such as:

1. If you hit your opponent.
2. if the conditions for a stroke are applicable after the ball bounces away from the back wall provided that you don't rotate yourself (I.e. you keep facing your opponent, this typically happens if your opponent makes a really terrible shot). 
3. If your opponent is inside of your swing when you are making the shot.
4. If you hit him with the racket after making the shot, the stroke will be assigned provided that you haven't done it on purpose (I.e. you made a regular, 180 degree maximum swing.)

Keeping the distance from the ball

Keeping your distance from the ball.

Video Tutorial

Staying away from the ball in squash is a crucial skill that you need to develop

The benefits are:

1. You will move less
2. You will hit the ball more powerfully
3. You will have more control of the ball

By having your arm extended you will have more power and control and you will move less.

By moving less you will reach the ball faster and this will provide you two benefits: 

• You will put more pressure on your opponent and you will be able to forestall more shots 
• You will be able to stay in the center more often and more easily, stacking a great advantage on your side.

How do you learn the proper distance from the ball?

It comes with conscious practice.
First of all you need to learn the proper impact point which is just a little under the highest point of the racket.

You can actually feel a good ball from a bad ball by feeling the bounce that it does on the racket plate.

In order for you to learn the distance from the ball in squash you first have to train by standing still near the front wall. When you do so, try to stay as far away as possible from the ball, don't move closer to it, instead try to extend yourself. 

After you get an idea of the distance from the ball, try to increase it.
One of the best exercise to help you keep the distance from the ball consists of making drives and systematically doing a bad shot near the center so that you have to move in order to keep the proper distance,  you can do this both by yourself or with a coach.

You can reach the second level of this skill by practicing drives in the back of the court, every time you make a shot, make sure to touch the T line so that you are sure that you are away from the corner, then try to move as less as possible and maintain the ball in the back corner.

The third level of knowing the distance from the ball requires that you learn court movement.
When you'll learn court movement you will not only move less and more effectively, you will also hit better shots and generally be more effective on court.

Introduction to Squash - Video Tutorial

A complete introduction to squash

This is a 4 minutes video introduction to squash, in this video are explained the basic concepts of Squash's:

• Rules
• Service
• Shots
• Court movement
• Tactics

Introduction to squash

Squash is a fast paced game in which two or four players with rackets and non-marking shoes come into court to play.

Whenever the ball hits the front wall it's the opponent's turn to hit the ball.

To achieve the goal of making the ball reach the front wall you can use all the walls.

The ball can bounce on the floor once, but if you can/want you can use the volley.

How to score points in squash

For you to score a point your opponent has to:

• Let the ball bounce twice on the floor when it is his turn to hit it
• Throw the ball against the floor
• Throw the ball Down (under the lower line called the Tin)
• Throw the ball Out (over the highest line)
• Get hit by the ball

Extra: Let and Stroke

There are certain situations in which the two players find themselves to be stuck.

It can happen that a player prevents the other to reach the ball.

For this reason two important judgements that can only be decided by the referee have been created.

The let and the Stroke.

A let is played when one opponent's prevent the other player to reach a ball that he would otherwise retrieve without complications.

Instead if the player would make a shot that goes directly into the front wall and by doing so the ball would hit his opponent, then if the player stops the referee would call a stroke and assign a point to the player.

The serve, how to make the rally start.

The serve is a crucial shot in squash because you have total control over it.

Check out this video tutorial for tactical insights

The three rules for making a serve are:

1. You must have a foot inside the serve box while making the serve.
2. The ball must go directly into the front wall over the middle line.
3. If it is not hit by volley, the ball must bounce on the opposite quarter of court.
4. 
   

The basic shots of squash, a introduction

This are the four basic shots of squash.

1. The Drive
2. The Cross Court
3. The Boast
4. The Drop Shot

Mastering this four shots grants you the ability of controlling the game.

Moving on court 

Court movement is an important prerequisite to squash mastery.

In order to develop this skill you must understand the concepts behind it:

1. Court movement is done in a way that always let you make a drive and eventually choose not to.
2. Whenever you have done a shot you must come back to the T.
3. Stay in the centre relative to the side walls.

