We all have things we want to improve in our lives but I’m going to focus on the single most important one – your squash game! Ok you may sense plenty of tongue in cheek within my statement but anyone who is serious about their squash, will rank it pretty high on their list.

Before setting a goal for the New Year, it’s important to know your lifetime goal; your yearly goal is just a stepping stone.

It’s always best to start from the end point, knowing your destination, and chunk back. To emphasise this key point, I want you to imagine that you are about to embark on a car journey from your home to a planned destination. Before setting out, you already know where you are heading. You’ve planned your journey by studying a map… no cheating with sat nav’s! You’ve made a note of all the towns on route. Now, to reach your destination, you just have to follow the directions.

Planning your goals is no different. Think of your destination as your lifetime goal, the towns can be your yearly goals. Break this down even more into quarterly, monthly, weekly and then daily goals. I once read somewhere, the golfer Tiger Woods would ask himself daily the question, “What do I need to do tomorrow to make myself a better player?”. This is extremely powerful especially if you’re mindful of your longer term goals, it’s gives you daily laser-like focus.

From my experience, having rubbed shoulders with the top squash players in the world, they all have one thing in common – they are very thorough in their planning. Nothing is left to chance! It’s not just talent that gets them to the top. Trust me, I’ve witnessed incredible talents never to get into the top twenty in England; they had no direction and focus. There’s no luck involved when the top players achieve their goals; they just simply follow their planned directions and, more often than not, inevitably reach their destination.

Write down your goals and engrain them in your mind. Goal setting is probably the most important skill to help you reach your potential.

This basic fundamental is important to engrain as a beginner, however, as you improve it’s best to throw that limiting text book out of the window. Don’t always move back to the ‘T’; learn to move to a location on the court which offers the best chance of exploiting a trap whilst not totally committing yourself.

So what do I mean by a trap?

A trap is set when you play a really good, tight, pressuring shot; your opponent will be under extreme pressure and as a consequence will be restricted by the number of shots available to him. Take note – he won’t be able to hit all four corners of the court effectively. This should be an alarm for you NOT to move back to the ‘T’. An opportunity to attack your exposed opponent could well present itself, if you position yourself correctly.

Ok let me describe the two most common traps and where to position yourself on the court to maximise your chances of exploiting the situation.

Trap 1 – imagine you’re involved in a rally down the backhand wall. Both you and your opponent hit deep and reasonably tight returning to the ‘T’ after every straight backhand drive. Eventually, you manage to take the initiative and hit a tighter more penetrating drive. You sense your opponent scrambling to the back. You’ve set the trap! You know he’s unable to generate any pace on a cross-court shot. This is a call for you to position yourself to the left of the ‘T’, nearer the backhand wall, so you have a greater chance to cut out the potential loose straight drive because you know you can cover the cross-court.

Trap 2 – you’re jostling with your opponent for the central area. An opportunity presents itself; you take full advantage and cut a short straight shot that fades away into the side way. Trap set! Again, your opponent is at full throttle; chasing the ball down, lunging in. From experience, you know that more often that not, his only option is to hit a lame cross-court because he’s unable to get side-on to play a good straight ball. It’s essential for you to move literally right up on the ‘T’, cut the angle down so if the cross-court comes, you can attack early with a potentially winning deep straight volley.

Try visualising the above scenarios to help make it an instinctive predatory habit then you’ll be able to set the trap and pounce like a tiger without any conscious thought.

So I can emphasise the main point I want to get across, I’m going to focus on accuracy alone.

Ok let’s take a step back. Imagine, I’m about to demonstrate various shots on the squash court. Your vantage point is directly above so you have a bird’s eye view of the proceedings. Pretty cool huh? Having said that, I may get a stiff neck and you may well suffer from vertigo… not good!

Now, at this point, I want you to be aware of the objective of every shot that I’m going to demonstrate – to stretch your opponent as much as possible. The shot needs to force your opponent to play the ball before it ‘dies away’ into a wall whether it be the back and/or side wall. Note, that I use the words ‘dies away’ and not ‘rebounds off’ a wall – this is very important! This causes your opponent to move faster to the point of strike even though he has to cover the same distance. It also limits the shots he can play because the ball is fading away into a wall. It’s much easier to hit all four corners of the court when the ball rebounds off a wall. Make the ball fade away, it’s much more effective.

This is what the professional squash player tries to accomplish with every shot – a ball that fades away into a wall, limiting his opponent’s shots and stretching them fully.

Ok let’s get back to the lesson and your bird’s eye view of the squash court. I’m going to demonstrate a few shots; the perfect straight drive, straight drop and boast.

