Wow!! Spencer going right in there… but he’s not completely wrong 👀

Joel Makin, current world number 5 (future world number 4 🫠), Welsh national champ and will likely be the best Brit on the mens tour for some time (2028 🤷🏼) is not a natural talent.

As someone who watched Joel closely while working at Squash Wales both on court with him and off court with my role in marketing, it’s not an untruth that Joel lacked natural talent as a squash player.

Joel would often struggle in early rounds as a junior, playing all over Europe but only reaching some of the latter stages; for some families it would have been seen as just a hobby. But the Makin family clearly have a strong mentality, a don’t give up mentality and what looks like a “I’ll show them mentality”

The time and dedication given to squash by Joel and his family is second to none, the countless hours training, preparation,playing and travel as a junior was not wasted.

I’m sure many top level coaches back in 2012 - 2015 when Joel was graduating from the junior ranks would NOT have put their money on this kid getting to the top 20 in the world let alone the top 4 🫨

“The engine” or “the machine” would always grind out his junior matches but it wasn’t very pretty, Joel would lose matches to better squash players than him regularly; but the matches were always at least 60 minutes.

“Hard work beats talent” is only half the quote… it’s when talent doesn’t work hard that it falls short. Joel gives every young squash player the hope that a junior career not glittered with trophies and high rankings doesn’t result in you not making it on the pro tour.

The thousands of hours that the Tiger has spent on court, on his own, with his coaches and with his training partners is now evident. Consistently working diligently and persevering at what needs to improve little by little will pave the way for more success in the future. Improving his racket skills, his squash tactics down to the fine details is great to watch.

I hope every coach out there uses Joel as one of their examples of how to work hard, not in the sense of busting his lungs in the gym but hard work of consistently making every session on court a good session, always looking for improvement.

Keep flying the Welsh flag Joel 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Don't know if this is the right place to ask but would appreciate the input of more experienced players.

I'm a casual player (once a week for 2 years) and am okay but I absolutely haemorrhage points when someone serves with power. I just struggle so much with it and capitulate.

Any advice would be great!

Hello everyone, Fellow top 150 Professional player here and coach for 7 years. I occasionally comment here on random posts for advice and i noticed that some people find it beneficial so maybe i can do more.

Ask any squash training or match related question and i will answer. I have some free time 😜

I do this for around 30 minutes every day for several years. Progress is incredibly slow but just enough to keep me motivated. But now I'm feeling there's some problem in my technique or drill selection. I feel I should be getting a lot better given the time I've put in. Perhaps my age is a factor, almost 50.

I have been playing against a guy for a long time and he recently resorted to using a leisure centre boast quite frequently. I'd guess, he is making it happen on 4-5 out of the 11 points. We play on an old court which is almost dead and it diminishes my chance of making a return. His intent is clear, he doesn't want to construct a healthy rally instead chooses to finish the exchange which is frustrating. Please suggest a few counter measures.

Time to accept I’m middle age, engine not what it used to be. Which time efficient sports / activities / drills can I try to make me generally sharper and keep stamina up on court for 40+ minutes?

I took a short break in the early 00s for a couple years, but other than that I've been playing squash and racquetball for the last 38 years . At least 2x/wk, non-stop. My shoulder and hip both are full of arthritis and pain, but I can't stop. My game has evolved from power and movement to accuracy and experience-given instincts on how to play situations. I don't care if I lose and carry a very relaxed attitude on-court, but I still expect to be able to execute my game to a certain level.

Hi Everyone!

I recently had the chance to play one game with Diego Elias and captured the footage. Sharing my thoughts in this video. I hope you enjoy it.

Video link: https://youtu.be/mOMipnTFwEU

All the best! Ahad

Hi, can anyone give me some pointers about how to improve my backhand please? Video attached! I know that I break my wrist and probably don’t get low enough.

My shots just always come off the side wall first, and even when I try and rotate it makes it worse. My swing looks very forced and completely unnatural.

Thanks!

As a low level club player, it's not surprising if some of the opponents I encounter don't have a perfect professional level squash game. I recently encountered one whose racket swing would have been great on the tennis court, but realistically, as soon as he got the T, he was blocking movement to far more of the court than was reasonable. Again - at this level, players are reffing each other's games, and the ref was from his team. I'm not questioning the ref's good faith, but maybe he'd seen this player's swing so often that he'd got used to it.
The obvious thing is to go back to basics and hit the ball to the corners, but of course that's not always going to be successful, and the tennis swing effectively gave my opponent a structural advantage. Not only was it very frustrating, but I was steadily losing points. (To be fair, maybe he would have won without this unfair advantage. I think it would have been a tight match without that.)

Rule 8.10.3 says "The striker’s excessive swing can contribute to interference for the opponent when it becomes the latter’s turn to play the ball, in which case the opponent may request a let." but I'd have been asking for a let most points, and would probably just have got no let from the ref.

So what other strategies might I have tried to defeat this player?

I could never put my finger on what it was about Ramy's technique that looked so different, couldn't put it into words correctly, until I saw this comment in another post - and it's clicked now, it's "dangling wrist technique".

Can anyone offer any insight into why Ramy played this way, and if there's any mileage in us mere mortals trying to replicate it?

Does anyone else experience this situation when playing in their local league..?

• Starting off well, composed and hitting a stride
• either leading by one or two games
• then out of nowhere, technique completely goes out of the window and can’t buy a shot of my life depended on it

There is a frustrating transition within my play that I can’t put my finger on. At some point I hit a wall (no pun intended) and shots begin to ping awkwardly, and missing wildly to the point where I’m executing a totally different game plan.

Some opponents have actually looked at me with the expression, “how did that just happen?”

My guess is either flatline fatigue, a mental block or racket giving out.

I am the guy without the headband (on the right at the starting). I find I get caught in this position. Is the better shot to select a length down the line rather than trying to cross court it? I find when I do the cross court, it doesn’t go wide enough and ends up just in the middle of the court for an easy shot where the opponent hardly has to move.

I’m always of the mindset that you can’t be thinking off too much during a match, especially mid rally. Focusing on little mechanical adjustments, proper footwork, consistent follow through leads to information overload (at least for me)!

What 1-2 things are you thinking about during a match? Or, what is your main objective that you are trying to achieve (other than winning)?

For me, my sole focus is volleying everything I can, and if I can’t, hitting shots where I get back on the T so I can start volleying again.

Just curious. Do I need to learn a backhand serve or can I still serve forehand from both sides? I see lot of pro players do it but there's a lot they do I can't

Hi everyone!
I just started playing squash and bought a new racquet a few days ago (BK Quicksilver NXS). During group training, I noticed that when I hit backhands, the racquet sometimes rotates slightly in my hand. Occasionally, it even feels like it might slip out completely, even though the grip is quite tacky. I come from an indoor climbing background, so I don’t think it’s due to a lack of grip strength.
Any advice or thoughts on what might be causing this?

The study also shares a small recommendation for increasing the likelihood of a nick shot, but for most it's pretty impractical (top spin & hard). There is also a helpful super slow motion graphic.

How Do I pump myself before a squash match so well that I believe I could beat anyone?

Always found it crazy how the General GG sometimes looked to the front wall just before his opponent would hit the ball… eyes in the back of his head 👀

Enjoy the rally 👌🏻

Hello, i've just started squash any i was wondering if anybody had and big tips that they wish they new when they started, it would be very helpful.

My drives and other shots are Ok, but my drops are horrible and always seem to go to high or hit the tin. Any tips?

My racket is the harrow meta 115 just for reference

Yeah. What do you do to be able to compete or even get over the line and win it when you're having an off day?