squash - Some simple squash tips

Drive

Posted by lionel319 @ Mon 26 Sep, 05, 02:33PM under Strokes

Taken from http://squashclub.org/main/e-lessons/shots/shots.shtml:-

Drive

The bread and butter shot of squash is the drive, also called "rail" shot. A good drive should have two aspects to it:

Have depth (also called good length)

Be tight (close to the sidewall)

Good depth puts the ball in the back corners where your opponent's options are limited. Ideally the first bounce should be at the service box line (closest to the back-wall). The second bounce should be at the back-wall/ floor intersection or "nick".

You achieve good length by hitting high, not hard. Hitting hard will only marginally increase the length, but by changing the height of your drive, you can dramatically change how far it bounces from the front wall. Ideally aim for a foot or two above the service line.

Another advantage of hitting higher instead of harder is that you buy time to recover back to the T. If you hit hard your opponent can quickly cut it off at the T-line while you are still in the back corner.

By hitting the ball tight, or close to the sidewall, you force your opponent to scrape their shot off the wall. This limits their options to one return shot, a weak defensive lob to the same back corner. If your shot is loose, or far from the sidewall, your opponent can either play:

Cross-court volley to back corner

Cross-court volley to front corner nick

Straight volley drop

Cross-court drive

Attacking boast

Drive it back tighter into the back corner for you to dig out

You can clearly see that by playing tight and to good length, you remove all the above shots from your opponent's choices. This is why the pro games are full of these never-ending rallies up and down the side-wall.

As we can see, it says that the most important stroke in the squash arena is the Drive, and that is what i will be concentrating for the next few weeks. A few points that i will have to keep in mind while practicing the Drive for my wednesday session will be:-

- Always hit the ball 2 feet above the red line (marked "X") so that i can reach "GOOD LENGTH".
- Always keep the ball TIGHT to the both sides of the wall.

- Aim for the final bounch to be somewhere near the "NICK".

Well, these will be my aim for this Wednesday's squash session. I will see what i can achieve, and update my progress after wednesday :)

0 comment(s) | 468 view(s) | Static Link

The Newbie's Post

Posted by lionel319 @ Thu 22 Sep, 05, 04:03PM under Technics

I recently started picking up some regular squash session with my colleagues. The game is on every Wednesday, 6:30 to 8:30pm, at Lavinia Apartment. Well, the good thing about it is that, everyone there are newbie, including me, the newest newbie :p

Anyway, the reason i started this blog is to post up all the research that i've done and practises that I will be carry out so that i can closely monitor my progress. Yesterday was only my 2nd session, and i am already kind of falling in love with the game. (That's definitely nothing to do with the players who attended the session, hahahah. It's just me :p)

Anyway, i did a google search, and came across this very useful website for squash newbies. http://squashclub.org/main/e-lessons/shots/shots.shtml.

Anyway, I drew up a squash court which hopefully is understandable. Here are the basics which i've learnt from friends (and foe). :p

INSIDE/OUTSIDE
The red areas are the OUTSIDE areas. The ball should at no circumstances hit these area, else it would consider an OUT.

SERVICE

Service side can be choosen whenever there's a service-over. The server can either choose to serve from left to right, or right to left. One rule applies, at least one of the server's foot has to be within the green box. During the service, the ball has to hit the 1st rectangle below the top RED area, and then bounce into the receiver's court. Failing any of the above mentioned rule, a service over will be given.

IN GAME

After the service, the ball has to keep rolling in order to keep the game in play. A few rules apply:-

- The ball has to at least touch the front wall once.

- The ball can only touch the floor not more than once.

- After the ball hit the front wall, you need to hit the ball before the 3rd surface (i.e. front wall -> side wall -> back wall -> then must hit cannot wait for it to bounce on floor)

- Your feet cannot be ON the line of the green box when service.

(Thanks to gaymen's reply for the last 2 points)

SCORING

I'm not sure about the international standard of score keeping, but for us, we sticked to the 9 score per game, best of 5 rules. The person who reaches 9 points first win the game, with a deuce will be giving if the score ties at 8-8, whereby the first who reach 10 points grabs the game. The person who wins 3 games first win the match.

That's it. Simple isn't it? ;)

2 comment(s) | 695 view(s) | Static Link