Just Play!

One of the great things about squash is that compared to other sports it really can be played your entire life, but for many of us it isn't. In squash you can be competitive and play tournaments at age, from under 11 to 75+. Since finishing juniors or varsity squash we tend to see most squash players disappear from the competitive squash scene. Some will continue to play the odd regular game with someone at their local club while others will turn to the more social and easier on the body game of hardball doubles. Once I got into coaching I also failed to play as much competitively for a variety of reasons. I think a lot of this stems from people moving on to the next stage of their lives and today's post is about trying to keep people in the sport after their junior and college careers and in doing so increasing participation in squash tournaments.

Team pic after winning an OUA title for Western Ontario from about 10 years ago (from all my years at university there were just 3 of us that played nationals this year)

When you're a kid you don't have many responsibilities. Even at university squash practices are all scheduled for you. There's also a lot of perceived expectations and self-imposed pressure that can take its toll on you over the years. When we finally finish competing as a junior or varsity athlete we have to set up everything on our own and clearly many of us do not make the time or have the desire to organize our own daily training schedule. Our focus turns to more adult like things such as careers and making money. Early adult life is for getting our career and our love life in order so we push aside our hobbies such as squash. It can also be quite a relief to let go of all that pressure you felt to win during your junior and college days.

Besides the challenges already discussed above there is another issue I believe keeps people out of competitive squash after juniors and university. As an individual sport we have all worked vey hard to get to a certain level and to play at our highest level requires daily practice both on and off the court. If we are unable to prepare to play at our best many of us just won't enjoy stepping on court and playing well below our potential; none of us want to lose to some junior we know we're better than. After all squash does require an extremely high amount of physical fitness to be successful at a high level which is very challenging to maintain when a weekly training schedule isn't planned out for you. Is this starting to sound familiar?

Long time rival and friend from juniors in the finals of the U.S. Open

From years of playing squash we have built up an ego about our skill level and who we believe to be better than or similar to. We like to preserve this level in our minds about what level we can play at with just a little bit of discipline and training. But even still at this years senior nationals (held in the squash capital of Canada, Toronto) the masters divisions of 30 and 35+ were very tiny. We don't have to worry about playing 2 matches in a day or losing to some kid because they're training every day and we're too busy living like adults. In the women's masters events they didn't even have entries in the lower age groups. It's kind of ironic that representatives of Participaction were on hand at the nationals when it's the one's who weren't in attendance that need that kick in the pants.

I know from growing up in Toronto and playing at university how many strong squash players there were and still are in the area, yet most didn't play in the nationals. Is it because they don't have the desire to play tournaments anymore or do they not think they're good or fit enough to enter? The age groups are much more about fun than the competitive open or junior events. I wonder why most didn't play when it's in their home town while I'm flying across the country to go compete.

I guess the main thing I take from all of this is that I wish more people would just get out and play and keep the squash spirit alive! It's easier to say than do, but if we don't worry about winning and losing and simply having fun and reconnect with old friends we battled against as juniors it could be a lot more fun than pain. If the nationals was held anywhere besides Toronto I'm sure the age group draws would have been even smaller.

I don't know what we can do to get more people to participate after juniors or varsity squash, but it would be great to keep more of these people stay in the game. Squash is a pretty small scale sport and it's a shame that so many skilled people who spent such a large portion of their youth playing squash stop competing and being a part of our sport. I know people begin to have families and get busy with their careers, but I know I would really miss squash if I just stopped playing and being around the game.

Do we need to find a way to make squash less competitive or less physically taxing for those that aren't playing much, but were once strong players? What if we played to 7 PAR or best of 3? Or simply guaranteeing just the 1 match per day? I'd actually really like to see the low tin used on all courts for amateurs so this could be a good step too. Or perhaps the best way to keep all of these people involved at tournaments is to provide lots of free beverage tickets ;)

Squash Canada and each province needs to find a way to keep all of these previous juniors involved in squash at any capacity. I know there is a big gap right now for people that want to go from juniors or varsity squash to the pro level. Maybe it's just up to each and every one of us to just sign up as long as we are relatively injury free. Nobody is ever completely healthy and fit when they get into their 30's and this is why they have age groups! I know it's too easy to listen to the reasons why you shouldn't, but remember life is about experiences and getting outside of your comfort zone. Hopefully this trend will change and we'll see more people getting back into the competitive side of the game. Remember that you don't need to be playing the best squash of your life to play in a tournament. There is more pressure to prepare for competitions when you're a kid, but this is only self-imposed when you're older. Sign up and play and don't take yourself so seriously. Let go of expectations and your ego and you may just find yourself enjoying the best game in the world with an old peer.

