Three's Company: 3 Person Squash Drills

Today I'm going to talk about some 3 person drills you can do. Most of us know a lot of drills we can do with 2 people, but are unsure of what we can do with that 3rd wheel. Some of the drills are repetitive, others 1 or 2 players will have options and some will be conditions games and really make you think. I enjoy doing a combination of them. Find which ones work for you and try and implement them the next time you are training in a group of 3. What you're capable of doing will depend on your skill levels.

Three Person Drills

1. Three person boast and drive (1 in the front, 2 in the back). You can do 1 shot or 2 shots (which means 1 shot to yourself).
2. A hits straight drive, B hits volley drop, C hits straight drive, B hits straight volley drive.
3. A and B hit drives on one side of the court. They both have the option to hit a volley crosscourt drive to player C. If they hit a volley crosscourt drive, player C hits a straight drive and then the person that hit it to this side goes over and continues the rally.
1. A and B can hit straight drive or boast. If A boasts, B has to return it with a straight drive to C's side. 
2. A and B can hit straight drive or boast. If A boasts, B has to return it with a straight drive or straight drop to C's side.
3. A and B can hit straight drive or boast. If A boasts, B has to return it with a straight drive to C or can hit crosscourt back to player A (keeps them from being lazy after playing a boast)
4. A and B play a straight game on one half of the court. A and B both also have the option to boast. When one of them boasts the other has to get it and hit a straight drive or drop to C's side.
4. A drives straight, B volleys crosscourt drop/kill, C hits crosscourt, B hits volley drive, repeat
5. A hits straight drives, B hits straight drive or boast, C hits straight drive
   
   

   a. A hits straight drive, B hits straight drive or boast, C hits straight drive off drive and can hit straight drive or court lob off boast.

6. A hits short mid-court drive/feed, B drives, A hits another short mid-court drive feed, C drives
   
   

   a. A hits short drive feed, B drives and then ghosts laterally, repeat 5 times and C goes.

7. Chase the hole/rotating boast and drive. A boasts, B drives, C boasts, A drives, B boasts, C drives.
8. A drives, B drives, A boasts, B drives, C drives, B boasts, C drives, A drives, C boasts.
9. A boasts, B drops, C drops, B drives, C boasts, B drops, A drops, B drives, repeat.
10. A drops (from back of the court), B drops, C drive
    1. A drops (from back of the court), B drops, C drops, B drives
    2. A drops or boasts (from back of the court), B drops, C drives
    3. A drops or boasts (from back of the court), B drops straight or cross, C drives or crosscourts
11. A hits boast, B hits straight drive or crosscourt drive, C volleys to straight length and if cannot volley they let the ball go back to A and they drop or boast again (as demonstrated in diagrams below).
    1. If C isn't able to they have to get the ball off the back wall and drive it.

 
12. A boasts, B hits straight or crosscourt drop, C hits straight drive (as diagramed below).

13. Three person rotating drives (no volleys allowed)

           a. each player has the option to boast or drive, off the boast the next player just hit straight drive

14. A hits a straight drop, B drives, A hits a straight drive, B straight drives, A hits straight drop, C hits straight drive, A hits straight drive, C hits straight drive, repeat

            a. A can straight drop or straight drive, B hits straight drive (go until they cannot get the ball back then C's turn)

15. A boasts, B drives, A drives, B drives, A boasts, C drives, A drives, C drives

16. A boasts or hits a straight drop, B hits straight or crosscourt drive, A drives, B drives, A boasts, C hits straight or crosscourt drive, A drives, C drives, repeat

17. A drives, B drive, A boasts, B hits straight drop, C hits straight drop, B hits crosscourt (or crosscourt lob)

With 3 people I often do king of the court 2 person drills or condition games and rotate after each rally. I enjoy making these types of drills competitive. For example you could do drive, drive boast with 2 people and then then winner of the rally stays in and gets a point. You could also do the drill until someone hits a target and/or wins the point. You can do this for any drill and with the odd breather you'l find that you can work harder and that keeping score will help the intensity and focus stay high.

You can have a lot of fun and really mix things up with 3 people on the court. I've given you 17 drills, many with slight variations which will make the drill different and in many cases much more challenging. Enjoy!

Video Analysis #3

Yes, finally a 3rd person has taken me up on the offer to analyze their squash game. If you want to take a look at the video the link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AazyovQ0QZc
If you post it online I assume it's open for the world to see so I hope you don't mind me posting the link. I'm analyzing the man in the green shirt and I have a few comments for him. 

The Good
1) You're a good retriever. Your quick on your feet. You have very light feet and get around the court pretty efficiently. 

2) You're consistent. You don't make many unforced errors which is a good combination with being quick. This means you will be hard for someone to beat because you'll never beat yourself. 

3) You move the ball around and with #2 don't make many mistakes while doing so. I've seen many fit people just hit everything deep and wait for mistakes so it's good to see you using the whole court. 

Areas To Improve
1) Be more aggressive. You wait for the ball to come to you. When you get a loose ball, move forwards and take the ball a bit early, this is also a more confident and assertive way to go on the attack. Try and practice taking more balls before the back wall in general. You look like a good athlete and should be fit enough to pick up the intensity a bit!

2) Get your racquet up higher for your drives. You have a very late racquet preparation and have an extremely short backswing. You could hit the ball with more pace if you got your elbow up, and quickly! Early racquet prep is sooo important!

3) Get lower/stay further from the ball. You're a tall guy and you could make the court play a lot smaller if you worked on getting your hips down by bending your knees. Currently you are too upright when hitting the ball on the bounce which brings you further from the T and means your swing has to go upwards to get the ball over the T. If you get lower you can hit the ball flatter and be more aggressive with your shots. I recommend taping a dotted line around the court with masking tape. Go along the inside of the service box up to about 2 or 3 feet away from the front wall. You should very rarely have to get both of your feet within this taped area when you strike the ball. Currently you do this frequently.  

4) Here's a bonus one. I don't want to give too much feedback, but I think you would greatly improve by learning to use your body to help you get power and transfer your weight into the ball. You currently swing with just your arm. Learning to rotate your shoulders, use your torso, core and legs will allow you to do # 1 better. Basically all 4 of my tips are to get you to be more aggressive and hit the ball with more power. You have the tools (athleticism and consistency) to become a much stronger player. 


I've worked with a number of players such as yourself. It takes a change in mindset to become more aggressive. You may make a few mistakes, but this is the only way to apply pressure on a stronger player. Thanks for being brave enough to have your game analyzed online! Good luck David!