To efficiently move on court you will have to do a lot of ghosting, an exercise in which you move around the court by following a specific step by step pattern.

Squash Tactics

When playing squash you must understand that the best shot you can make is a perfect drive that goes near the side wall with the ball that dies in the corner.

Take this instruction as a general squash tactics blueprint:

1. Stay in the centre, throw the ball in the corners
2. Throw the ball where your opponent is NOT
3. Alternate Long and Short shots
4. Spice it up but not too much

A rally in squash is usually made of many drives that are used to force the opponent in the corner, and when the response of the opponent comes to the centre you typically make a drop shot to score.

Thanks for your attention, ask me any question!

Squash Tips - How to make a great shot in squash: The 3 Step Formula

Introduction

When starting out in squash we have so many things we have to think about that it can become really messy.
To stop getting confused you can apply this simple 3 step formula. I make it Yell it to my students when they make these action so that they remember it easily.

The 3 Steps: Open, Step, Swing.

1)Open

When making a shot, you always must Open before moving so that you're ready to hit the ball whenever you need to. Implementing this habit will give you the chance to forestall the shot you now usually miss.

After your racket is ready to make a shot, you can move.

2) Step

When starting out the only thing that matter is that you make your last step in a way that lets you make a drive.

To do so, simply make the last step with your left foot when on the right side of the court, and use the right foot on the left side of the court.

When "landing" the feet make sure to make your talon gets to the ground before the sole this way you create a great base for you to make the shot.

When making the last step you always have to make sure that you have your feet completely landed on the ground before making a swing.

3)Swing

When you have your feet on the ground, you can easily make the swing. The best swing is the simplest, just extend the arm in front of you and use the shoulder to move it.

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 - ANATOMY OF A SHOT

It's all about the plate

The shot has many particularities, the most important thing is the plate which must be ''positive'' otherwise the ball will go down.
If the racket plate is not watching upwards the ball will inevitably bounce on the floor.

In fact every aspect of the movement , preparation and swing of the squash's shot has to do with having a positive plate.
To do so: When preparing a shot rotate the wrist in order to have a positive racket-plate. More on Opening on this article.

Learning the correct swing

The perfect racket swing for the forehand is as simple as closing  your arm-pit while having your arm extended.
The one for the back-hand requires you to open your arm pit while extending your arm.

To Understand the perfect swing you need to do it slowly, even without a racket. Set your arm on the imaginary impact-point with the ball, then take your arm up to ''Open'' (i.e. Prepare) the shot, then extend your arm while closing/opening the armpit (close it for a forehand and open it for the backhand) and try to make your swing without feeling resistances into your elbow/arm, you need to use your proprioceptive senses, when you feel your swing to have no resistances you have achieved a good swing, then try to use the same racket-shot with the ball.

As in many field of life, Less is better

Managing your momentum

The other key component of the shot is managing your momentum, you need to spread your legs to create a big base for the shot so that your balance is great and you can put all your power into your shot.

To do so, learn the habit of moving properly on court. Long story short, your final step toward the ball should be with the left leg on the right side of the court, and with the right leg on the left side of the court.
The ''side-step'' shouldn't be straight toward the side wall, but more diagonal in order to create a good base, try this: make the final ''side-step'' toward the ball and see if you can maintain your balance, if you can't your doing it wrong. I push my junior-athletes to see if they have a decent base.

When running to the ball i ''kick'' my leg in a way that make my talon land first and then your toes, this way you have a perfect base for your shot.
Try to always make the shot after having ''landed'' your feet.

Squash Tips - BASIC TACTICS OF SQUASH EXPLAINED

Always go back to the center

Staying in the center is very important because you're in the position in which you're closer to every corner of the court.

When going back to the T the first step you should be making is toward the ''vertical'' line of the T this way you are in the center, compared to the side walls. Then you should  go to the T.
Being able to get to the T is possible only when

Throw the ball in the corners

This is the one thing that can make you win just by playing a good serve, if you always throw the ball in the corner of the court your opponent will have to run. (Which is the name of the next tactic, as you realize everything in this game is intertwined). To throw the ball in the corner you don't need a huge amount of strength (even if it's fun/useful), what you need is just to rotate the racket-plate in a more ''positive'' way so that the ball will go deeper in the court.

