Cocking Or Relaxing The Wrist?

When I was a kid pretty much every single good player cocked their wrist. Cocking your wrist allowed for improved consistency and power. The open racquet face at contact helps keep the ball above the tin and allows you to hit with an open racquet face and slice the ball. Your racquet face would always be presented properly to the ball allowing for a more consistent strike of the ball, unlike those that break their wrist. The increased power is from the last split second wrist movement. To explain this try and take a swing keeping your wrist cocked the entire time. Without that wrist moving you are not going to be able to transfer weight though the kinetic link properly. My point being is that there were lots of important reasons for learning to cock your wrist and I remember it being a difficult concept to grasp.

Gawad with a short backswing, but a cocked wrist gives him lots of options from this setup

Nowadays you still see the top players cocking their wrist, but you also see some (like Ramy) play with a relaxed and uncocked wrist. The style and equipment has changed which has allowed for more variation in technique and how the game is played. I thought it would for an interesting post to discuss the pros and cons of cocking your wrist versus having a relaxed one. Clearly a top player with enough repetition can make either work, but even for a top pro there are pros and cons to having a more relaxed wrist vs a cocked one.

Ashour with almost no backswing whatsoever and a relaxed wrist

I should begin by saying that players who have this relaxed wrist don't actually break their wrist. By breaking their wrist I mean the back of their hand and arm making an angle larger than 180 degrees. Someone like Ramy has such a short swing from the mid and front court that he is incredibly deceptive and quick from the start of his 'down'swing to contact. If you watch this short video I filmed on backhand drops you will also see how this relaxed wrist position allows for less tension in the hand and forearm which allows a player like Ramy to fire the ball in short with superb precision. This changes the angle of the swing, contact point on the ball and therefore the amount of spin you can generate. For example, on the backhand Ramy just swings his arm and side of his palm directly to where he is aiming at meaning he hits the bottom part of the ball (an example pictured below). While dropping with a cocked wrist anabas you to hit more the back corner/side of the bal. In theory I can see how a relaxed wrist can allow Ramy to be more consistent because there is a shorter backswing and less tension in his arm because he doesn't need to hold the racquet head upwards. From a shorter backswing one can also begin their swing later so their opponent has less time to read what shot is coming next; that is assuming they are strong enough to still hit it deep from this position.

When a player cocks their wrist (as I do in the video above) you'll see my racquet head is above the ball and I can hit down more severely onto the ball. I always tried to think of the tin as a form of net and the higher above the tin the ball is when I strike it the better angle I have to spike the ball downwards, which means more pressure I can put on my opponent. I also like the feel of the ball on the strings when I cock my wrist for my drop shots. I feel like I can get more action on the ball when I have my wrist cocked. I haven't taken enough swings like Ramy does to feel the same control or touch that he does with his flatter swing with his relaxed wrist, so I will probably never be able to switch. If I was going to try and drop with a relaxed wrist the difficult part would be that I'd be 100% committing to the drop. With such a short backswing and a relaxed wrist there would be almost no power behind my setup meaning my opponent knows what's coming. Ramy is so strong on his forearm that he can still snap the ball with some pace with just about zero tension in his arm or backswing. This is something that was simply impossible 20+ years ago when the racquets were 200 grams. Now with the lighter frames and improved strings there are a lot more possibilities.

Ashour on the backhand side with again zero backswing. The racquet starts at his leading leg and he can still hit the ball to any part of the court

So now I've got you thinking. Should I try and cock or keep a relaxed wrist? That is something that a good coach will need to help you with. I think only a really top player could make the relaxed wrist position really effective. I still coach players to cock their wrist, but if I came across a very skilled player that already had this style I would not try and change it. I can see the benefit from this relaxed wrist if you also have the snap to go deep from that position too. If you don't have the snap your opponent will be running up to get your shot every time they see that relaxed wrist and short backswing. So unless you spend multiple hours each week working on your short game, that probably isn't going to work at a high level.

