Squash Coaching Info

Saturday 3rd May: Lob Challenges

2008-05-01T16:52:00.002+01:00

Lob Serves: FH and BH 2 points if outright win on a serve or lob during a rally. Rallies are up and down the half court channel.
Three on Court: A boast B lob, C try to intercept
2-4 Group: Start of EOS tournament. Channels with Lobs for two points.

Saturday 26th april: Volley challenges

2008-05-01T16:46:00.002+01:00

Working in two teams to see which team is more accurate in their volleying skills.
Wall Volleys: FH and BH
Service Line Volleys to partner.
2-4 group: Volley Challenge games in two teams
Ball not allowed to hit the back wall (Practice: Taking the ball early)
Volley game back quarters cross-court (Practice: Importance width of volley)
Channels: drive or volley (Practice: keep the ball low if playing a good volleyer)
Channels: drive or volley (Practice: keep the ball low if playing a good volleyer)
Boast CC lob straight drive for points
!5 minutes each condition. Move between courts.

Sat 1st/8th March Buying time: the lob and lob volley

2008-02-29T10:58:00.005Z

The lob is the most underused and underrated shot in squash.

Yet it creates time to recover when you are in difficulty. Use it to slow the pace of a game. A good player controls the pace of a game. Change in pace can break an opponents' concentration.

In turn it can cause your opponents difficulty when played to land deep in the back corner. It can expose an opponents weakness in the air as well as the back corners.

Key dimensions of the lob

High
Soft
Drops in the back corners

How to LOB

Hit UNDER the ball and hit it UPWARDS [high on the front wall, about 2ft below the out of court line]
Racket face is OPEN
Hit SOFTLY .... slow the racket head speed through the ball
Prepare as your approach the ball: shorten your back swing

Emergency: The Flick Lob

No time to swing
Low racket. Open racket face
Flick upwards

SELF Practices

Bounce ball on racket to get feel of open racket face

High pat of the ball to the front wall

Self feed of ball off front wall then lob it over your head

Partners (FH and BH) ...adapt for volley lob

A feed short ball
B straight lob

A boast
B CC lob (safer than straight lob)

A boast
B CC or straight lob

A boast
B lob (CC or straight) or drive (CC or straight)

A straight drop or boast
B lob

Boast, CC Lob, Volley Drive
Boast, CC Lob, Volley Drop, S Lob

Conditioned Games

High: all shots above the cut line....can do channels on this
Lob short ball rule
A hard or soft shots, B soft only
A hard shots, B soft only
A any shot, B must lob any boast or drop.

Video examples online

http://www.guide-to-squash.org/pages/hit2/hit29.html

Games online

http://www.squashclub.org/main/e-lessons/match/match.shtml

Ultimately want to keep the stroke preparation for the lob as similar as possible to that for the drive so your opponent doesn't know whether going to drive or float a lob. This is especially useful on the backhand.

9th February: taking the pace off the ball

2008-02-03T15:11:00.000Z

Key coaching points

Tactical use of variation in pace
Use of drop to move and stretch your opponent
Choose your moment to drop
Don't drop when under pressure
Drop when your opponent is out of position at the back of the court
Avoid mistakes: Aim high enough above the tin
Clear the ball well. Don't give away a stroke.
Be able to cover whatever stroke your opponent can play off the drop......make sure you can cover a counter-drop
Try to develop disguise by using same preparation as a drive.

First session: The drop
Practices
Simple [Backcourt and front court drops]

A feed straight, B drop
A feed straight, B drop, B drive own drop
2 feeders B drop (and possibly drive own drop)

Repeat but this time backcourt drops.

Three quarters:
Serve, drive, drive, boast, drop

Conditioned Games

Both players can only win a point if they win a rally on a drop shot
Must play drop off a boast. Lose a point if you don’t
Front court game

Second session: Theme taking the pace off the ball, part one
(A)Practices (5 mins then change. More experienced use as warm-up to B)
Simple [Backcourt and front court drops]
A feed straight, B drop
A feed straight, B drop, B drive own drop
2 feeders B drop (and possibly drive own drop)
Repeat but this time backcourt drops.
(B) Front: More difficult (co-operative then competitive)
Drive, drive, boast, drop, drive, drive, boast, drop …..
Drive, drive, boast, drop, counter-drop, drive drive boast drop counter-drop …..
(C) Front: More difficult still
Front boast, high drive, volley drop, boast, high drive, volley drop
(D) Back court drops
A plays straight drive from front (overdrive if needbe), B drops from back
A plays straight or X court , B drops
Competition time
Channels (winner moves up court, loser stays)

Drive above service line or volley drop
Drive anywhere in channel and drop
Front court game
A plays any short shot (boast reverse angle drop) from back quarter, b returns ball to A’s bit of the court

Sat 2nd Feb: Tournament using boast

2008-02-01T14:59:00.000Z

First session:

Volley boast routine and Round Robin tournament using boast

Condition: Ball most bounce behind service line except when boast. Can boast off a boast but else length.

Second session:

Routines 2.45-3.15pm

Volley boast routine A drive B volley boast C CC lob (B can try to intercept to drive or volley boast). FH and BH

Channel

Straight drive. If in front have to boast. Other person CC back to channel. To encourage the volley boast opportunity aim for drive to come off the back wall.