You walk he runs

Running means that you're reacting to your opponent always walk

This is achieved by understanding that the latter you arrive on a ball the better. To better understand this read this article about moving toward the ball.

The other skill to improve is your anticipatory skill which can be improved by watching your opponent closely, he's body language will tell you where the ball will go. Look at how he rotate his torso, how he places his feet and how he swing his racket, if you watch carefully you'll always know where the ball will go.

Make him pay for his mistakes

This game is about consistency,the one who fails the less will inevitably win

As i said before the drive is a way to achieve PAR, whenever your opponent shot's quality is lower than yours you can always think about some shot that will force him to run.

For example a cross court, a boast and a drop shot.
A good paradigm to use when playing is the Deep/short alternation.

Deep short alternation

Every time your opponent is behind, drop the ball in the front

To make your opponent run, whenever he does a shot which you easily retrieve, make him pay for his mistakes by making a drop shot/ attacking boast, so that he has to run.
Everytime he retrieves that, make a long shot so that he has to run, if you keep the control of the center, you will make him consume a lot of energy while you'll be fresh.

In order to learn this tactic fully you have to stick to it even when you feel like it's better to do something else.

If you get yourself controlled by the emotions while in a game you'll loose focus and it will result in you making mistakes.

Play with equilibrium both in the body and in the mind

Every failure is a brick in your palace of glory

Everytime you make a mistake it is a natural way to tell you what you need to improve.
You shouldn't be angry at this because the only way through which you can understand yourself is by trying and the more you try things, the easier you'll understand how they works.
So not only focus on having a center of balance (which is the fulcrum of your strength) when you make a shot, but also focus on the process of improving your skill instead of just obtaining new trophies!

The basic tactics of squash here explained must be merged toghether since they are intertwined.

Squash Tips - 3 KEY POINTS FOR A GOOD SQUASH SHOT

The three major key points to bring your squash shot capacity to a new level

REMEMBER PRACTICE IS KEY

1)Keep your feet on the ground!

One of the major things you should be looking for when hitting the ball is to have your feet spread so that you gain a huge base for you to have stability.

Look at how you move to the ball. Do you hit the ball with your feet on the ground or do you tend to raise one of them? 

If you have troubles hitting balls near the back wall you should focus on this.
Having your feet to the ground gives you the chance to bend your knees in the correct way so that you can pick any ball from the back wall.
If you have your feet widespread you can put you weight onto your front foot so that you have more power when you hit the ball.

2)Extend yourself

As you learned in physics the more the distance from the fulcrum, the more the strenght. 

This is doubly important in squash. Because if you stay far from the ball, You get both more power and you have to move less, wich not only reduce the energy waste wich is very important throughout the game but also gets you to keep control of the T.

You should practice extending everytime you can so, you should also realize that the more you stay on the T the easier and slower the game becomes.

A good exercise to practice this consist in starting from the T, and go to the side wall trying to touch the wall with the raquet in just 2 steps.

3)The raquet goes from up to down

You have to make sure you always open and that your raquet head starts by point up and in the impact point (when you hit the ball) it should point as your belly button (i.e. completely in front of you). This does not mean you have to hit the ball in front of your belly button (even tho it's the impact point of the forehand shot)

Squash Tips - OPENING A.K.A. PREPARATION OF THE SHOT

Squash is fast, and half of the game is in being prepared...

To open means taking your squash raquet over the shoulder, In order that you're ready to hit the ball whenever you want.

A common error in squash is to run to the ball without being ready to hit it.
Let me be clear on this one. You always have to prepare the shot before going to the ball!
From Now on you should be always opening before moving for the ball.

Getting the Habit of always preparing the Shot Before Moving will increase your efficency a lot!

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OPENING AND JUST TAKING YOUR RAQUET UP

As I said before you have to be ready to hit the ball before moving to it. Taking your raquet up is not necessarily going to let you hit a good shot. In order to be ready you have to be able to swing your raquet from the point in wich you're taking it when you open.

