Controlling The Weight Of Shot

Today I'm going to discuss the challenges of hitting accurate depth. Even after playing for most of my life it is still a challenge to hit the right weight of shot; why is that? And how can we improve our ability to control the weight of our shot. Let's get started.

There are a lot of reasons why it is so difficult to control the weight of our shot. The first is that there is inconsistency in the bounce of the ball. A new ball is bouncier, so is it when you play on a warmer day, or against someone that hits the ball really hard. A ball also slows down the more you use it and our muscles fatigue, so over the course of the match you will need to slightly adjust your targets. Also the pace and angle of your receiving shots are quite variable. This isn't like hitting a golf ball off a tee, where you know your distances with each club within a few yards. Our string tension also slightly changes as we use our racquet. If we change racquets or use our backup this again will make the spring much different.

I also notice many people hold the squash racquet directly in their palm, as opposed to more towards the bottom of their fingers. Holding your racquet right in your palm or squeezing your grip very tight won't allow you to have that soft feel that you need to control the weight of different shots. This means you are probably more of a 1 pace ball basher. If your biomechanics aren't repeatable or are inefficient then you will also have difficulty controlling the weight of shot.

Another reason we have trouble weighting our shot is that we are rarely hitting from the exact same spot with an identical posture. We are under various amounts of pressure throughout a rally. As you well know squash is a fast paced sport played in an open environment. This makes it very difficult to get the repetitions required to fine tune your weight. Another golf example is if you never practiced the same length of putt twice in a row on the practice green. Hmm, put that may be onto something. How we set up practice in squash is normally blocked/repetitive. Even hitting boast and drive or drop - drive we slightly vary where we hit from, but we also are always hitting the same shots and trying to find the same target over and over. But I'll get back to this topic shortly.

I find another big reason most people struggle with the weight of there shot is because they never paid mush attention to it as they developed as a player. We focus most of our efforts on hitting it hard and/or tight. Until you've played a lot of squash you don't realize how importance the weight of your shots are. Knowing when you want to intentionally overhit your drive and when you get an opening and know you have to get the ball to bounce twice before the back wall. These are the subtleties you learn as you progress in the sport, but I feel you can enhance your skills by concentrating on the weight of shot in drills.

If you play a tournament or a league match at another court, the bounce on the court will vary from what you are familiar with. Going from panel to plaster is always a challenge. Whenever I'm in these positions I always focus on finding my weight of drives at the beginning of the match. Whoever can adjust to the conditions quicker has the best chance of winning.

Here are a few methods for practicing where you can concentrate on the weight of your shots.

1) Hit rotating drives or a length game, if a ball lands in the service box the other person can go short.
2) Player 1 cannot let the ball hit the back wall on the bounce or they lose the rally. Player 2 can hit anything.
3) You have to hit 3 shots behind the service boxes before you can go short.
4) You have to hit every other shot over the service line.
5) Player 1 hits straight or crosscourt length from the front, player 2 hits straight drop or boast. You can also make a switch if player 2 volley drives player 1's shot.
6) Practice with different types of balls (make, colour of dot, etc)
7) Change to a new ball between games
8) Practice with your backup racquet. Does it have the same type and tension of string? How long ago was it strung? The tension loosens up as you play with it.
9) Game with targets for bonus points placed along the sidewalls.
10) Get the ball really warm (after doing some figure 8 volleys) and then play a game or do some drives.

I also like doing drills with targets. Not just are you trying to hit the ball tight, but also find the right height and pace to get the ball to land at the appropriate depth. If you can get your drop or boast to sty a little shorter it means your opponent will be under that much more pressure. You can try just setting up a single target or you can make things more challenging but executing 2 or 3 different targets. The could all even be for variations of the same shot.

For example, you could set up various targets for your drops to bounce depending on the angle, depth, pace and height you hit them from. Instead of having the same target regardless of where you are hitting from, it should vary slightly.

This may be more obvious if I talk about drives. Here's an example during drop - drive. Set up a target in the middle of the service box, at the bottom of the service box and then midway between the back of the service box and the back wall. The idea here is that you go hard and low for the first target and then slightly raise or hit harder as you aim for the 2nd and then 3rd target. You can imagine how this goes from an attacking drive to an overhit, rallying length.

You can also focus on your weight of shot when you're solo hitting. See how many shots in a row you can hit in the service box. Then aim for the back line on the service box and then aim for 1 bounce and off the back wall. I truly believe that if you focus more on your weight of your shot in practice you will improve your ability to hit those invisible targets in your games. Not only this but you will increase your understanding of the importance of the weight of shot.