What I've discussed so far is the benefits of cocking or not cocking your wrist on drops, from attacking positions from the mid or front of the court. From the front under pressure when counter dropping you will have to break your wrist to one up your racquet face to the target and to play the ball in front of you. This is the only time I break my wrist when I play and it's really difficult for me. I found a picture of Alison Waters doing this on the backhand side.

Waters adapts her wrist position under pressure to line her racquet face up to the target

From the back of the court I do feel cocking your wrist is a big advantage because it's the best way to get the ball back deep and above the tin. If you don't have a lot of time to prepare at least when you cock your wrist your racquet will be aiming up and you will have a better chance of getting the ball back deep. Also, when digging the ball out of the back corners when you're space is limited it's also important to cock your wrist to use height on the shortened swing.

But when you have time (as Ramy does below) and you're prepared early and you're not trying to play defensive you can play with a cocked or relaxed wrist. You can imagine that from the set up below most people could not get enough of a whip from this setup to get power into their shot or it would take too long that they couldn't get away with it. Ramy has hit so many balls I believe everything is about feel and he doesn't focus on his technique at all. He knows by the feel of each swing if it was hit perfectly or not so for him he knows that he is set up exactly how he wants to be. This is the one thing I think is a huge benefit from the relaxed arm; you have less tension in your arm and you can feel the ball better against your strings.

One area from the back which I should mention is if you're trying to hit a hard and low attacking drive. This can be played a few different ways. Some people (mostly the Egyptians) still hit this shot with a very open racquet face and simply have a flatter or more sever swing path to hit the ball low.

Nouran Gohar has a lot of shoulder rotation in this shot, but still has a slightly cocked wrist and open racquet face

I like actually closing my racquet face or even using some top spin. When I close my racquet face or hit with a bit of top spin my wrist is still cocked, it's just about how I rotate my arm over. So if you can picture this it may help. On the backhand side if I want to hit with a closed racquet face I simply have a forehand open wrist and arm position. Can you imagine this? I found a pic of Karim Abdel Gawad doing this. See how if he kept everything the same and just brought his racquet to his forehand side it would be a nice open racquet face. His wrist is still cocked, but is just facing down.

Gawad keeping his wrist cocked even when he closes his racquet face

Hopefully I've expanded your knowledge on this subject. To me it's a really fascinating topic. It was such a keep fundamental and then to have the best player of our generation not always do it was pretty mind blowing. It definitely shows that technique is not universal and if you can make it work consistently even under pressure maybe it doesn't need to be changed. Maybe coaches and players focus too much on technique and less about feel and shot selection? Basically these types of things make me think more open minded about squash and the technique in general. Peter Marshall should have taught us all that, but we haven't see that style at that level again since. So just because Ramy can do what he does, it doesn't mean you should try and copy it. It works for him, but it probably won't work for you unless you have fantastic hand-eye and spend about a quarter of your life on a squash court! If you're tinkering with this I still recommend not going past the 180 degree point at any part of your swing (besides the counter drop under pressure at the front) from the back of your hand to your forearm. Remember the title is called cocking or relaxing the wrist, not breaking it! Hope this topic was as interesting to you as it was to me. 

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Psychologically Preparing To Win As The Underdog

Welcome back to Serious Squash! It's a busy time of year and my posts seem to be happening less frequently these days. I have not forgotten or given up on my side project. I have a lot of planned interesting topics on the horizon. Hopefully today will be an interesting one for all of you. Before I get into today's posts I should thank all of you over the past 19 months that have commented and written me emails about my posts and Serious Squash. I just reached 200,000 page views so I guess someone is reading what I write and finds it interesting. I hope I have got you thinking about squash more in-depth and most importantly I hope that I've helped improved some squash games along the way.

Today I'm going to talk about the psychology of playing who we perceive to be stronger players, perhaps even people we believe are out of our leagues. I don't think I can go a post without using a quote and this topic reminds me of this one, 'limitations live only in our minds.' I truly believe we are all capable of much more than we believe. In sports we often give our opponents too much credit and undervalue our own abilities and strengths. Today we are going to look at some ways to change our mindset to help us prepare for success even when we are a self declared underdog.

