I have been a keen Squash player for years. Squash has a lot in common with most of my other hobbies and passions.
a. It’s a solo sport and fiercely competitive.
b. Strategy is more important than physical strength.
c. Strategy alone isn’t enough, tactical execution is equally important.
The above aspects of Squash also apply to Chess, another game that I thoroughly enjoy. I managed to play both Squash and Chess to a fairly strong club standard. I wanted to share a simple set of rules that helped me keep my Squash game on track that I thought may help others trying to master this gruelling sport. I have a similar set of rules that I apply for Chess, but I’ll leave that for another time.
I developed these 4 rules to be simple enough to follow when I am completely exhausted and enable me to play stronger instantly within a game. I didn’t want to just start playing the long game as a safety thing, this is too easy to predict and makes live easy for your opponent. We want to make the opponent suffer.
The first point to make here is that the following rules are designed to be followed in order. E.g. if you can only follow one rule, let it be Rule 1. If you can follow another rule, let it be Rule 2, and so on. But the key is that whenever you want your game to improve, stick to these rules and stick to the order. When all is failing and you are against the wall, goto Rule 1.
Rule 1: Aggressively get back to the ‘T’ (the center of the court) when it is your opponents turn to play their shot.
In fact you want to stand about 1 ft behind the T. This rule is critical, and is often taught to people learning the game. It prepares you to be able to respond to any shot, in a balanced maner. The common mistake most people make is to hang too far back on the court, leaving you exposed to a drop-shot or boast. Also, importantly, you don’t want to be flat-footed, stay light on your toes. You need to be completely prepared to lunge sideways, forwards or backwards, without any bias in any direction.
Rule 2: Watch your opponent striking the ball (using peripheral vision only), try to anticipate where the ball will go.
The key point here is to slightly twist yourself to be aware of your opponents movements so that you can become better at predicting their shot. In many cases you can predict their shot by observing their body positioning and swing etc. It is important to wait, and watch, them playing their shot rather than guessing before hand which isn’t useful.
Rule 3: Aggressively move to play your shot.
The more rapidly you can get in position to play your next shot, the more options you will have. Importantly, you will play a more powerful and/or tighter shot. Another benefit is that you are more likely to play your shot early, giving your opponent less time to react.
I want to make a couple of points at this stage regarding the overall pace of the game. In my experience, I was able to lift the overall level of my game dramatically by following two principles that are not often spoken about.
Firstly I have intentionally learnt how to strike the ball much harder than normal. We all know shot selection and accuracy is vital, but many underestimate the usefulness of hitting the ball really hard. Not only does it take more reflexes to respond to a faster ball, the trajectory of the ball does weird things when travelling faster, especially when it intersects walls, corners etc.
Secondly, getting to the ball faster and hitting it much harder increases overall tempo of the game, this can be very unsettling for your opponent and makes them work harder.
All of the above should not be considered as more important than selecting good shots and playing them tightly, but I think that playing as fast and as forceful a game as possible is an important component of playing good squash. Play as fast as you can to still play reasonably tight shots. If the ball is wizzing past and you can play a reasonable volley drive or drop instantly, this is much better than waiting for the ball to go to the back and taking your time. Learn how to play really solid volley drives and drops, they are potent shots from the perspective of upping the tempo.
Rule 4: Play your shot aggressively (e.g. quickly) choosing the most awkward and difficult part of the court for your opponent to reach.
There is a lot said and written about which shot should be played in which situation. Just like in the early days of Chess strategy, there were a number of basic rules formulated. Everyone always says, hit the ball long most of the time, or lob from the front if you are being stretched, drop a loose cross-court drive, boast a loose straight drive.
These rules are useful and certainly, they often work. However Squash is more subtle and complex than that, and in my view the best approach is to think really hard about what is going to make your opponent work harder.
If you are adhering to rule’s 1-3 you will develop a sense for your opponent’s momentum/direction. You will also start to get a sense for their strengths and weaknesses. Some players are terrible at moving forward, some have an incredibly sharp favorite shot that they overuse, some players don’t like a fast game etc.
In general, the bedrock of solid squash shot-selection is keeping the ball as far away from where your opponent is as possible. Or more precisely, make them work harder.
One of the most insidious shots for an opponent to respond to might be following their drop with another drop, or playing a cross-court drive straight back to where they played their last drive shot. In other instances, just sticking to a very tight drive is best and may be the shot you are best positioned to play. It’s a balancing act and requires split-second judgement (like every sport). Remember, to achieve this rule effectively, you must follow the first 3 rules.
Bonus rule: Buy a pear of protective eye wear. In my opinion, paying $30 bucks beats losing your eyesight for life. Also, this will improve your game, because you can follow rule 2 better, this worked for me.
Recap
1. Aggressively get to the T
2. Watch and anticipate the next shot (using peripheral vision)
3. Aggressively move to play your shot
4. Choose the shot that causes your opponent work harder.
Bonus: wear protective eyewear (it will improve your game, because you will follow rule 2 better)
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Andrew Cantos 