Squash Tips - Managing the learning curve of squash skills

Clearly we cannot work on our squash skills all the time, we have to choose one to work on so that we can get tangible results in a moderate period of time. This implies effort and time.

Howhever when you go in court you should have one single objective to work on. Coherently with the principle of babystepping.

To do so i reccomend you to read just one article in this blog, write down a squash skill to work and possibly an exercise to use in order to work on it.

So what should you put first to work on in order to improve as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible?

-Squash Skill Number 1: Racket Swing

-Squash Skill Number 2: Court Movement

-Squash Skill Number 3: Tactics

1) Racket Swing

Work on this to make it as natural as possible. Start simple! You can begin by simply hitting the ball against the side wall and  using half of the racket swing.

Watch your impact point, the position in wich your racket head points exactly in front of you (the impact points for forehand and backhand are different, so watch it!)

From the position of the impact point take the racket slighly back , you will use this position as a starting point for your shot. Take the habit of placing your racket in this position before trying to hit the ball.

The best swing is the simplest, to make it just relax your arm and close your arm-pit for the forehand or open it for the backhand. It's as simple as this!

2)Court Movement

When you know how to hit the ball decently you will realize that the way you orientate your body determines the direction in which you will throw the ball.
Hence you will have to work on how you position your body, this squash skill is crucial.

The forward leg is the one closer to the front wall, it will determine how your body is oriented. Always have your left leg on the right side of the court and your right leg in the left side of the court.


The other squash skill concerning court movement is that you always have to move back to the center.

When starting out you will tend to wait for the ball and then run like a crazy. Instead you have to move constantly and slowly. If you know how the ball bounces you can save a lot of energy and improve your shot in the meantime.

If you need to work on your cardio and be fit you can make a  exercise that will both be healthy and will also teach you to always move for the center of the court

Simply run toward each wall and touch it, the go back without turning around (retrorunning, which is healthy!)

After you master this you can advance toward court movement advanced tactics.

3) Squash Tactics

Don't worry too much about tactics when starting out, you'll soon learn them by playing.
Although it's good to know that the more you throw the ball in the corners, the more your opponent will have to run.

A great fun way to learn the tactics consist in watching squash games and making comment on them!
If you want to learn more i made an in depth article on tactics.

So to wrap up i want to remind you to work single handedly on one skill at a time
Start with simple things and work your way through. Persist and you shall learn!