Squash Journal #1 - November 25th, 2004

Alright, so this kicks off the first of my squash journals. I wrote this one out shortly after my first lesson/assessment with Stuart Dixon, the pro at my squash club.

1. Aim drives to land in the service box

Most of my drives are coming down along the side wall pretty well, but I'm putting way too much power into them. Aim to have the ball land in the back of the service box, then hit the rear wall. It's better to be softer and not have it hit the rear wall, than too hard and have it bounce right off the rear wall. Any shot that bounces off the rear wall is a poor shot, because it doesn't make the opponent run the full length of the court, and it gives him a lot more space within which to make his next shot.

2. Use less power

This coincides with the above note. When playing my shots try to aim softer and higher. I have a good shot at about the service line level, and should keep making shots there, but take the power down a good deal.

3. Take forehand shots off left leg

There's always going to be times when it won't be possible to take a forehand shot off the left leg, but doing so will allow me to generate more power (a good deal of the power in a squash shot is caused rotating your torso around your hips - taking a shot off the back leg cuts off a lot of the range of this motion).

4. The motion for a forehand shot is a lot like skipping rocks across a lake

The wrist should be cocked at the top of the swing, and the swing should be begin by leading with the elbow and butt of the racquet. As you approach the ball, the racquet head should swing through and connect with the ball, then follow through back up to your shoulder. For a graphical representation of this, see my friend Jeff's blog.

5. Don't flick wrist through shots

Doing so will rob me of most of the power I would have, render my shot less accurate, and mess up my wrist. The motion of the swing should be a clean and effortless motion, and should flow smoothly - flicking the wrist isn't smooth.

6. If I am going to hit a strong shot, make sure that it is aimed low on the front wall. The lower half of the section of the wall underneath the service line is a good place for a strong shot.
7. Soft shots, aimed high on the wall are great to use, and the lack of speed of the ball isn't an issue

Moving the opponent off the T, and into the back corner, is never a bad thing. Ever.

8. After every shot, clear by moving towards the center, then back or forwards to the T.

Don't make a direct path to the T, or you're likely to get a stroke called on you.

9. Keep grip loose when striking balls along the wall

And keep them looser throughout most of my shots as well. The racquet shouldn't be held in a white-knuckle grip - it should be held relaxed. For shots that I'm scraping off the side wall, the racquet really needs to hit the wall and kind of glance along it. Keeping my grip loose will make this easier - keeping the grip tight will cause the racquet to bounce off the wall when it first makes contact.

10. Backhand shots should follow through straight with the desired path of the ball, typically parallel to the wall.

Don't follow through around the circumference of the circle traced by the direction my hips can pivot, as this will increase the likelihood of sending the ball bouncing off the side wall.

So, tons of stuff to learn after this first lesson. My grip is currently the biggest problem, and likely one of the main reason I've been hitting so many poor shots. I also seem to compensating for my incorrect grip by aiming the racquet face to be more open than it should be - this allows the ball to follow a straight path normally, but when I change to the correct grip, this compensation is causing me to hit the ball with too high an arc. Obviously there's lots of drill sessions to go in order to get the right muscle memory in place.

That's it for the first journal. I hope to have more posted by the end of tonight. I'll also be putting up menu options along the side so that people can browse posts corresponding to a specific post, in case someone wants to read only the squash entries, etc.