The journals for squash are definitely piling up. I've played about five games since my last journal, which I believe was on Thursday or Friday.
I haven't been playing particularly well lately. Well, that's not quite fair. I don't play particularly well at the best of times, but some days I at least feel like my practice has paid off. The last five games I've played have felt like I took a step backward and have been using a large sack of meat instead of a squash racquet to swing at the ball. I've tried to play squash with a large sack of meat before, and let me tell you something - it's less effective than a racquet (though I heard that that's how they train in Russia, and in Rocky IV).
I started out on Friday getting to the club an hour early, so I could work on some drills. Nothing new, just the usual hard drives down the side walls, and high soft shots. Neither of these were working particularly well, but the way I deal with that is to just keep practicing through it. Nevertheless, by the end of it, it's hard not to feel a little disheartened.
So, naturally, the first game I play of the night is against some guy named James. James, (or Jimbo, as I like to call him when he can't find out that that is what I'm calling him), kicked my ass, and I already wrote about that. The other two games I played were alright, but I really didn't feel like I was playing the way I wanted to play.
On Saturday, I had a game against Megan. Megan plays in A division for women, and that means that I get very little leighway for mistakes. Megan's great to play, because she's much more skilled than I am (meaning I'm punished for every mistake I make), but I have more power and reach than her, so I can still stay in the game (most of the time).
Anyhow, I got to the courts an hour early again to get some drills in, still feeling like they weren't working quite as I wanted, and after about twenty minutes, a guy named Paul asked if I've wanted to play. Paul's a good guy, and a fairly sharp squash player - I watched him beat Jeff four game's straight, and saw him playing earlier against a guy named Tim, who's a B level player. Anyhow, I played some pretty pathetic games against Paul, once again, meat-sacking it up on the court (from now on, when I suck, I'm just going to to refer to it as meat-sacking. Maybe it'll catch on). I finished up with him, and then played Megan.
My game against Megan was pretty unimpressive. I don't think I hit a single drive that didn't bounce off the side wall, slowing down and coming out into the center. Every higher shot I tried to hit either came off the back wall on the full, or was at about head height. The points that I did get felt like lucky shots on my part, or unforced errors on Megan's part (and most of those errors would have been sure points if she had hit the ball in - I hate her drop shots so damn much!). I like playing people that are better than me, as it's one of the best ways to force yourself to improve your game, but I hate feeling like I'm wasting their time. It's nice to at least feel like you're making the other player run around a little bit.
Anyhow, my coming week is looking a little bit more open than last week, so I'm hoping to get some serious drill time in on the court before the Friday club night. The things I need to work on are the same as I mentioned in the last entry, and I'm just going to have to knuckle up and tough it out if I'm not getting any satisfaction from the drills. Practice helps, even if it doesn't feel like it.
Go Megan Go. That the way to take down the newbies!