Play squash because it's fun and because you love it. If you're worried about the outcome you have to remember it's just for fun and exercise. Let's help keep the game strong with increasing participation which likely also will increase the tournaments beer sales too! Support your local club tournaments and play provincials or nationals whenever possible and especially if they're close to your hometown. This post doesn't just have to do with Canada or Nationals, but any club in the world. How many times have you made illegitimate excuses not to participate in a tournament because you didn't feel 100% prepared for it? Let's all try and say 'sign me up' a little bit more. Let's try and remember that the game is bigger than any single one of us.

I leave for vacation tomorrow so there will be a break from postings. I'm certain I'll come up with some new great topics to write about once I return so stay tuned for those. This summer I also plan on beginning to film the 2nd Serious Squash instructional film. Stay tuned for more details. If you haven't hear yet, the 1st film is a full length instructional video titled 'The Secrets Of Solo Hitting.' It contains 30 solo drills and tips to improve your game. The film can be streamed and downloaded at SeriousSquashShop.com/collections/coaching-videos and there is a no questions asked money back guarantee that comes with it. Here's a video preview of the film:

Knowing When To Stick With Plan A

One of the most difficult things I have found as a player and also as a coach is deciding after losing a game to not change a thing. We all think that because we lose a game we must change something so we do better in the next one. This is a really difficult concept to understand in the heat of battle as a player and as a coach. We want to play our best and if we lose we don't like to admit that our opponents executed really well or that there is a thing called statistics that balance themselves out over the long haul and that sometimes a single game isn't long enough to know if our tactics will prevail. In squash there is also a major fitness and mental component to a match which we must be taken into account. Often times all we need to change is our focus and other times it's simply maintaining that concentration and effort after a disappointing result. Plus if all we ever think about and hear after a game is what could have been better, how are we ever going to be confident in what we did well and what was working? Focusing too much on areas that need improvement doesn't always mean you will play better after acquiring such knowledge. Ahh, the art of coaching.

If we are playing someone stronger than our level we shouldn't look only at the score to determine how well we are playing. Here I prefer to focus on playing the right shot and simple things, such as getting your opponent behind you or extending the rallies or making them work harder. This all makes sense, but what happens when we lose a game to a person that we believe to be at or even below our level? This happens to all of us and when it does our ego takes a real shot in the gut. We get twisted up because we can't understand how we are playing so poorly, again forgetting that we are up against an opponent who has come out for a real fight.

The first thing here is just to let go of the worry about the outcome (outcome focused does not give you desired outcome results). Worry leads to tension, overthinking, anger and potentially freezing up. The key isn't always making a change, it's normally just focusing on the process; keeping things simple and staying positive. Keeping things simple and doing the basics well can take you a long ways on the court; the challenge is that this becomes all the more difficult to do when our back is up against the wall. And remember that if your basics are superior to your opponents, over the course of a match most of the time things will go in your favour.

If we use excuses like the refs or our opponents lucky bounces, or how it's not our day or some stoppages in play we are never giving ourselves a real shot of playing our best squash. These are all obstacles that are created more psychologically than physically. If you can learn how to enjoy the challenge of the challenges you face you will have the best chance of overcoming them in a positive manner. This is what handling adversity is all about. It's easy to be a good sport when we're winning and playing well, but when things are going against us it's when it reveals our true character. Learn to change your reactions to these situations if you aren't handling them well. But let's get back to the topic at hand.

Let's once again discuss the situation where you are playing someone of a similar standard and lose a game. I often see people lose a game by 2 or 3 points and they think they need to do something drastically different the following game and they come out and they end up following this up with a worse result. Normally when this happens the most important thing you can do is go out and play the exact same game. You almost won the last game, why make a drastic change? When we are in these situations it is so difficult to just stick with a game plan, but remember it's first to win 3 games not best of 1 or 3! At a high level squash is very physical and mental and if you can play a similar standard game later in the match often your opponent will drop, either their focus or fitness (which in turns results in unforced errors).  When we try and change our game too much we begin to overanalyze and possibly try playing out of our comfort zone and this is when we may actually perform worse. So don't go changing things simply because you lose a game; change things because you feel like your strategy was incorrect or could be slightly smarter.

