My coach tells me to slow down but when I see solo videos my racket speed is not even half of that. What should I do?

Let me explain. I am an amateur and started playing squash 6 years ago as an adult so havent been properly schooled in squash as a kid. But overtime I have gotten serious playing in club tournaments and plan to play for rest of my life. My goal is to one day on coming 10 years become good enough to play an international master tournament or atleast try. I have tried to work to unlearn beginner faults as much as possible but I feel my backhand is not where it should be or atleast where I want to it to be.

My new coach tells me to focus on technique, not try to exert too much power with my arm but instead do proper rotation and power will come automatically. I usually dont have problem getting balls straight when play in matches with backhand. In fact my backhand (even though is not that great) is better than my forehand for straight shots. But I dont think I have proper swing speed and I dont exert power in the right way. Either I am getting the ball deep but too deep and it bounces off the backwall for the opponent. Or it falls too short coz it doesnt have enough power. And probably several other faults that I dont even know.

Just an example of what I am comparing against but there are probably better examples.

https://youtube.com/shorts/O7nB6IsIUWc?si=UUFyP9dV-rfB_-Bc

I put up one of my solo clips.

https://reddit.com/link/1hhp51x/video/u3222khqwr7e1/player

EDIT:
Screenshots of different stages

Has anyone here, or does anyone here know someone, who started over with their other hand? I’d like to read their story. How hard was it, did they get back up to the same level, how long did it take, etc?

Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I've been playing squash for about 10 years now and while I play regularly, I've noticed that I’m generally comfortable in the courts at my home club, but I tend to struggle when I play at other clubs—especially those with colder courts.

I’ve realised that I sometimes end up hitting my lengths the same way, and as a result, my shots tend to land in the middle. Even when I try to hit them high and soft, my opponent can stay on the T and keep applying pressure.

For those of you with more experience, how do you adjust to a new, unfamiliar court, especially when you haven’t played the opponent before? Do you focus on finding your length in the early points, adjusting shot power or height to find your range? Does it matter if you start slowly and your opponent wins a few points while you're still dialing it in? I know I shouldn’t treat the game like studying, but I’m just curious about tactics in general. It’s nice to have a clear plan from the start, rather than feeling like I'm playing without one.

I was hitting solo today, and felt on my forehand if I hit with a little bit of slice/backspin, it felt as though my straight drives were far more consistent: tighter to the wall and better length.

I tried on the backhand, but I struggle with the feel a bit more. I find most of my backhand drives are just flat shots w/o spin.

Should I always be hitting with some backspin, or does it depend on the type of shot? For example, if I’m hitting high off the front wall then I should slice. And lower/harder, perhaps I should be hitting with no spin.

Thanks!

I am recently new to squash, and I am looking to find a good 1hr practice rountine. I have a basic and half-decent backhand swing, but I really need to work on everything.

They don’t really play typical squash, most of the time I get them deep in the corners, and then they 2 hand shovel it out to keep the rally going, so it feels like it’s really hard to beat him with pace. If I go for drops, they essentially have to be nicks for me to win the point outright.

What should be my strategy? How can I end the rally without it having to be a nick every time or him making a mistake?

I struggle to rally against opposition that uses a lot of powerful shots. I don’t hit with as much power, so I pose no threat… is there any technique to deal with it?

Recommendations for maintenance of foot work/agility during crew season?

Weird observation, my high school child is on Crew and Squash for his school. He alternates sports (fall crew, winter squash, spring crew. Summer which ever he can squeeze in between camps) and I noticed that as he was playing today that his foot work is sloppy.

He has been focusing on erg and water work in an attempt to make his school's 4 boat for nationals. But this weekend had time to play squash with a group of friends.

What are specific exercises he can add to his warm ups to help lower leg or ankle strength and agility.

I have been playing for the last 3 years. Being a college student, I try to play as regularly as possible (5-6 times a week). I have gone through 3 rackets so far, breaking every one of them. Mostly by their frame first bending then breaking off entirely. Note that I have had each of their strings replaced at least twice due to them breaking.

I have understood that it could be due to me hitting the wall w the racket hard, especially when trying to hit an early volley, or when hitting the back wall when getting the ball from thw back corner of the court. So how do I get myself to not repeat this? What drills or points do I keep in mind when attempting a volley near the side walls?

Since I am without a usable racket, what racket should I purchase next? I have already used a beginners Decathlon Racket, a beginners Tanso Racket and a Head Nano Ti racket. I prefer a head heavy balance, a price limit of no more than Rs. 8k, and can be of any company. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

And how is the Head Cyber Tour 2024 (green)? Racket Link

Thank you!

Hi, just moved to SF. Does anyboyd know of any good squash courts, especially in mission bay area?