Straight Drive

The ball hits the front wall, rebounds and travels in a direct line towards the back corner. On it’s journey, the ball bounces towards the back of the service box, reaches the top of the bounce and then dips into the back wall whilst being tight to the side wall. Your opponent is forced to strike the ball before the back wall, otherwise, it will be dead.

Straight Drop

The ball hits the front wall softly just above the tin, rebounds, bounces on the floor, top of the bounce and then dips tight onto the side wall. Your opponent has to play the ball before it hits the side wall.

Boast

The ball hits the side wall, front wall, bounces on the floor, top of the bounce and then dips into the side wall. Your opponent is forced to play the ball before the side wall.

Notice, the key point for all the above shots is to force your opponent to move quickly and play the ball before it dies into a wall thus limiting the number of shots he can play. Let the alarm bells ring in your head if you over-hit causing the ball to rebound of a wall – it’s a BAD shot!

Learn to play your shots with this idea firmly fixed in your mind – you will stretch your opponent by stretching the squash court.

Ok let’s rewind 23 years to 1988 when a skinny, very naive 18 year old had just turned professional with a very steely, stubborn determination to mimic this ‘mythical’ training schedule. Let’s face it, if I wanted to be as good as him, I’d have to do the same… right? It was a very sound theory but sadly my six hours a day must have been nothing like Jahangir’s. I was convinced more was better and wouldn’t take a day off. I believed a day off was a wasted day. I pushed myself hard, day after day, week after week and inevitably ran myself into the ground both physically and mentally.

Looking back, it was ridiculous! I laugh about it now and sometimes find myself shaking my head when I witness other young squash professionals with the same naivety.

The ultimate goal should be to reach your potential; to make the most of the tools you’ve been blessed with. To achieve this goal, you must work with your body and not abuse it. The same applies if you wish to reach optimum performance in an upcoming tournament or match. You must continually assess and listen to your body during the weeks prior to the event.

So what do I mean when I say ‘listen to your body’?

Imagine you’ve just woke up after a couple of hard days of intense training. You’re body is so stiff and sore! Even after breakfast, it’s a huge effort and chore to psyche yourself up, to get your arse down to the club and soldier on as planned. Yesterday, you remember feeling tired but at least you had some spring in your legs. Today is different; your legs are dead, no spring!

This is your body screaming out at you – I’m tired, I need to rest! This is when you need to take stock, listen to your body and take that much needed rest.

You may think you are being weak minded but trust me – you’re not. Remember, you previously put in a couple of hard training days so it should come as no surprise to feel like you do. Take that rest day and then notice how your body feels the following day. You may find yourself chomping at the bit again.

It’s about quality training and quality rest – the rest is just as important as the training. When you train hard your muscles breakdown and then require enough time to recover and rebuild stronger. Without quality rest, your muscles will not have sufficient strength to push yourself hard enough in your quality sessions; your progression and improvement will decelerate and quite often stagnate.

Your body tells you everything you need to know if you just learn to listen to it. I can’t emphasise this point highly enough from my painful experiences. It will serve you well if you want optimum performance. It’s an art worth learning – your abused body will appreciate it and will respond if you treat it with some TLC (tender love and care)!

Notice in the last sentence of the previous paragraph, I used the words ‘preparing myself’. The word ‘myself’ is very important. We are all unique so some of us may require a different approach. I can only talk about what works for me.

Ok let’s think about what we are trying to achieve. When the squash match begins, our goal is to be in the best possible shape; physically and mentally. That means being strong, fresh and highly motivated when battle commences. Let me explain practically how I would prepare physically for a tournament commencing on a Friday evening.

For me, it’s all about the three days prior to the event – the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; each day having very different requirements but each day just as important.

Tuesday – I would play a reasonably tough ‘friendly’ game, one that stretched me physically. I’d want it to be hard and simulate what I may experience on the Friday but without the adrenalin and real cast-iron will to win. I wouldn’t want to drain those resources. I’d leave those in my reserves so I could call upon them when it really counted at the end of the week.

Wednesday – I would have a total rest day. This would be my recuperation day. I would try to stay off my feet as much as possible, eat good food and fully hydrate myself. This would be my ‘hardest’ day of the three because I would be chomping at the bit to get back on court, hit a few balls and maybe have another game with someone – not good because I would need to recover.

Thursday – I would get back on court. Solo practice to sharpen my attacking shots followed by one game – not a match! I would use this to ‘oil the engine’, get a slight leg burn and rehearse a few things, however, I’d be very mindful about the following day’s pending match and not push hard at all.