 I've played a lot of matches over the years. I've played as the underdog, the favourite and many that could have gone either way. It is no doubt easier psychologically going into a match as the underdog as we have nothing to lose. Although when I hear someone say this I do joking point out that 'you do have the match to lose!' Even though I'm joking I don't want a player going into the match thinking it's a forgone conclusion and there is nothing left to play for. If we go into a match believing that we are a major underdog and have no chance at winning, we might be wasting an excellent opportunity to improve, measure our game and perhaps even pull off a big upset.

Redefine Success: I remember often being nervous when I played someone I thought was better than me. Nobody wants to get embarrassed on the squash court. There's nowhere to hid if things aren't going your way. When I was young and playing a stronger player I would always try and protect my ego by saying that one day I will get to this level, I'm just not quite there yet. I feel like by doing this I didn't give myself the best chance of being successful at that moment. Maybe success wasn't winning the match, but perhaps success was something different, like proving that I belong. If we just keep telling ourselves this we will eventually be more focused on the future and missed out on wonderful opportunities in the current moment which we could have potential won.

Staying Focused On The Process: sometimes I found myself doing better than I expected in these matches and a few times I let near wins slip away. We see the light at the end of the tunnel and it distracts us. It can be much more challenging than it sounds, but when you're near the end you can't be thinking just that. When I got close to beating someone I thought was stronger than me I started thinking too much about the possibility of winning and beating this great player. Once we start to see the finish line or that we actually have a chance our focus often shifts and we lose the zone we were in that got us in this great position. Regardless of level I assume this has happened to all of us at some point. Maybe some of us undervalue our own ability, while other times our opponent is just not quite up to par that day and we have a real chance of winning. So how do we go in believing we can win? And how can we prepare ourselves psychologically to take advantage of these rare opportunities when they present themselves?

Anything Can Happen Mindset: when we go into a match as an underdog I know I often tried to do too much, thinking I needed to do something extra special to beat this person. When I did this, I simply gave my opponent free points and easy openings. We need to make these players beat us and prove that they are better than us on that day. Just because someone has more rankings points or has a more successful past, does not guarantee that they will be successful on this given day. Go in and play to win regardless of who you're playing! We play the game because anything can happen. This is why even you can bet on even the most lopsided sporting matches. It may not always happen, or even often, but it doesn't mean that it won't today.

Give 100% For Every Point of Every Match: Everyone has a physical and psychological breaking point, even those that seem indestructible! You never know when it could happen or who it could happen to, so you have to keep you head down and keep battling for each and every point. Someone may look great in the warmup, but as soon as they get into an extended rally you can tell that their game begins to show some cracks. Even if you lose that match, you may have been close than you thought. Maybe all it takes to crack through and get the big win is getting a good start or 1 or 2 extended rallies; maybe then the person you thought was on a pedestal is within your grasps. If you have any doubts just remember that your opponent does, they just may be better at hiding it.

Prepare For Competition To The Best Of Your Ability: all we can really do is prepare the best we can for competition. We can't worry about what our opponent has or hasn't done. If we're playing a player of a high caliber we may give them more credit than they deserve. You don't know how they are feeling and how well they have prepared. As the saying goes, 'failing to prepare, is preparing to fail.' If you've prepared for the match you have to believe you always have a chance. If you've prepared properly you should feel confident. If you've prepared you should also be able to withstand the extra running you may have to endure. I've seen many more technically skilled players lose because they weren't fit enough; this is why proper physical preparation for competition is so important to success.

