Squash : steps to success

200 Pages·2009·8.63 MB·English

by  Philip Yarrow

Second Edition
Squash
StepS to SucceSS
Philip Yarrow
Aidan Harrison
HUMAN KINETICS
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yarrow, Philip, 1968-
Squash : steps to success / Philip Yarrow, Aidan Harrison. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8001-9 (soft cover)
ISBN-10: 0-7360-8001-5 (soft cover)
1. Squash (Game) I. Harrison, Aidan, 1971- II. Title.
GV1004.Y37 2009
796.343--dc22
2009019886
ISBN-10: 0-7360-8001-5 (print) ISBN-10: 0-7360-8626-9 (Adobe PDF)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8001-9 (print) ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8626-4 (Adobe PDF)
Copyright © 2010, 1997 by Human Kinetics, Inc.
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Squash
StepS to SucceSS
Contents
Climbing the Steps to Squash Success vi
Acknowledgments viii
The Sport of Squash ix
Key to Diagrams xx
Step 1 Proper Grip and Basic Swings 1
Step 2 Court Movement 17
Step 3 Moving and Hitting
in the Frontcourt 29
Step 4 Moving and Hitting
in the Backcourt 49
Step 5 Volleys 63
iv
Step 6 Serve and Return of Serve 79
Step 7 Boasts 95
Step 8 Drop and Lob Shots 111
Step 9 Kill Shots 129
Step 10 Disguise and Deception 141
Step 11 Match Play 147
Step 12 Advanced Tactics 155
Step 13 Conditioning for Squash 165
Glossary 177
About the Authors 179
v
Climbing the Steps
to Squash Success
Professional squash players have to combine Some drills require your partner to throw
speed, strength, and agility with incredible racket the ball. Occasionally, a drill of this type
skills. The game today is less a battle of attrition may use two feeders.
and instead rewards creativity and attacking • Two- or three-person routines, in which
play. At the recreational level, squash remains you practice the skill or topic in a drill
one of the most satisfying sports to play and was that simulates a game. These drills are
recently voted the healthiest of sports by Forbes designed to be continuous. You should be
magazine. Playing squash well demands a com- able to keep the drill going without having
bination of practice, patience, and instruction. to stop to pick up the ball.
The second edition of Squash: Steps to Suc-
• Conditioned games, in which you practice
cess brings together the insights of Phil Yarrow,
the skill or topic in a modified game.
author of the highly acclaimed first edition, and
These drills require that you use only
those of former professional player and current
certain shots or certain areas of the court.
teaching professional, Aidan Harrison. Like
the first edition, this updated edition focuses Each drill includes suggestions for increasing
on the basics of the game, but it also brings in or decreasing the level of difficulty so you can
more advanced concepts, making it applicable progress at your own pace.
to all players, from the beginner to the budding The sequence of the steps has been carefully
professional. developed to help you quickly achieve a solid
Squash: Steps to Success has 13 steps that will squash game built on sound fundamentals. The
help you develop basic skills, improve condition- first four steps teach the basics of swinging and
ing, vary tactics, and then incorporate all this moving around the court. The next six steps
into match play. The drills at the end of each outline specific strokes necessary for a solid
step are designed to help you practice the skills basic game. The final three steps focus on more
and ideas discussed in the step. The drills are advanced topics: preparing yourself mentally
ordered so that you can first practice the skill and physically for matches and tournaments,
or topic in isolation, then under more pressure, adapting tactics to your opponent’s play, and
and finally in a gamelike situation. Each step improving your fitness so that you can compete
features four types of drills: at higher levels.