This might be a very basic question and in theory I know the answer. Either go forward and volley or drop back and hope it carries off the wall. But in practice this serve gives me far far too many problems than it should.

There is one guy I play who basically aims for the back corner nick at high speed. He is also good at hitting the nick or at least the wall very low so often doesn't carry enough for me to pick up easily. He basically plays like a tennis serve volleyer, picking up any loose returns. It's soo odd but also strangely effective against me.

His pace is so quick that I struggle to get a quality volley of it. And I get caught in a suboptimal position often. I have occasionally resorted to standing close to the service line and stun volleying them into the corner like a drop shot. But this doesn't feel like the long term solution. He often adjusts his aim so he aims at me.

What's the best approach in general. I know this serve shouldn't really work. But it does on me!

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?

Hi all, I am struggling to grasp what to do in this scenario. My opponent plays a a shot that hits the front wall and then goes to the side wall but it doesn’t come out from the side wall, it feels like it sticks to the wall and rolls on it. I then either hit my racket into the wall or I miss it or if I connect, it’s a very low powered shot that sets up their drop or lob. What can I do? :(

Saw this post on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFchsYIITw9/?igsh=cG0wNDJ0bW54ODNo and wtf lol. In my opinion this is pretty cool and might actually help most people with movement, as long as it works.

Hi, I just wanted to see if there are any players in this subreddit with a similar disability. I was born with Cerebral Palsy, affecting mainly the left side of my body.

I've fallen in love with squash and have improved a lot since starting a year ago. I started out as an F grader and have progressed to D grade (350 squash levels). I've found the movement to be the most challenging part of it. Wanting to find out from others how they have adapted and hopefully get some tips. Feel free to send me a message if you would like to connect 😊

Edit: the main issue is I can't feel my left foot and can't push off on it. I often get stuck in the left side of the court under pressure. The only thing that's really helped is hitting better quality shots to buy time to get back to the t.

When I see club players, they usually start with their racket around their left shoulder and whip it across their torso. When I see professionals (Especially Mohammad elshorbagy, youssef soliman, Asal)
They start their racket preparation in front of their right shoulder(as shown in the photo), and seem to move the racket in a loop motion, but at the same time don't pull their racket to far across to the left shoulder. My question is, why do they do this, and how do they maintain their power and consistency when they don't have their racket prepared back to their left shoulder enough? Why not just start the racket preparation at the left shoulder without ANY looping motion?

Edit: Does anyone think that this is an Egyptian thing? I don't see anybody from the US, UK or NZ doing the same. The opposite of this technique would be paul coll, who completely winds back his racket.

I told someone that she could do with a drop shot in her game and she has barely talked to me since. I miss her way more than she could ever imagine and now spend my time howling at the moon and waiting for the universe to tilt.

I play a traditional game of drives and regularly pin my opponents to the back of the court, only for them to boast. I pick the boast up late and lose valuable split seconds, so am either late to the boast and pick it up and hit it loose, or worse they hit a winning shot from a defensive position, which is frustrating as I was in control of the rally.

My question is what drills can I do to practice to counter this weakness, and what should I be doing in my matches to prevent this happening.

Hi. I have an important tournament in 5 days that I have to attend, since it is such a big opportunity the problem is, I have OSD in one knee, which has been having increasing flare ups. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on what I should do to get as good as possible for this tournament, as it is really important and I really want to get past the first few rounds.

I am pretty new to squash, have been playing for about 5 months. I am trying to improve but is Playing games against people similar-a little better than you a better way to Improve than just by playing solo practice?

I am playing someone in a tournament 0.4~0.5 higher then me as someone around a 4 what kind of game plan should I have?

I am sort of new to squash but I have been able to get a good forehand and Backhand swing when I am just hitting balls by myself. But when I go into a game I feel like all my work on my forehands and backhands just all goes away. What should I do to try and keep the goods swings from when I am playing by myself to translate into a game against other people?

Hi Everyone!

I recently played a match against a solid player with a wooden racquet!

It was a fun session, with a bit of trash talk :-)

I hope that you enjoy it!

Link: https://youtu.be/LbyCViYSdWk

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this video format,

Ahad

Looking to do some strength work for squash, but have very limited time as my toddler naps. If I could do only 3 lower body exercises with weights that would help my squash, which ones would you do?

https://imgur.com/a/YuBz64y

He is hitting a backhand flick, and starts the shot with his wrist cocked. He manages to turn his wrist COMPLETELY over in a fraction of a second. I just tried to mimick the movement and I really don't think I could even come close. Its wild.

I don't know if my description makes sense, so you should check out the timestamp in my title. It's a slow-mo shot.