I believe that we try and drastically change game plans far too frequently when we lose a game. Often it is simply about slightly better execution so just being given some reassurance that they are on the right track can be quite helpful. As a coach we also feel like we know better than the athletes and that we should give them some amazing pointers that will turn the game around! Once in awhile this does happen, but a great coach will know when to reaffirm what the athlete is doing and keep them positive and upbeat returning to court. I know this goes against the famous Albert Einstein quote about insanity, 'doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get a different result' which is possibly why we feel such an urge to change something.

This is an area I'm still working on because it is different from person to person. This is also why I believe you should always focus on playing the right shot. After a rally (not during) is your time to quickly process your previous point. You may learn 1 thing from it about improving your shot selection in a future similar situation; good players can make adjustments in game like this. If you are focusing on poor execution that's where we get in trouble. If we begin to think about our swing it is incredibly difficult to change our mechanics during a match so those types of self-analysis are best left for after the match. We might know we need to hit it deeper so we can change our target, but we don't need to get into specifics regarding our swing and how to do this unless you are quite advanced and if you are this advanced you probably don't need to think about your swing mechanics whatsoever to change your targets.

So if Plan A didn't quite work, don't be so quick to jump to Plan B or C! Sometimes our best chance of winning is by sticking with what we just did. Knowing when to jump ship and went stay onboard is something you should think about and consider experimenting with. If you got away from your style too much and you think if you got back to your regular game it would help things then go for it! If you don't have a coach with you it can be quite helpful to make a few notes on an index card. You could have 2 or 3 styles or keys that can helps you play well.

For example: Plan A) Straight, deep and tight perhaps the pace is what needs to change so for example you can go to Plan B) pick up the pace and take the ball early! or maybe we are being too impatient so we look at Plan C) set up golden mid-court attacking opportunities by creating more pressure with your length

You could also try something a little different like this if your focus is on level of discipline/attacking. Plan A) Just play your game! Plan B) Be More AGGRESSIVE! Plan C) set it up before your fire it in!

Here's another simple card you could have if you want to focus on volleying or movement. Plan A) VOLLEY VOLLEY VOLLEY! Plan B) Get back to the T before they hit! Plan C) Be explosive off the T

Don't use too many at once. When we think too much we can get paralysis by over-analysis. Often a simple, gentle reminder works best. If you have a tendency to overhit the ball, maybe your notes should say Plan A) easy big guy, smarter not harder! Plan B) You're blowing them off the court! Plan C) Bring the heat!!!!

So just a simple cheat sheet can be quite useful and you'll notice I kept an option of doing what I was already doing; but sticking with this after losing a game is what today's topic is all about. If you feel the movement, pace or aggressiveness of play is your key to success design your card around that and maybe you'll stick with your Plan A's a little longer. All of today's article has to do with focusing on the process of your squash and not the outcome. I want to win as much as the next person, but our improvement and even the current result is often jeopardized by short term and result oriented thinking. If we jump ship maybe we aren't giving our opponents the opportunity to have a mental or physical lapse in their match. It isn't all about us on the court. Sometimes it's just about being so gritty and determined that it eventually breaks our opponent. I'm sure we can all think of someone who resembles these characteristics.

If you haven't heard yet, Serious Squash has just released a 64 minute instructional squash video titled, The Secrets Of Solo Hitting. This video contains 30 of the best solo drills aimed to improve your squash game with tips on how to best execute these drills and why they're so critical to your development. Stream or download a copy of the film at SeriousSquashShop.com/collections/coaching-videos and if you're not 100% satisfied with your purchase I will give you a full refund. Here's an in depth preview of the film:

No Complaining, No Excuses, Just Play

Today I'm going to discuss something that sounds so simple, but as we look into it is isn't. Today I'm going to talk about not making up any excuses, ever. This isn't only done by kids, I hear a lot of people make excuses. It's as if they are sparing their ego from the outcome. It wasn't their fault they lost or may lose. And it wouldn't be the opponent that played better and won, no that couldn't be it. It's human nature to internalize winning and externalize losing.

