Squash Tips - THE SHOTS OF SQUASH Part 2 : Drop shot, Lob and Volley

The Drop

The drop is the one shot that will make almost every point in the game, both for you and for your opponent.

This shot backfires a lot and you'll find that whenever you're not confident on what you are doing your accuracy will decrease. But implementing this shot in your game is a key step to improving.

The drop shot is the second component to an aggresive-style game, the drive being the first part.

When should you make a drop shot? Everytime your opponent has to run to get the ball.
If you haven't checked out yet you should read the tactics post.

You'll notice that everytime you are leading the rally in squash you're the one that's closer to the front wall( generally on the T).

So when you find yourself leading and your opponent gives you a easy shot, make a drop-shot, so that he has to run for the ball.


Now let's clear two important concepts:
1)Don't worry about scoring points . 2)Use the drop to mix things up.

The reason you play the drop-shot is to make your opponent run and by doing so increasing the chances he will be tired and he will make more mistakes.
The frame of mind from wich you should come from is that the more he runs the more you will walk, don't focus on making points cause this will lead you to throw th ball under the tin. Focus on making calculated tactical shot that forces your opponent to ''obey to your will''.

A good thing is always to keep the game full of ''variation''shots so that you're not predictable.

The Lob

Using the Lob means adding class to a rough game

This one shot is extremely funny to do but also very hard.
This can be used in a rotation of shots when you're always in front of the court mixing the shots with drop/lob/cross court or reverse boast (if you like them)

The best lob you can play should be on your serve but you can use it whenever you find yourself in advantage.It is better to use this shot when you're nerar the front wall so that it provides the time to come back to the T and it is also a fruitful shot.

Generally speaking the only time you shouldn't do this shot is when you're on the back wall. That' because if you do it you give an almost always easy killer shot top your opponent.
Use the lob as much as you can and remember to do a good lob you need to throw a weak ball near the upper line of the front wall. Key concept: Weak shot. High shot. 

The Volley

THE GAME CHANGER
The difference beetwen a novice and an intermediate is generally the consistancy of the volleys. You should make as many volleys as you can, mostly making Drive or Cross court or drop shots.

Avoid using the volley when you're near the back wall becaue you speed things up when you should slow them down.

Remember volley is an attacking shot, it forces the rhythm of the game to be faster and this is important mostly because it will give you the chance to lead the game.
The progress that you make on the volley are the general progress you make in the entire game of squash because if you can make a volley it means you have a good racket ability!

A basic basic exercise that it's so good for improving consists of simply making volleys, as easy as you are able to do them in series of 50 shot per group. Everytime you can make 50 shot make the exercise a bit harder by throwing the ball faster or by straying farther away from the front wall. This is applying babystepping to the volley. I have written an article about learning you should check it out

Squash Tips - THE SHOTS OF SQUASH Part 1 : Drive , Cross-Court and Boast

The Drive
Is the foundation of all the game of squash. Improvement in your game should be measured by the efficacy of your drive, which should be ideally bouncing in the corner never to be retrieved.

Of course ideal is far from reality so what you have to focus on is simply that the drive is good enough that your opponent has to run in the corner.


The drive is fundamental in this game because is the one shot that , if properly executed, forces your opponent to move which is key to make him run even further.

Let's look at a squash rally as if it was a game in golf, we have a concept called PAR which means that you have reached the hole in x number of shot, so the par is a standard by which we can compare the quality of our game, same is for the drive.

This one shot won't give you a lot of points directly, but it is the foundation through which you build every point.

The Cross-Court

A great cross court is a shot that bounces in the corner never to be retrieved, in order to do so it has to go through the center of the court wich makes it a quite dangerous shot because if your opponent keeps ahead of the ball you'll loose you advantage.
This implies that you have to play a cross-court only when your opponent is kept away from the center (by using drives).

This one shot is often misused, not that it's not fun to just throw random shots changing sides everytime, but in order to increase your consistency you should play just a few number of extremely calculated attacking cross-courts.

How?

Watch your opponent , your shot should be designed in a way that your opponent is always moving.

if you always throw the ball in a way that your opponent has to move you're getting a huge advantage
For example if in a rally you're playing drive after drive and your opponent is getting used to that , you will see that he is waiting for your shot on the side of the T which means that he is expecting you to shot in that direction, obviously you should make a different shot. This is when Cross-courts and attacking boasts come in hand.

One last thing, Cross court volley is absolutely fine just try to have the best accuracy you can.

The Boast

A boast is by definition a shot that goes from the side wall or the back, to the front wall.

You surely can realise that by being an indirect shot, it is ''slower'' than a direct one.

But this doesn't mean that it cannot be effective and useful, the fact it's that the efficacy of this shot  is based on misguiding the opponent, so the best utility is reached when your opponent expects you to make a different shot.

The Boast could be both used for attack and defense.

Remember: You should always be able to make a drive, the defensive boast should be the last of your choices. To make a defensive boast just increase the angle of your plate so that it is more ''positive'' if you're making a defensive boast it should be as slow as possible so that it will give you the chance to return to the T.

The attacking boast should be used at max once every 20 shots, it should be just the ''pepper on your steak'' not the steak itself, so don't use it too much.
In order to perform a great attacking boast use all the strengh you have and try to throw the ball in a way that it bounces in the front corner.