Get ready to climb a staircase, one that will
• Solo practices, in which you practice the
lead you to become an accomplished squash
skill or topic in isolation through continu-
player. You can’t leap to the top; you get there
ous repetition.
by climbing one step at a time. Progress through
• Hitting from a partner’s feed, in which you the steps as quickly or as slowly as you like, but
practice the skill or topic under more pres- remember that to become a good squash player
sure. Usually, your partner’s feed will be a you must develop a strong basic game and cor-
racket feed to a certain area of the court. rect court movement.
vi
Climbing the Steps to Squash Success
Each of the 13 steps is an easy transition from 3. Review the missteps—common errors
the one before. As you progress, you’ll develop that often occur—and the recommenda-
your skills and learn to maneuver your opponent tions for correcting them.
around the squash court. As you near the top of 4. Perform the drills to improve your skills
the staircase, you’ll become more confident in through repetition and purposeful practice.
your ability to challenge higher-level players in Read the directions for each drill, including
league or tournament play or just for fun. the success checks. Practice accordingly
Follow the same sequence each step of the way:
and record your score. Drills are arranged
in an easy-to-difficult progression to help
1. Read about what the step covers, why the
you achieve continual success.
step is important, and how to execute or
perform the step’s focus, which may be At the end of each step, have a qualified
basic skills, ideas, tactics, or a combina- observer such as a teacher, coach, or trained
tion of the three. partner evaluate your technique. This subjec-
2. Follow the photographs to learn exactly tive evaluation of your basic technique or form
how to position your body to execute each will help you use correct form to enhance your
basic skill. Each skill has three general performance. Record your scores, and make sure
parts: preparation (getting into a starting you have sufficiently mastered the step before
position), execution (performing the skill moving to the next step.
that is the focus of the step), and follow- Enjoy your step-by-step journey to developing
through (reaching a finish position or fol- your squash skills, building confidence, experi-
lowing through to the starting position). encing success, and having fun.
vii
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Phil’s wife, Ginger Yarrow, for all her help with the countless rough drafts
of this book. Also, we would like to thank Alex Melkonian, Amber Kirchens, Brandon Flores, Dana
Betts, and Katherine Massey for modeling for the photographs, as well as Harrow Sports for provid-
ing the clothing and equipment.
viii
The Sport of Squash
Not enough time in your life to play a sport people. Over 15 million men and women in 122
regularly? Do you have time in your schedule nations now enjoy squash, and the numbers are
only to do a boring, repetitious workout that increasing rapidly.
lacks competition and mental stimulation? Think The beauty of the game is that it’s simple to
again. Playing squash develops speed, endur- learn yet difficult to master. All you do is hit a
ance, agility, coordination, and court savvy, yet small ball against the front wall of a room so that
the average length of a match between two rec- it is out of reach of your opponent. The challenge,
reational players is less than 40 minutes. Squash of course, is achieving this goal against the more
is one of the fastest and most athletic sports. The skilled opponents you’ll play as you improve. The
popularity of the sport is due in large part to the game can be physically and mentally draining,
intensely competitive workout it generates in but at the end of the match, you’ll be satisfied,
such a short time. It’s the perfect sport for busy exhilarated, and probably a little tired.
DeVeLoPMenT oF SquASH
For centuries people have played games that tions became popular. Most of the world played
involve hitting a ball with a racket, either against with a soft ball on 21-foot-wide (64 m) courts,
a wall or back and forth to each other across a whereas North Americans played with a hard
net. The most common example is tennis. In the ball on slightly narrower courts.
19th century the popularity of sports involving The rules of the soft-ball version of the game
rackets and balls led to the creation of the game were finally formalized in 1923, and the number
rackets in the Fleet Prison in London, England. of squash players soon overtook that of its parent
The prisoners exercised by hitting a small, hard game, rackets. The growth areas for squash at
ball around the walls of a large room. Ironically, this time were in countries where British forces
the game later became popular in English public were stationed. People in India, Pakistan, Egypt,
schools. South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand began
It was at one of these schools, Harrow School to learn the game. In 1930, the first British Open
in London, where squash is believed to have was held, and it was considered the first unof-
originated around 1830. Students, waiting to ficial World Championships. An Englishman,
get on to the rackets court, began practicing Don Butcher, won the event, beating fellow Eng-
in a smaller area by hitting a soft rubber ball lishman Charles Read in a best-of-three match
against the wall. They found that playing with series. For the following 35 years players from
the softer ball produced a wider variety of shots Egypt and Pakistan dominated top-level squash.