As mentioned, not only do you need to think about your weight of shot, but also about when to play which weight. Aiming for a 'perfect' dying length may not be ideal when your out of position and under pressure. I also find most amateurs generally hit their drives too short, especially on the forehand. And then when players get to a high level they have a tendency to miss out on opportunities and overhit all of their drives.

Hopefully you can now appreciate the importance of weight of shot. It's something that great players make look so simple, but now you know is anything but.

Getting The Ball Out Of The Back Corners

Today I'm going to talk about one of the more challenging skills for most squash players, digging the ball out of the back corner. For quite awhile when you start playing, any shot that makes it to the back wall wins the point. On top of the mechanics being an issue, the ball also doesn't get warm and bouncy enough to come off the back wall. Getting shots after they hit the back wall is a slow progression, but a skill that is very satisfying.

As you get to a higher standard, (for example, watch the pros this week at the Tournament Of Champions) you will rarely see a player have to boast. They will boast when they want to. At a high standard if you are limited to 1 option your opponent will be all over your shot. How do top players manage to get any shot out of the back corner and back down the wall? It's a long list, which is where I'm going to start.

Today I'm going to talk about how to hit a drive when the back corner is interfering with your normal swing. If you have difficulty timing the ball off the back wall when you have space you aren't quite ready for the following list. For those people I recommend working on your basic mechanics of your swing and your footwork into and out of the back corners. Many amateurs have swings that are rotational, which means they don't go directly to the ball, they go backwards and will end up hitting the back wall. I feel for the back wall with my racquet and know if my racquet is set I have room to swing. If I can't get into a regular racquet preparation then I shorten it accordingly.

You can also practice with a blue or single yellow dot, or even allow 2 bounces to learn how to time the ball off the back wall. When you start getting better at rotating drives you are now ready for the next step. What can you do to get a good drive out of the corner. Let's take a look.

Keys To Digging The Ball Out Of The Back Corners
1) Anticipation of the receiving shot- hitting the ball before or after it hits the back wall. Good players can tell when the ball isn't going to come off the back wall and get there early and play it before it is too late.

2) Footwork - is crucial under pressure. Average club players cheat and hang far back on the T because they don't have a proper split step or court movement from the T to the back corners. Top players can move from a high T position into the back corner and play drives under pressure on their back foot (open stance).

3) Shortening your backswing - when someone hits a near perfect length we can't take a full swing and contact the ball. Elite players can shorten up their backswing and use a flick of the wrist to get the ball back down the wall. The shorter the swing the more height the player will look to use on the front wall to get the ball all the way to tieback of the court.

4) Choke up on the racquet - same as shortening your backswing, players will also choke up their grip. Sometimes even slightly higher than the top of their grip. If you watch good players closely you will see them doing this from time to time.

5) Get low - again when limited for space you need to get low so you can get your racquet under the ball.

6) Open the racquet face - when your backswing is impeded you have to open up your racquet face to get the ball high enough on the front wall. This goes together with getting low, choking up on the grip and shortening the backswing. To dig out a near dead drive you will need to do all of these to get the ball back down the wall.

It was tricky to photograph my own hand, but you will see how I have my racquet head back by using my wrist, not my arm.  Most people will find this easier to do on the forehand than backhand. But remember, the warmer the ball the easier it will be to get this flick drive back down the wall.

Forehand setup (above) for digging out a dying length. Notice just my racquet head going back as I extend my wrist. I am also choked right up on the grip to reduce the circumference of my swing.

Backhand setup (above) for digging out a dying length. Notice the very open racquet face. As I won't be able to get as much power on the backhand side with the shorter swing I need to hit the ball higher to get it all the way to the back wall.

When you first start trying to implement some of the techniques, just try them on every drive, even if you don't need to. You can start with your grip choked up, your racquet face open and waiting in the back corner. You can slowly work your way up to starting at the T with you standard grip. 

The best method for not having to boast is to get the ball before it reaches the back wall. But we can't always do this, so to be a top level player you have to be able to hit a good shot under pressure. You can see forearm and wrist strength play important factors in this skill set. Also getting low and playing a drive open stance take a lot of lower body strength and balance. 

There's a reason why a well weighted drive is such a valuable shot. It's struck nowhere near the tin and most players can't get it back, let alone hit it back down the wall. 

Final tip to implement these skills: a good way to practice these skills during match play is by not hitting any boasts. 

That's all for today. Remember to boast because you want to, not because you have to!