As above but when in front have option of straight drive or boast

As one but have the option of straight drive or CC off the boast

Tournament 10 mins per court: American scoring till whistle goes. 3.15-3.55pm

Court 1: Ball can't hit back wall

Court 2: Length game with recovery boast if needed

Court 3: Diagonal Game: can only play ball in front R or back L

Court 4: Ordinary game

Useful drills resource: http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/squash/drills.html

Juniors on Sat Jan 12th, 19th, 26th

2008-01-08T18:05:00.000Z

Boast

Same preparation as drive: racket up and ready (allows you to DECEIVE your opponent by playing a boast when they expect a drive and vice versa)
Take ball slightly later, behind leading foot
Body slightly more turned to back corner
Execute stroke just like drive keeping the ball low
Possibly a more compact swing if digging the ball out of a corner

Two types of boast

Recovery boast: normally played to dig the ball out of the back corner when a drive is not possible.
Attacking boast: generally played towards the front of the court when opponent caught behind you.

Also

Three wall boast: weak as ball bounces out into the middle of the court (side wall, front wall. side wall) only use when no other option!
Two wall boast: more difficult for your opponent to retrieve (side wall front wall dying before hits other side wall) therefore try to make your boasts two wall.

Use the attacking boast for a Good Reason ie if your opponent is:-

Backing off the T (you can wrong foot them).
Watching the front wall and not looking at you
Has feet pointing to side (you can wrong foot them)
Is very tired (has to run the diagonal to retrieve the ball)
Grooved in a pattern of play eg deep drives
Is predictable ie tends to cross-court or lob off the boast. You can step in and volley their return.
Lacks good short shots in particular a good drop

Use the boast with care: badly used it is an easy shot for your opponent to kill

You must cover the boast : move to the T to cover the drop off a boast

Think ahead - if your boast puts your opponent under real pressure watch for the CC or lob and volley the ball if possible. This keeps the pressure on your opponent.

Routines

Basic: A Cross court feed B boast. A makes the feed progressively deeper as B gets better at boasting. Perhaps use Ball Machine.

A Boast, B drives deep: progress to making sure movement is through the T
A Boast, B drive to service box: A can do hard low drives or kills
A Boast, B drop B drive {B moves to T}
A Boast, B drop, A drive, B drive, A boast......
A Boast, B drop, A drop, B drive, A boast......
A Boast, B CC drive or lob, B drive or volley drive (variation volley crosscourt)

Deception

A drive or cross courts, B boasts (volley if loose cross-court)

A drive or cross courts, B boast or drives

A cross courts, b boasts or straight drives

Two shots

A drops then drives, b drives then boasts .........

A drops and cross-courts, B straight drive/volleys and boasts

Hard work

A straight drive, B volley straight, B volley boast, B cross court .....

Condition Game

Length: All balls must be to length except when have to play recovery boast

Corners: A plays back corners, B plays recovery boast.

Diagonal Game

Ball can only be played in one front quarter and opposite back quarter.

Danny's Coaching Seminar Dec 1st

2007-12-03T18:52:00.000Z

Here are the four documents that were covered in that session:-
Feedback.doc
Cuecards.doc
Coaching.ppt
10Characteristics.doc
Many thanks!

Danny's Main Coaching Points: Sept-Dec 2007

2007-12-03T18:21:00.000Z

SUMMARY

- space from the ball,
- low centre of gravity,
- relaxed straight hitting,
- weight transfer from back foot to front foot; (land the foot as you hit)
- follow through to the corners
- bounce back off the ball towards the T (rebound off it)
- space between racket and body
- relaxed grip ( loose) lots of players still too tense in grip and body.
- extend the wrist (less cocked wrist) this starts the players off with more reach
- reach for the ball
- hit it well away from the body (out there not in here!)

GRIP:

- Hold the racket correctly: soft, v of index finger and thumb on inside line, stiff wrist extended (no dropping or cocked high) .

RACKET PREPARATION:

- racket must be in ready position before and after shots
- have racket already in position as you move to hit the ball
- Saturday night Fever!!! Arm goes out and up whilst ‘Backside’ goes opposite way! This is your first movement from the T.

SWING PATH:

- must come down on the ball between 11 and 1pm on imaginary clock face
- open face racket chopping into ball
- throw at the ball
- do not swing under the ball in a letter ‘C’ ark
- for greater power increase racket head speed
- present the leading edge of the racket to the ball
- ensure you have space between body and hitting arm, raise or extend shoulder to help this
- follow through to the corners as you throw the racket, away from yourself

ROTATION:

- turn shoulders around and twist into the shot
- this gives Weight transfer onto front foot

BALL HIT:

- hit ball on the rise or on top of the bounce
- do not let the ball drop. This will cause unwanted ‘C’ swing
- hit the ball just in front of you so you can play on the front foot no matter
which leg you step on

DROP BODY WEIGHT:

- bend from the hips taking backside away backwards
- this will lower the spine angle and allow player to drop weight

SPACING:

- take space from the ball
- you should be reaching for the ball as you throw your racket out to hit it.
-
RELAX:

- must be relaxed when you hit the ball, loose and free.
- Reduce tension in grip, arms, back and legs

Practice Drills:

Solo –

1. Hitting down the wall for length
2. Tap volleys – how many on trot? Open face chopping volleys form 3 feet, 5 feet, 10 feet etc
3. Alternate B/hand and F/hand volleys as above
4. Alternate Front corners – front wall, side wall then opposite side consecutive…..
5. side wall volleys – keep volleys going across your body, side wall to side wall etc
6. As above but with bounce allowed.
7. Boast Boast- consecutive high boasts from one side to other

Pairs – Drop Drive – see http://uksquashonline.com.

Game – everything about cut line on front wall.

Hit lots of balls with the above being attempted. This can be done by solo practicing on your own or by having a coach feed any basic self anchored feed. Every one of these points is important… bending low, from the hips with backside going backwards is the key that helps all the others.”
"RACKET READY POSITION" between points.
The position is waist height, hips to the front wall, twisted neck to where the ball is, then move the racket as you set off. The racket should be the first thing that takes you to the ball. Be AWARE of the racket position between shots. It must never drop below waist height. Never down like you are walking a dog!