This means that if you have to prepare the shot again when you are near the ball, you are doing it wrong! 

To fix this follow this simple tips 

1) Position your raquet  in the correct impact point

2) Take your arm up so that you can give more strenght to the shot.

Being always ready to hit the ball will have a tremendous impact on your game!

Two other great exercise are:

1. Staying in the T, preparing the shot and then making a step to the side. (wich could be refered to ghosting) I'm going to make a article on ghosting so stay tuned!
2. Lean your back onto the back wall,
   take a step in front and then open you righthand shot,
   make the shot, and let the raquet go as you follow through and use it's momentum to open yor backhandshot, then swing the backhand and reopen the righthand, and so forth.
   If You hit the back wall you are opening/swinging too much and you could hit someone, reduce your swing if necessary.

Taking the Habit of doing this exercise to warm up can be very good for a novice player.

THE GRIP

How to hold your squash raquet with ease!

Hold the raquet forming a ''v'' with the index and thumb in a way that the index is situated in the highest position.
Settle the raquet on your palm. It's Not necessary to hold the raquest with effort, what really important is that the way you Rotate your wrist Directly influences the angle of your raquet-Plate. 
There should be space beetwen you index and middle finger this is because Index and thumb are the fingers that gives you the real control, the other three fingers are there to support those two.

The inclination of the plate

The inclination of your Squash raquet is directly influential to the depth of the ball you're going to shoot.

The easiest way to make a good shot Is not by using your strenght, just rotate the raquet-plate so that it is pointing upwards, this way the ball will go deep in the court very easily.

Easy exercise

Open your palm so that it is in front of you, put the raquet into the palm so that it is pointing up, close the thumb and the index so that the index is separated from the middle/ring/little finger wich are tied togheter.

You should be able to hit the ball holding the raquet just with the thumb/index combo. the other three fingers should just give you more grip.

Another Great exercise to improve your grip consist of making a series of drive to the back while and after every shot change the grip to a shorter one, then after another shot, go back to your usual grip.
This will make you realize in a practical way how to hold the raquet in different occasion.


To further develop the concept you can read my latest article on the grip

THE BASICS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO PLAY SQUASH!

THE SQUASH COURT, THE SERVE , RULES AND TACTICS FOR A QUICK START

THE COURT

Picture a tennis court , you have your side of the court, the net, and your opponent's side of the court.

The same is for the squash court: the lowest line is called the ''TIN'' which is the same as the tennis's net. If the ball Hits it or goes lower, the ball is down.

The highest line it's the upper limit for the ball, this means that if the ball touch the line or goes above it it's out.

The line in the middle is the service line, you need to throw the ball over this one when you serve.

The lines on the floor are very important for a playing Good Squash, more on that later...

THE SERVE

Since the serve must be a fair shot,when you're serving  you have to follow this 3 rules.

-You must have at least one feet into the service box;

-The ball must hit on the front wall directly;

-When the ball hits the ground it must be in the opposite side of where you serve (i.e. If you served on the  
  left side, the ball must bounce on the right side.)

THE SIDE WALLS

You can use the side walls to get the ball to hit the Front wall. This means that after you have hit the ball, it has to bounce onto the front wall, before bouncing on the ground.

SCORING

The Match is divided in games, every game is won by the first player that scores 11 points, generally you can play a match  where the first player to win 2 games (it's called 2/3)  or the first to win 3 games (3 out of 5 games) wins the match.
For you to score a point your opponent must throw the ball down or out or the ball must be not-up when your opponent has to it it.
Not-up means that the ball bounces twice on the floor before the opponent hits it.

BASIC TACTICS FOR A GOOD SQUASH GAME

Follow this 2 simple tips in order to bolster your game!

-STAY IN THE CENTER

The T is the central point of the court where the lines meet. By Staying there you can be prepared for your opponent's shot. You should stay one step behind the T because it's easier to recover a ball in the front than it is to recover a ball in the back.

Keep the control of the center makes you control the game and run as less as possible

Staying on the T and extending makes you keep energies and gives you a great tactical advantage

-AIM FOR THE CORNERS

By throwing the ball in the corners you force your opponent to move, making you control the Center and making him run while you're still