In this essential ‘improver’s guide’ to squash, players who are looking to improve their game will learn a mixture of technical and tactical tips that will help them make giant leaps forward.
These top tips have been put together by ex-world professional women’s squash player, turned coach, Kylie Lindsay (nz), who’s visiting here in Bristol to spend some time with hadrian stiff and the elite squash team in order to learn and develop further her squash coaching skills. you can find out more about kylie here.
Every session you do should have a purpose. Whether that be a solo working on a particular shot, a pressure session where you are working at high intensity or a practice match where you might be working on a particular tactic. You should try and put 100% into whatever the focus of that session is and make the most out of the time you have to train.
One of the best ways to learn and improve your game is by watching. Whether it be professional players on PSATV, a tournament you’re playing in or just local players at your club, they are all opportunities to learn. This is where you can pick up little tips and ways of playing (or ways not to play) and try and implement them into your own game or training.
Ideally you want to be the person controlling the T when you play. In general, the person controlling the T will be the person who dominates the rallies which means they are doing less work while being able to put their opponent under more pressure. This can be done by establishing a good length but also by working your opponent into the different corners and areas of the court and then making sure each time you’re making the effort to recover back to the T and making it as hard as possible for your opponent to move you from that position.
It can be easy to just do the same training or play the same people all the time. This can become boring or stale and actually limit your ability to improve. Mix things up! Play or train with different people, try soloing (listening to music if this helps), hit with a coach to pick up some tips or try something new in the gym. You might just find that adding a little variation adds to the enjoyment of playing and gives you that spark you need to improve.
Most importantly enjoy what you’re doing! This doesn’t mean you can’t take your training seriously and want to improve but if you’re enjoying what you’re doing and the process you are more likely to want to stick at it and keep improving.
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