and required much greater effort. The name of Many of these players learned the game as ball
the game came from the ball’s “squashiness” boys for uncovered courts. They had limited
as it hit the walls. coaching but plenty of time to practice. They
In the early years of the sport there was little developed techniques that involved exotic shot
standardization. Many slight variations of the making and became extremely proficient at
game were seen. Fortunately, only two varia- the game.
ix
The Sport of Squash
In the late 1960s, Jonah Barrington, a rugged, led to players being fresher at the latter stages
determined Irishman, finally broke the Egyptian of tournaments, which has resulted in better-
and Pakistani domination. Barrington didn’t quality semifinal and final matches.
begin playing squash until his early 20s, but he These changes to the professional game
showed an unparalleled dedication to the game. switched the advantage back to the more offen-
His rigorous training took him to a fitness level sively minded players from those that base
far above that of the top players of the day. Bar- their games primarily on fitness. But in today’s
rington won the British Open six times, proving game all the top players have incredible fit-
that fitness could prevail over shot making. ness and mobility. The two standouts from the
Squash would never be the same again. Bar- recent era are Canadian Jonathan Power and
rington pushed all the top professionals to work the Scottish-born Englishman Peter Nicol. These
hard on their fitness. The players that followed in two shared center stage in the squash world for
Barrington’s footsteps all possessed remarkable almost a decade starting in the mid-1990s. Both
speed, stamina, and strength besides incredible players recently retired, paving the way for the
racket skills. Three players stand out: Australia’s incredibly talented Egyptian Amr Shabana to
Geoff Hunt and Pakistan’s Jahangir Khan and take over the top spot. The professional game
Jansher Khan. Hunt was the best of a number of today is extremely competitive, and Shabana
strong players who emerged in the 1970s from is tested by a host of other players, including
Australia. He took over from Barrington as the Egyptians Ramy Ashour and Karim Darwish,
number one player in the world. Jahangir Khan Englishmen James Willstrop and Nick Matthew,
is widely regarded as the greatest ever to play and the Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, which
the game. His aggressive style overwhelmed makes tournaments week after week exciting
opponents. He was so dominant that at one and unpredictable.
stage, during the 1980s, he went five and a half In North America the squash scene has
years without losing a single match. Jansher changed rapidly in recent years. Squash, as
Khan, no relation to Jahangir, was finally able to most of the world knows it, was played in North
combat Jahangir’s strength by skillfully varying America only recreationally, in the summertime.
the pace of matches. In the winter tournament season, the exclu-
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, certain sively North American game known as hard-ball
modifications were made to the game at the squash, played on narrower courts with a hard,
professional level to encourage more attacking solid ball, was the sole game. In the early 1990s,
play and to try to make the matches more excit- though, the popularity of the international soft-
ing for spectators. The first modification was to ball version of the game began to take over.
reduce the height of the tin by 2 inches from Today, most players in North America play soft-
19 inches (48 cm) to 17 inches (43 cm). This ball exclusively, throughout the year.
made it easier for players to hit winners and The hard-ball and soft-ball games require dif-
thus encouraged attacking play rather than long, ferent techniques and strategies. The hard ball
drawn-out defensive rallies. The second modifi- travels faster around the court and thus requires
cation was to switch from traditional scoring to quicker reflexes. The rallies tend to be short, and
9 points to point-per-rally scoring to 15 points. the ability to hit winners is essential. The soft
The scoring system was later modified again to ball also travels at high speeds but slows as it
point-per-rally scoring to 11 points in which a rebounds off the walls and floor. Players must
player must win by 2 clear points. The change run more in the soft-ball game, but they have
in the scoring system was due to the increasing more time to play their shots. Winning shots
length of matches in professional tournaments. are harder to come by in soft-ball. Rallies are
Under the traditional scoring system, in which longer, and to win points, a player must use a
points are only scored when a player is serving, combination of shots to work the opponent out
it was not uncommon for matches to last in of position. These differences made the conver-
excess of 2 hours. A typical professional match sion from the hard-ball game difficult for many
now usually lasts 30 to 70 minutes. This has long-time squash enthusiasts in North America.
x