I have to start off by saying that I am not a saint either. Especially when I was a kid, I would always make an excuse for a loss, real or imagined isn't the point here. Often our excuses are based on some relatively valid point. Maybe we didn't get enough sleep, or we had a hard draw, whatever it is, yes that may be the case. But I don't like hearing people say or think these things. This gives them an out a reason to accept defeat if things start going wrong. Not only that, but your focus is self-destructive and negative. Instead of preparing for you match and on your squash game you are spiralling further from where you need to be psychologically when you step out on court. If you start the match thinking how there is a conspiracy against you, you're in trouble.

Squash is an individual sport. This is normally what people love about it. What happens is directly influenced by how you play. When you play well you don't overthink things and you're generally positive. When you have a self-destructive thought in your head you don't have any hope of playing your best squash.

Some people don't even realize they are making excuses or complain, it's so ingrained. Here is a list of many of the complaints I've heard before even stepping on court.
- I'm so tired
- I don't feel well
-  ______ hurts
- I have a terrible draw
- I didn't have enough time to recover between matches
- this is too late
- I don't like these courts/ they don't suit my game
- I'm not fit enough
- I don't like this shirt
- I don't like wearing my eye guards
- This person is in the wrong division/ this person is too good for me
- This is too early/late to play squash
- This is too many matches in 1 day
- That person has been training really hard and playing well
- My opponent just beat this person, I can't beat them
- I have a test tomorrow/I have so much homework

Here's some I've heard between games
- I'm tired
- I don't feel well
- They hit so many lucky shots
- That's the worse I've ever played
- The ref is blind
- My opponent is blocking/I keep bumping into them
- My opponent isn't calling their shots down/out

After the match is over I've head
- I didn't play well
- They were lucky
- I didn't feel good tonight
- The reffing was brutal
- The courts were terrible
- I never play well against this person
- The floors were slippery
- The ball was bouncing weird
- Something was wrong with the ball
- I really don't like playing that person

You get the point. And regardless of what is true, suck it up and play on. If you can just accept that different challenging situations and look at them just as that, you will handle them better. Getting flustered and angry doesn't help. You still have to go out there and play the match. Go and compete. That is all that you can control. You go and give it your best and see what happens. Maybe you'll surprise yourself and handle a tough situation really well. The more positive you can interpret these the better you will do and the less they will rattle you.

Some of the things I listed above can be solved by preparing properly. Warming up, having back up racquets, new grips and the rest of your equipment is all stuff you can control. The stuff outside of your control, like being a little banged up, your draw, who you play, the ball, the facility and the ref are no under your control. Many of these also are the same for both players. Maybe the court isn't great, maybe its too cold or warm, or the ball is skidding; but this is the same for both of you. Normally whoever can accept this and focus on adjusting to the conditions will play better and win the match. Focusing on things outside of your control is a waste of time. So take notice when these thoughts do come up. Slap yourself out of it and have a positive attitude.

If you do end up losing. Congratulate your opponent, thank the ref and let any companies go. They only make things worse for you. Many people have difficulty accepting defeat. If you can't think of something nice to say, don't say anything.

Life is filled with things that are unpredictable, that we can't control. The same goes for squash. When you learn to accept this you'll be better off for it. Even if it's an extreme situation and your opponent serves out at match point and the ref doesn't call it. Just put your finger up and play the rally out. Many people in this situation just stop altogether and lose the point. Of if they do play the rally they are distracted and keep looking back at the ref. I know this is a tough spot as the ref and your opponent are responsible for calling this shot out, but it's outside of your control. How you handle the most difficult of situations like this one reveal the type of character you have and the person you are. I know this is incredibly tough to do in the heat of the moment, but it like everything else is a learned behaviour and skill. Learn to let these things go and you'll be happier, play better and focus on simply playing your best squash possible.

When you win,  be humble and gracious. We like to internalize victories, which is fine if you do the same for defeats. Sometimes it helps to have someone blunt in your corner so they can tell thing like they are.

The goal is to become the best you can be and become more consistent at your weekly matches and in tournaments. If you can stay eivenkeeled before, during and after your matches, win or lose, you are well on your way. If you learn to just play and never look to complain about a situation, it's just one step up you have on all of your opponents. It's also one less thing to distract you from your match. This is what it takes to become a top pro. Pros have to deal with so many variables at every event. If they give an inch mentally it will likely be the difference between winning and going home.

Enjoy the competition and the challenge of your matches. No Complaining, No Excuses, Just Play!