Friday (Judgement Day) – Short solo practice. Again, I’d focus on my attacking shots. This would increase my confidence and enable me to capitalise on the attacking opportunities that would inevitably present themselves in the rapidly approaching match.

So there you have it – a simple three day plan to peak physically for an important match. Enjoy the turkey and add an extra new year’s resolution to your list – prepare better so you don’t play like one!

Happy Christmas!

Orthodox fighters, that is generally right handed fighters, stand with their left foot first and as a consequence lead with their left hand; their most important punch is a good stiff left jab. It’s generally the most used punch in a boxer’s repertoire. It’s main purpose is to create openings for attacking but can also be used effectively, as a defensive weapon, to stave of an advancing opponent.

Ok let’s get back to squash.

I liken the straight drive in squash to that of the left jab in boxing. It’s the single most important shot in the game. It sets everything up in a rally; from creating an opportunity to attack, to taking the sting out of a rally and controlling the pace.

So why is the straight drive the most important shot?

The perfect straight drive; clings to the side wall, travels with venom, bounces towards the back of the service box and dies away into the back wall after reaching the top of the bounce. Make a note of the three key points in the previous sentence; tightness, depth and pace! The major key point that separates a straight drive from a cross court drive is tightness. A cross court can NEVER be tight.

Think about it – the ‘sweet spot’ is approximately 15cm from the top of your racket head. Now imagine you strike a straight drive that runs parallel within 15cm from the side wall. This prevents your opponent from making contact with the ball in the ‘sweet spot’ regardless of where and when he chooses to strike the ball. The closer the ball is to the side wall, the greater the probability his next shot will be loose.

Depth is also key! The straight drive ends up deep in the court. This creates ‘time’ for you. The ball will be a long way from the front wall so if your opponent chooses to attack, you will have plenty of ‘time’ to react.

Develop a really good consistent ‘left jab’ – one that runs tight and deep into the back court. It’s the most important fundamental to playing great squash!

We’ve all seen the uptight squash player, unable to realise the glaringly obvious moments in a game when it is imperative to start ‘turning the screw’ or be mindful that it’s time to ‘take the foot off the pedal’ to regroup. It’s ‘all or nothing’, ‘high octane’, mindless squash; frantic and rushed. It would come as no surprise to see him dismantled against an experienced player fully in tune with his sixth sense.

I loved the Star Wars movies when growing up, if the truth be known, I still do. I wanted to be a Jedi and be able to use the ‘Force’ which I liken to the sixth sense. For those of you who have never heard of the ‘Force’, it’s a mythical power that connects and flows through everything.

Now imagine a Jedi playing a game of squash; without the somersaults, jedi mind tricks and the ability to move things with his mind. He would be at ‘one’ with himself in tune with his present physical and mental state, the ‘Force’ flowing through his body connecting him to his opponent’s mind. He would have access to his enemies fatigue, emotions… everything! How powerful would that be?

Ok that’s enough of living… a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away!

You may think this isn’t reality but great players do have this ability. They can feel how the game is going; whether they are controlling the rallies or not, whether it is their foe or themselves doing most of the work. They continually assess their own physical state whilst comparing it to their opponent’s. They don’t necessarily worry about who’s winning on the marking sheet. They are more concerned about who’s controlling the rallies because ultimately, they know from experience, that the player dominating the central area wins every time. They have that sixth sense; they intuitively know whether it’s time to start moving up the court to apply more pressure to a wilting opponent or whether it’s the right moment to take a breather throwing up higher balls to create more ‘time’.

Learn to get in tune with your feelings, sense your opponent’s state of being and ‘Feel the Force’ as profoundly stated by Jedi Master Yoda in the epic Star Wars saga.

Ok let’s get back to reality.

All great squash players understand the concept of ‘time’ during play, by instinct they know when to attack and when to defend. Years of intense quality matches and practice routines would have helped to engrain this vital fundamental into the minds of the top professional players.

Squash is about controlling the central area around the ‘T’ and depriving your opponent of ‘time’. Essentially, this is how you win a game of squash; by making your opponent move faster and cover more distance than yourself. Generally, the loser is the player unable to continue to keep retrieving balls due to the onset of severe fatigue caused by a persistent lack of ‘time’.

To reduce your opponent’s ‘time’ – take the ball up the court; early on the volley, on the top of the bounce or even on the half volley.  The shot should be hit hard and/or low just above the tin. The key is to hit early and put your opponent under pressure.

Let’s run through a scenario on court to help you understand the concept I’m trying to get across better.

