Squash Company

Squash coaching with passion

How to stop running



DEFENCE! DEFENCE! Using the four corners to stop running around.

The most dangerous position in squash to be in is running around the court, desperately retrieving the ball whilst your opponent stands around and keeps moving you.

It can get seriously out of hand and usually results in you eventually not being able to reach a ball or causing you to making an error. Occasionally, an opponent will be a bit casual or over-eager and make an error, so you should always try to keep the ball up one shot longer, but you’d of course rather be the person standing around than the one doing the running.

Breaking out of the vicious cycle

This sort of rally can become something of a cycle. Once you start running, it can be hard to stop running. This is because your opponent has found a gap on the court between you and the T-Position and they’ve played the ball into it, which has caused you to run more than normal. As you’re running quite a bit, it’s likely your shot will be weaker than normal as the pressure may well affect your technical and mental ability, resulting in weaker shot selection and execution. Of course this then allows your opponent to apply further pressure as the gap between you and the T-Position widens even more, further impacting your shot selection and execution. If you’re fit, you may find this process going on for some time as you fight desperately to survive.

DSC_0256-min

The four corners

The main reason this running cycle is able to continue is because people start playing poor squash under pressure. Most of the time, a bad shot choice is made and then the shot is also poorly executed, which is understandable given the pressure. The worst thing you can do is play the awful cross-court or smash shot that most people attempt to play, which just gives the ball right back to the person making you do all the running. Instead, you need to try and train yourself to produce an almost automatic shot choice for these situations where you aim to get the ball deep into one of the four corners.

In my opinion, the best shots in this situation are the straight drop or a lob shot. The lob will give you time to get back to the T-Position but frequently people are unable to execute it well or the pressure is so great it’s very hard to execute well and so the lob ends up being a feed for the opponent to volley. The straight drop in my opinion is the best option, especially if your opponent is behind you, as it is a counter-attacking shot. If you feel the ball into the front corner, they then have to effectively trade places with you while you can get back towards the middle. The pressure is now on them.

The lob is a great option if they’re high up the court and so vulnerable to a lob if you do have the ability to get your racket under the ball and therefore play a good lob. If you aren’t confident in your lob, I suggest you practice it but make sure this practice is pressurised and not easy to reflect the situation where you’ll need it most.

When you’re in your match, see if you can break your opponent’s attacks up by playing into the four corners, particularly with a straight drop or lob shot, and prevent yourself running around like a headless chicken.




Do you get down low enough when you play drops?



Do you get down low enough when you play drop shots? 

Commonly players mess up opportunities to drop at the front because they are too upright and so they end up dangling their racket at the ball rather than playing the shot properly. If you dangle your racket so that it’s hanging down in a straight line, you are unlikely to hit the right part of the ball, which of course doesn’t do your chances of playing an effective shot much good. Usually, the ‘dangle’ results in inconsistent drops with just as many going too high or hitting the tin as going in.

Getting low enough for good technique and to hit the right part of the ball

The simple answer to how low you need to get is that it needs to be low enough to get your technique right and be able to hit the bottom of the ball (or any part of the ball) if you need to. If you are going into the ball with your arm hanging straight down, you aren’t going to be able to achieve a consistently good shot as your swing will be ineffective and if you’re doing this because you’re upright, you also won’t hit the right part of the ball.

DSC_0051-min

Presumably if you’re in the front corner retrieving a drop, the ball will be low, which means you’ll need to get low enough to be in a position where you can hit the bottom part of the ball so you can gently lift the ball into the corner or for a counter drop or even play a lob shot if you wish. These will typically be your two best options as they will be the toughest shots for your opponent and allow you more T-Recovery time if you play them well.

Cocking your wrist

Cocking your wrist is a little bit frowned upon at the moment (especially since Ramy Ashour came along) but it’s important that your keep your wrist up when moving into a drop in the front corner. This doesn’t necessarily mean cocking it in the traditional sense but you need to get your lower arm back enough in that ‘triangle’ shape you would typically use when hitting a forehand shot, as you can see in the picture below. Doing this allows you to get a bit more control over your shot, which is important in this scenario.

DSC_0096-min

How do you get low?

Generally, the best way of getting low in the front is to lunge. If you go in with more of a squat or use your back to get down low, it isn’t very easy to get out of the way or get back to the T-Position, or you may find yourself in trouble if your opponent is quick into the front and looking to play long. If you lunge you can stretch in and recover the T-Position more efficiently, get your weight through the ball and also get down low enough to hit the bottom of the ball and swing with quality.

If your drop shots in the front leave something to be desired, check if you are getting down low enough to give yourself the platform for a good swing and to hit the necessary part of the ball.




Where is your weight when you hit the ball?



The key to hitting any shot from anywhere on the court. 

The more you learn about squash, the more it seems that it really is all about footwork and positioning.

A lot of people don’t load weight properly due to their footwork when they strike the ball and this can lead to all sorts of problems, some of which are more subtle than others.

