British Squash with Tony Draper

My friend is impossible to buy for, but because he plays squash, for part of his present, I’m thinking of getting him some squash balls. He uses the single yellow dot ones.

What I’d like to know is if they’re prone to bursting or not? He’s mentioned this has happened in the past, so I was thinking I could get him a little stockpile if it happens a lot.

If it’s a rare incident, then I better think of another present!

Thanks everyone!

Well I am still in 8th grade and I don’t have much time to improve my game, I only play for about 3 hours on weekends. I am slightly overweight, but I am able to beat a few kids my age and older. But I am not able to survive a rally of more than 20 strokes. How can I improve myself? BTW, I run 2 miles to warm up, I exercise on the agility ladder, but that is all I have time for because I have soo much math homework (pre-calculus)

I am a squash player. And when I tell my friends that, they’ll all be “uh..” Why is squash considered a “lame game?” As far as I know, you need intelligence and agility to play this game! Not only that, you need to be super fit! So why is squash considered to be a lamer game than tennis or badminton? It’s really sad to see squash a dying sport. ):

Is squash harder or easier than tennis? I’m wondering which to take up, I sort of want to try squash… answer asap gracias

Hello Everyone,

I’m planning to take up squash, any advice on what to look for in a good decent squash racket would be appreciated - e.g. brands, materials, technical info. etc…..also advice ot the type of balls as well. Many thanks.

Would any one be able to advise substantially on a decent squash racquet, also on other equipment, such as balls, brand, materials, and qualities of a club - is squash well represented in England? - I cant seem to find much information on it… Many thanks in advance…

Hi. How do you differentiate between a tennis racket and a squash racket?
and is there any significant dress code/ accessory that a squash player wears?

Step 1. Decide what you hope to have a achieved a year from now. Goals might include winning the 3.0 skill division of the US nationals or playing at a hight position on your team for example.

Step 2. Decide on which tournaments throughout the year you wish to play to achieve this or give yourself time frames in which you are going to challenge your team-mates for a higher position on your team.

The best way to do this is to sit down with a full year calendar and slot in the important tournament dates, team matches, and/or challenge matches.

Step 3. You now have to analyze exactly what elements of your game both technically and tactically you need to improve and/or change in order for you to achieve these goals.

This can be done in a number of ways. The first and most obvious is self -assessment. This is great and it is indeed good to be constantly self assessing your game. It is unfortunately probably the least reliable method as we can’t see ourselves play. Even better is video analysis. Try to video a couple of your own matches so that you can see any weaknesses for yourself. Even better again is to get second and third opinions. An experienced coach has seen a gamut of squash styles and will be able to give you a break down of your technique and key weak areas of your game to work on. If you are unable to get a coach to do this then try and find a friend who knows the game to be your second pair of eyes.

When looking at your game technically an easy way to be quite thorough is to draw yourself a chart with the shot that you are looking at in one column, an assessment of that shot in the next column and how you intend to improve that shot in the following column. See below for an example:

The analysis can be as simple or as detailed as you would like to make it. You can even start splitting up the shots into categories e.g. hard cut drop shot and soft touch drop shot depending on your standard and expectations. Movement patterns can also be split up in the same fashion and key pointers allocated to improvement.

Now you have your season planned and goals set how do you set about achieving them through your training? There should be two phases to your on court drilling, the “Training Phase” and the “Competitive Phase”. The training phase refers to when you do not have an imminent competition and involves concentrated work on technique whilst the competitive phase kicks in around 4-8 weeks before competition and works on your tactical game. Looking at your yearly calendar it may be that some competitions will fall into a training phase, this is absolutely fine. You are aspiring to peak for your major goals and it is good practice to “train through” competitions, after all it is the long-term goal that you are looking at.

How do the different phases look?

Training Phase
The aim of this phase is to work on technique including the swing, movement, body positioning, shot refinement and consistency.

Drills should include:

• Solo exercises – to work on the technique and consistency of individual shots.

• Single feed drills – you and a partner feed for each other. For instance your partner might feed a forehand boast for you to practice your backhand crosscourt lob.

• Closed drills – this is where you and a partner or coach perform a two person drill but you know what the order of shots will be. The boast drive drill is an obvious example of this.

• Matches – when working on technique and wanting to transfer alterations to a game situation it is more advisable to play people not as good as yourself. This reduces the amount of pressure you are under and hence will give you more time to focus grooving a technical change

All of these drills build confidence in your ability to execute different shots. With the drills being narrowed and decision making not a factor, it allows you to concertedly focus on technique and movement. You should start off with the drills being physically easy in order to give yourself as much time as possible to place your feet correctly and to address any floors in your swing. This is near impossible to achieve under physical pressure. It also allows you to achieve many repetitions of a drill without becoming exhausted and hence begins to “groove” the changes you are trying to make.

Only when these alterations start to become second nature should you start making the same drill more challenging. Be disciplined and meticulous with yourself, there is no point “grooving” a wrong movement or technique that might be hard to change at a later date. In the same vain, try and get feedback from a second pair of eyes, whether that be through video tape or a coach, often we feel like we have altered something correctly but are unable to actually verify if that is true. As a final note on the training phase be sure that you check back with your goals often and that the drills you are focusing on are in line with what you planned. As you make improvements be sure to track these also.