Imagine you’re positioned well up the court and hit an early straight volley to the back of the court. Your opponent scurries and scrambles back a loose straight ball running parallel, about a metre, from the side wall with no real pace. You’re in control. You see the ball early and move even further up the court.  Please note that this act will take more ‘time’ off your opponent. Now, you show the short shot but decide to smash another accurate straight deep volley because you sense your opponent frantically moving forward to cover the anticipated short ball. Incredibly your opponent somehow stays in the rally. He nearly repeats his previous shot but this time it’s even slacker. His extreme deep lunge and dynamic movement makes it almost impossible to play a tight shot. You move even further up the court and play the obvious straight volley drop winner. You’ve hit much better volley drops in your lifetime but that doesn’t matter because your opponent just didn’t have any ‘time’ to retrieve the ball and stay in the rally.  Notice how you gradually moved up the court taking more and more ‘time’ off your opponent causing them to move faster and faster until a lack of ‘time’ prevented them from staying in the rally.

Now let’s look at the same scenario again but this time swap roles so you are the one scrambling at the back.  The alarm bells should be ringing in your head! You’re the one under pressure lacking ‘time’ so you need to play a shot that gives you time. A high soft deep shot is required. This shot will create enough ‘time’ for you to move back to the central area and even increase the likelihood of being able to ‘counter punch’ your opponent if they choose to play short too soon.

In a nutshell, become a ‘time machine’:-

• Attack – generally by hitting early, hard and low; when you don’t need ‘time’ (not under pressure) and preferably when positioned around the central area near the ‘T’.
• Defend – generally by hitting high and soft; when you lack ‘time’ (under pressure) and generally when you are along way from the ‘T’.

This is a very common scenario. Whether you’re a top professional or an average club player, we’ve all been faced with these mental challenges. Weaker minded players can easily get themselves into a vicious circle, spiralling down, out of control with their confidence draining away even before match day.

So what’s the best way of dealing with it?

It’s best to embrace your thoughts, don’t fight them, this will just drain your energy. Listen to what your thoughts are saying then answer them with the facts… you don’t need to fear anything… you’ve done the work… you know how well you’ve been playing in practise… just trust that it will all just flow effortlessly when battle commences for real tomorrow.

Look forward to the event, tell yourself that you’re going to have fun because let’s face it, you’re much more likely to play well if you enjoy the experience.

Whatever you do, don’t put pressure on yourself, this will only create resistance making it almost impossible to get into the ‘flow state’. The ‘flow state’ is when the subconscious takes over from the conscious mind and everything just happens effortlessly, also known as being ‘in the zone’.

I would naturally find myself visualising the eminent match. I’d play the match over and over again in my mind, imagining doing everything well; holding the ball, volleying and controlling the ‘T’ area, executing accurate straight volley drops with plenty of cut, dying lengths etc. This would calm my nerves and would have a very positive effect on my game the following day.

What is there to fear now? Nothing – because I would have already experienced the match and executed the game plan to perfection.

Consider this … You have just started to warm up against your opponent in round 1 of the local squash competition. Your opponent has arrived on court wearing a pair of basketball shoes, skin tight lycra shorts and a sleeveless vest top. The first ball he hits is a miss hit and the next one he hits hardly goes to a length. What would you be thinking? Would your mind be full of fear at the thought of a potential defeat or would your confidence grow as you realise you are playing someone that appears relatively weak. Squash is a game where confidence, coupled with mental strength and tenacity, are key contributors in the delivery of success.

Let us consider now, another opponent. This time the opponent comes on court in a full warm up tracksuit and embarks on three or four warm up jogs followed by some very specific ghosts thru the front, middle and back of the court. The first ball he strikes is hard hit and goes to a great length. He repeats this and then hits a cross courts which heads your way at speed hitting the side wall at the back of the service box which you find hard to return. You have noted whilst preparing to hit your first difficult return shot, that your ball hungry opponent has stepped up the court ready to lap up your cross court. Are you still brimming with confidence or are the embers of your doubt now glowing like hot coals. One thing is for sure … this guy means business and you are going to have to take victory from him because it certainly won’t be handed on a plate. Let’s imagine that the two opponents you have encountered are actually of similar standard. Lets imagine that these guys know each other and most of their games go to the wire. The difference between the two players is that player 2 showed intention when he warmed up. He gave off a spark of real confidence, which if not handled correctly, could turn into a raging inferno that will rip through your game and lead to certain defeat.

The next time you go on court for the pre-match warm up, remember to plant that seed of doubt in your opponents head by showing intention. Remember, the strongest survive and the weakest fall by the wayside. Don’t become squash’s next victim of natural selection … be the warrior you need to be.