Winning Breeds Confidence: sometimes it just takes a win against a top player to believe in yourself and your ability to compete at that level. The more chances you get to play a stronger player the more likely you are to get that win. Losing too much isn't good ether, but neither is winning all the time. The top players that always win will feel pressure to continue getting these flawless results. I think it's important to play against people weaker, stronger and at your own level. Many people prefer only playing people at their level or stronger, but it's against weaker opponents we learn how to handle that pressure of being the favourite and also get to work on closing out games/matches and controlling points. And as this subtitle goes, winning breads confidence, regardless of the opponents level.

Set Mini Goals: when playing a stronger player I like to set mini goals. Sometimes it will be to get a game, or get a certain amount of points. Other times it will be to extend the length of the match and the duration of the rallies. If I'm playing a stronger opponent I should always leave the court completely spent. Other goals I like to set include my tactics. I like to focus on something simple like getting my opponent behind me and off the T. I don't know many players that can consistently beat me from the back of the court. At the end of the match I really want to make sure that my opponent had to work hard for the win. I may be exhausted and have covered more court, but I want to see that they are tired too. If I can do this against a stronger opponent I will feel pretty satisfied with my progress.

Slightly Shift Your Tactics: today seems to be the day of quotes, so here's one more! 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.' In squash this isn't so straight forward. It's can be difficult to tell if we have the right ideas, but are just unable to execute them well enough. If you believe your tactic is right, keep trying it over and over. I see many people give up on their tactics, because they are trying to do too much to beat this superhuman player. Although if you keep trying the same type of game and it isn't working, maybe it's time to switch it up just a little. Sometimes 1 small change is all it takes. Changing your serve, the pace your hitting the ball or your shot selection can pay real dividends. Even strong players have areas that aren't as good as the rest; do you know what it is? Can you exploit it? Or maybe you've become too predictable and you need to try a new trick. Make sure you don't play outside of your ability though or you will be giftwrapping the match to your opponent.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this topic as it could really be an entire book or series of books all in itself. The mental game is something under-taught and difficult to measure. I know the toughest opponents I've ever faced were all fearless and always gave 100%; they didn't care who was on court with them or what the score was and they were always prepared for a battle. The good news is that being mentally tough and always giving 100% is a goal that is realistic for all of us, regardless of our skill level. If you want a good book about underdogs check out David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. This book will probably get you to think twice about how we define underdogs and favourites. Here's the link to it on Amazon:

Thanks again to everyone for reading my blog and sending me feedback. If you have any suggestions for future posts please feel free to send them along. Working at a school I also have some flexibility in the months of June-August each year. If any of you would like me to run a squash camp at your club or come to you for some personalized coaching sessions feel free to send me an email. I've also recently started doing some private video analysis for some clients across the globe. I'm always looking for opportunities to expand my squash networking around the world. Please feel free to contact me at info@serioussquash.com for any topic post suggestions or business related inquiries.

The Six Strengths For Winning Squash

When talking about sports there are always certain qualities that stand out for the top performers. We were amazed by Tiger Woods' focus on driving distance. The iconic college basketball coach, John Wooden stated that he loved to work with speed because it never went in slumps. And Wooden liked to push the tempo and press in basketball.

When I was in Malaysia for the Penang Junior Open it was evident that pace was a major factor for each of the age groups. When someone is young they normally struggle with pace as their racquet coordination and court coverage (speed, strength and anticipation) aren't fully developed. Clearly pace is an important asset which got me thinking about what are the other strengths in our game. Not everyone is built or has the ability to overhit their opponent. So today I will get into the 6 greatest strengths a squash player can posses. If you want to improve your game spend some time working on one or more of these areas.

Pace: Eventually pace will not be enough to win at the highest level. Everyone can hit it hard and handle pace. It makes a big difference in the speed of the game and the bounce of the ball. I can't think of any other sport that the bounce of the ball is so dependent on how hard and frequently the ball is struck. The reason I don't like coaching people to hit everything hard is that it creates tension in their arm and normally this style of player has a poor short game. Hitting everything hard also means you have less time to get back to the T and physically it takes a lot out of you. So I prefer picking my spots to inject pace, but that's what works for my game, it could be completely different for you. Plus how often does Cameron Pilley hit the ball as hard as he possible can? Probably very rarely if ever (unless there is a radar gun nearby).