Competitive Phase
As you move into the competitive phase the technical aspects to your game should have been thoroughly addressed as this is when you need to put yourself in pressure situations and begin working on shot choice, perception and anticipation.

Drills should include:

• Pressure drills –technical aspects worked on in the training phase are now put into pressure situations. An example would be where your partner was performing a single feed at the front for you to drive, they are now going to feed with their best drop shot, you are now running to and from the back wall to play a straight drive.

• Open drills – where shot choices and decisions need to be made. This can start off simple, for example take the boast drive / drill and now add in the option of the cross court from the front. As this phase progresses many different decisions can be allocated to a drill.

• Condition games – this is effectively making the open drills even more open and game like. For example, you can only go short if your opponent is behind you or you must play short off a boast.

• Matches – start playing opponents of a similar standard to you in order to work on strategy, perception and anticipation. You also want to start playing people of a higher standard than yourself to work on your game under pressure.

This phase is allowing you to work on anticipation and deception. When there are choices within a drill you start to see and get used to what your opponent looks like as they line up for different shots and anticipate their shot selection. You are also able to work or deception by either keeping your partner guessing for as long as possible which shot you will play or indeed trick them. It also works on playing the same shots grooved in the training phase but now under pressure.

Condition games allow you to practice particular game plans and styles of play. If your need is to play the ball straight more often a condition for you would be to only play straight. Or if you need to work on increasing the pace of a game your condition might be that you can only hit length below the service line. The conditions set on yourself and your partner do not have to be the same, and in fact when they are different it can lead to some very interesting results. The possibilities are endless. As with the training phase make sure you check back with the tactical goals you originally set and track your progress. It’s great for self- esteem when improvement is noted, reference can be made back to this as a confidence booster.

Selecting Opponents for Matches
Playing is after all what it is about so have you ever thought about which opponents you should play and when? Tournaments and league matches select opponents for us but who we play in our own time and during practice we have control over. Who you play can have different benefits to your game and where you are in your training plan can determine who you might want to call up.

This chart outlines the values commonly achieved by playing opponents of different abilities:

So as you can see there are different benefits to be gained from playing different opponents, all of which are valuable. The timing of each should be considered for maximum effect within your season plan.

Now you have a template with which to plan your success. There is one thing to know how to plan, another to go ahead and do it and even better is to carry out the plan. As we all know many wonderful plans have been uselessly left on shelves so get out there and use your valuable training and court time to it’s maximum!!!

Coaching a club player is obviously very different from coaching a pro. One major difference is the club players’ knowledge of their own game (or lack of knowledge in comparison to the pro player). Prior to coaching a player I always ask them to list their strengths, weaknesses and goals they hope to achieve from coaching. A lot of people aren’t able to cite these easily, which is crazy. When you play an unknown opponent you should always begin the match concentrating on your own strengths, then adjust your match according to whether this is effective or not. If you don’t know your weaknesses you don’t know what to improve, and if your opponent knows your weaknesses and you don’t – you’re in big trouble. Having set goals for coaching helps your motivation and without those goals it is difficult to gauge your improvement.

I recently began a 10 week coaching session with a group of English guys at my club in Amsterdam. I asked all of them via email to list for me their goals, strengths and weaknesses. Below is one of the answers I received, which I found particularly funny. I just wish his squash skills rivalled his humour.

Goals: Squash is a hobby to me at the moment but I am confident that I have the necessary skills to become a pro. I would like you to fine tune my existing abilities so that I become a global top 5 player. (May only take 5 weeks for this though so I will think of another goal for the other 5 weeks).

Strengths: Number 1 strength would have to be my power. I sometimes have to reduce the amount of strength I put behind a shot as it is costing me a fortune in new balls. Despite the awesome power at my disposal I often surprise myself at the speed at which I can change in a rally to play an almost perfect drop shot that has any opponent scrambling to the front of the court, and leaves them ridiculously exposed for any shot that I will then select to kill the rally. My other main strength is my energy and my fitness. I sometimes “play” with an opponent. Instead of killing the rally I keep it going for as long as possible just to push myself. It has not been unknown for me to book 2 courts, one straight after the other as I find that
2 games in a row help me to maintain my peak level of fitness.

Weaknesses: As I am such a kind hearted and generous sportsman I often have difficulty calling the “let” shot. This comes more in to the fray when playing someone of a more portly nature (e.g. Geoff). When my opponent is, for want of a better word, “Fat”, I often try to take the long way around to keep the rally going. Sometimes this is just not possible but I will give away the point rather than shout for the let. Opponents have taken advantage of this in the past and have sometimes made the score look more respectable than it maybe should have. I would like you to teach me to have more of a killer instinct and shout for these lets when it is blatantly obvious that the lard bucket I am playing against is clearly in my way.

I think that covers everything.

Cheers,
Lee.

British Squash is a subject that I am very passionate about, having played the sport for nearly all of my life. Although not a player of great status I am the Chairman of the Northamptonshire Squash Rackets Association and enjoy participating when possible.

This Blog is to encourage the supporters and players of British Squash to air their views on the current climates and also to impart knowledge and advice to others with the aim of taking the sport back up to its well deserved position among some of the most popular sorts today.

Therefore please feel free to sign up and leave an article or indeed comment on articles posted already. I look forward to communicating with you all.

Tony Draper

http://www.tony-draper.com