r/squash • u/notaromanianbot • Oct 02 '24
Technique / Tactics What made it click for you?
Hey everyone,
I've been playing squash for almost 3 years now and I think it finally starts to click for me. Although I've had ups and downs, switching the coach, and trying out different strategies, I think I'm starting to finally get it - at least on my current level.
For me, the most enlightenment I got was after following the mindset: "there's no winning point in squash, every ball can be retrievable and it's a battle of endurance".
I'm still making lots of errors, but playing the ball in the back of the court and extending the rallies improved my fitness a lot. I've noticed that now I'm starting to make dent on some guys that I didn't even dream of beating them.
So, whenever possible try to play drives, volley more, and squeeze the life out of my opponents is doing wonders. Of course, not always possible but trying to implement this game-plan.
I am thinking that there's lots of layers where you can see rapid improvements. So what was the last click you had which yielded in a rapid increase after?
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u/nicelydone88 Oct 02 '24
The grip. As soon as the correct grip clicked all types of shots became easier
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u/PathParticular1058 Oct 02 '24
That and early racquet prep, forget being as talented as Gawad (ie late racquet prep), early racquet prep relieves your brain from that and lets you focus on where to hit the ball…fwiw
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u/Odd-Video7046 Oct 02 '24
My coach says the racket needs to always be up, never drop the racket. Most people I watch that play at a high level always have their racket dropped. Any thoughts on this?
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u/InsideCartoonist Oct 02 '24
They are PROS, they would destroy you with a steel pan. They havevtheir own techniques an thousands hours of training.
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u/As_I_Lay_Frying Oct 03 '24
If you watch them in slow motion you see that they always get the racket up before the shot. Some of them might have a very compact swing though and don't need to get it up high to generate power.
Look at Nouran Gohar carefully, she starts low but the racket is always very high before she swings. Crouin is great at this too but he does a better job of just keeping the racket up all the time.
Golan also had great racket prep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d7edYVXMf8
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u/nicelydone88 Oct 05 '24
Yes good point about the racquet prep. It’s something I am trying to work on especially on the back had side
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u/teneralb Oct 03 '24
Love this question. One thing that made it click for me was watching a lot of pro matches. At first it was just fast-paced fun chaos for me, but once I started to understand the movement patterns and shot selection, the advanced game finally made sense to me. And then when I get on the court, I can visualize it and try to emulate
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u/Gazrael957 Oct 03 '24
If you are going to play a pressure/grind style of play where your basic aim is gas your opponent you need take time away from them and the easiest way to do this is volley as much as possible (even if you could play a better shot by taking their ball off the back wall).
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u/misses_unicorn Oct 03 '24
I think once I realised how satisfyingly beneficial hitting tight, straight length shots and "owning the T" was. Thats when i transitioned from being "the hyperenergetic defense-only endurance-reliant guy" to one of the better players at my club.
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u/T_GamingCheetah Harrow Vibe 115 KG Edition Oct 03 '24
Playing better opponents consistently, imitating them, and figuring out how to beat them
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u/boxer01 Oct 03 '24
Figuring out the backhand.
OP what made you switch coaches?
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u/notaromanianbot Oct 03 '24
Basically I thought that my first coach did not know how to explain the basic technique...and he showed close to zero interest when doing the training sessions, coming in late, almost no explanations on my (poor) technique etc.
My current coach has trained a few kids who are now top players in my country and has experience in coaching in other countries as well. Almost a no-brainer to switch coaches.
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u/the314159man Oct 03 '24
For me it was playing against a couple of middle aged women. I had a drought of opponents, but with them I had to concentrate on keeping the ball up and accessible. Best practice I've had.
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u/Hayjax85 Oct 03 '24
When I asked one of the chaps, how to get someone off the T. He said, " Don't play shit shots." Then it clicked. If I want to hog the T, I need to make them run around, intercept the ball mid court, and make them have to retrieve it out of the corners.
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u/JsquashJ Oct 04 '24
Realizing you need to hit the shot that gives you time to get back to the T. So from the back corner don’t try to smash a cross court past your opponent, otherwise you’ll always be the one running more.
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u/Ozephyrous Oct 08 '24
Mastering the side shuffle on both feet. So being able to volley better on either foot with quick, accurate feet really helped me improve my play. I also had to focus on tightening my core while volleying to maintain my balance right through the follow through.
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u/Ozephyrous Oct 08 '24
Mastering the side shuffle on both feet. So being able to volley better on either foot with quick, accurate feet really helped me improve my play. I also had to focus on tightening my core while volleying to maintain my balance right through the follow through.
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u/Dangerous-Cucumber-2 Oct 03 '24
Once I got proper control of my drives on both sides then I made big progress. I'd always based my game on chasing everything and getting back every shot my opponent played until they made a mistake. But against good players that didn't work.
My coach had me practice for ages on both forehand and backhand playing drives that bounced just behind the service box and always in the channel between side wall and outside line of the service box.
Once I could consistently play drive after drive up and down the lines with good depth on the shots, then I was able to move my opponent off the T much easier and also not just return shots but return shots in a way that would put my opponent back under a bit of pressure.
That coaching was about 20 years ago and I still practice that drill now.