If your footwork and weight distribution is right, squash is easy. Hitting the ball is easy. It’s all easy if you know how. Hitting the ball is all about where your weight is. If the ball is behind you, it’s hard to hit because you can only get a limited amount of weight behind it – most likely the weight of your wrist and maybe forearm. If the ball is in front of you, you can transfer a lot of weight through the ball. You can get practically your entire body transferring weight and energy to the ball.

Where’s your centre of gravity? 

For best results when you strike the ball, your weight needs to be centred in your legs – typically between the front and back leg – with more weight going towards the front leg so that as you place your foot to hit the ball you are putting your weight through the shot and therefore transferring energy into the ball. By doing this you are harnessing all of your weight and the power of gravity. The most common way of centring weight is to lunge or squat slightly.

This is why it is so difficult to get shots out of the back corners initially, as it’s not easy to get enough weight behind the ball to play a shot. As we discuss in another article, sometimes you might have to put your weight on the back leg in certain situations to give you a fighting chance of returning the ball. There will be many occasions where you can’t get your full body weight behind the ball but you have to adapt as best you can to find ways of transferring as much weight and energy as possible through the ball.

volley good-min-2

Weight and positioning: If it doesn’t hurt you now, it will hurt your next shots

Loading your weight incorrectly may not necessarily ruin the shot you are playing (although it often does stop it from being as good as it could be!), as many players can still control the ball well in spite of bad weight distribution, but it will impact on your next shot positionally. If your weight is in the wrong place, it will affect your ability to recover the T-Position, which will likely limit the quality of your next shot. You’ll have to do a lot of work to change the direction of your weight in order to get to the next shot. This will of course leave you playing catch up and put you under pressure, which is not the ideal environment you want for playing your shot.

So if you don’t get your weight right, you may find yourself trapped somewhere on the court and leaving a big gap for your opponent to hit the ball into.

Clearing the ball & weight in the upper body

As mentioned above, some people can still control the ball well despite not loading their weight onto their legs properly and stretching in. Often they are very upright when they hit the ball and this means that they aren’t transferring as much weight as is possible, which means that not only is the shot not reaching its full potential but also that they’re not going to be able clear the ball and return to the T-Position easily, as they can’t push back explosively off their front leg. This means it’s a struggle to cover the opponent’s next shot properly, which means their next shot will be weaker. The opponent can then attack the weaker shot and apply pressure, which can lead to even more running if the player can manage to stay in the rally.

Keep an eye on where your weight is when you play the ball. Are you channelling it efficiently through the ball? You’d be amazed what you can do and where you can do it from when you master your weight.




Getting the correct spacing for your shots



An arm’s-length between you and the ball. 

Spacing is incredibly important in squash. It affects the quality of your shot and it will also have a huge bearing on the quality of your next shot and the one after because if you’re too close to the ball, you’ll be in a weaker position to return your opponent’s next shot.

Getting an arm’s-length between you and the ball

As a general rule of thumb, you want to make sure that the ball is about the length of your arm away from you when you hit it. You can get an idea for the distance by stretching your non-playing arm out in front of you. A lot of players – including myself – will actually have their other arm and hand outstretched as they play, which not only helps for spacing but can also aid balance and provide momentum for recovering from a shot.

DSC_0073Min

You may not even notice it…

A lot of good players can still play good shots when they’re a bit close to the ball and so may not even notice there is anything to improve or anything going wrong. Unfortunately though it’s something that can be exposed when playing better players, as by being too close to the ball they’ll be further away from the T-Position. It might not be much but by leaving a bigger gap for their opponent to hit into, they are offering their opponent a more obvious shot to hit and the increased gap can easily be enough to leave them under pressure and chasing the ball.

Once you reach a certain level, squash becomes all about the very small details; the inch closer to the T-Position you could be, the inch shorter your drop shot could be and the second faster you are able to take the ball.

Check and see if you can play your shots from closer to the middle of the court without losing any quality. These inches can add up over the course of a game and make a huge difference.




Facing the front wall when you move



How should you position your body as you move? 

Whenever you move in squash, you should strive to keep your body facing the front wall where possible, particularly in the back corners. In doing this, you keep your options open as from this position you can easily change direction if you need to, as sometimes you will over anticipate or simply guess your opponent’s shot wrong. If you start to turn too much to face a particular part of the court, you begin to commit and this can be spotted and acted upon by a clever opponent. It can also leave you struggling to return a shot played in an unexpected direction, as that split-second it takes to stop and change direction is often too long.

Moving backwards

It is very tempting and easy to turn and run towards the back corners when moving in squash but if you do this, you will find yourself getting closer and closer to the side wall and worse – chasing the ball. Once the ball gets behind you, you need to do your best to stay composed and try to get around the ball again or use your ‘wrong’ leg as a way of shifting weight behind the ball again. If you turn and run, you will find yourself having to stretch and try and flick a weak shot back from a very awkward position.

DSC_0270-min

Do your best to stay as close as you can to the middle of the court and move backwards first, before turning in to face the side wall only as you begin to stretch in to play your shot.

The idea is never to over commit to anything when it comes to movement. Always be ready and in position to change direction at any moment.

This is something that’s quite small and easy to incorporate into your game which could save you lots of points and mileage! Take a look at your game and see where your body faces as you move into the shot.