Speed: just as Wooden exclaimed about basketball, I agree that speed is a major asset in squash. Certainly you look at players like Miguel Rodriguez and you know this is a huge factor in his success. Speed allows you to get on the ball early and retrieve more shots. Of course you need to have the aerobic stamina to keep your speed up throughout the duration of a match.

Attacking/'Hands': someone that can attack well from anywhere in the court can be extremely difficult to play against. Even after serving you are uncomfortable. There is little rhythm and you are repeatedly having to be on guard while on the T and having to make hard lunges into the front corners. Some people have superb racquet skills. If you're not one of them you can always improve this area of your game, but you will likely never become a shooter.

Consistent: if you aren't especially quick, or hit it hard or have A+ attacking skills you almost certainly have to be consistent and grind out your wins. I always think of Peter Nicol (pictured below) when I talk abut this. Of course Nicol had good shots and was smart, but he was so consistent. A big part of doing this well is containing your opponents, hitting the ball tight, taking away angles and being fit and mentally tough. If you're not a supreme athlete you will likely have the most success playing this style; taking minimal risks and making very few unforced errors. If you are a consistent player you will need to have a high level of aerobic fitness because you will like have to have long points and wait for easy openings and errors from your opponent to get your points.

Smart/Experienced: we have all played someone that just makes more good decisions then other opponents. Some people get stuck playing in a receptive pattern and hope this is enough to win. If you've read Brad Gilbert's Winning Ugly (pictured below), you will know that tactics are underused in racquet sports and are essential to becoming a champion. If you watched Canadian tennis player Vasek Pospisil at Wimbledon recently you would have noticed him looking over notes during his match about his opponent. He may have a plan B or C, or maybe this is to refocus his thoughts on his strategy if it was starting to wander. I'm surprised more players don't do this. Especially seeing that they are not allowed to receive coaching during a match.

Some people have a natural instincts and are very tough to play against. A smart player will know how to expose your weaknesses and play into theirs. They will be able to play a variety of styles and are always a tough opponent. This style of play is encouraged through decision making practice. If you're interested more in this you should check our Dr. Joan Vickers book Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training (pictured below). When reading this book I really thought all practices should be open and random, but have since learned the importance for blocked practice and repetition which allow you to acquire new skills, groove a swing path and boost your confidence. Finding the right balance here is what's crucial.

Mental Strength: some of the toughest matches I've played have been against mentally tough opponents. They may not have the smoothest technique, but they are super competitive. These players are normally consistent, but there are exceptions. Playing a mentally strong opponent means they never give up, no matter what the score. This style of player runs down every ball and gives max effort. This type of person plays better in competition then they do in practice. It's hard to measure someone's mental toughness and compare to another person, but this skill is necessary to become a successful pro. I always think of Tiger Woods (in his prime) and Rafa Nadal when I talk about mental strength. In squash I feel that Nick Matthew, Nicol David, and Mohamed Elshorbagy are the most mentally tough on the circuit these days.

So which area is your strength? If you don't fit into any I suggest you focus on becoming consistent. It's hard to beat someone that doesn't beat themselves. This depends on not only your current skill set and levels, but on how you enjoy playing. How do you envision yourself playing in the future? If you hit it hard and this is your strength, what happens when you come up against someone that hits it harder or can handle your pace? Same goes for speed. This is why at the highest level most players will be highly skilled in all 6 areas.

There are other areas that are important for competing at a high level, but I feel these are the most crucial. Aerobic fitness is right up there, and unless you are a shooter or extremely smart I think that's just a necessary skill, but without something else it will never be enough to win on its own.

Lastly, just because you are really strong in 1 category this doesn't mean you shouldn't try and expand your strengths and improve in another. We can all improve our pace, shot selection, mental toughness, attacking skills, consistency and to some extent our speed. Good luck!