4-days a week - my schedule for the squash training:
1. Jogging - running at moderate pace for 2 Kms
2. Lunges - 15 X 3 sets - alternating between left and right leg - supersets 15 Left and the 15 right - then rest for 30-45 seconds. Repeat for 2 more sets.
3. Skipping - 150 X 3 sets - on alternate days
Am waiting patiently for this physical fitness schedule to show rewards in the squash court. After this workout, I take a break for 15 min. to cool down a bit and then head towards the squash court for playing with my coach. The squash session lasts for about 30-35 min. and includes various types of drills and ghosting after playing. Typically, we end the coaching schedule with sprints on the court - I target 20 in 1 min.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Invaluable words of advice to a beginner (me) from an experienced coach
My squash coach is in his fifties - but his fitness puts a 38-year old guy like me to shame!! Normally, our coaching follows a particular regimen and right now he is trying to make sure that I get moving properly around the court. We do various drills to improve my movement from the front of the court to the back and then back to the front again - all the while trying to hit the shots that he mentions.
Once in a while, we play - what he calls "rallies". In "rallies", there are no points but everything else is like a normal game. So, today morning as we were playing "rallies", I was trying to slam the life out of the ball - it has been an old malaise - trying to slam the ball too hard. After a few rallies, that had left me completely breathless, coach gave me a piece of advice that was distilled from his years of experience in playing and coaching squash to novices like me.
He said " This game is not about hitting the ball hard and running harder. So, do not try to smash every ball. Imagine that this court has three parts - front, middle and back court. Now, think where you want to THROW the ball (notice - not hit the ball!!) - front court, middle court or back court. This will decide how high you will hit the ball on the front wall and with how much power."
I found this to be a very different perspective and a correct one at that. That squash is about positional play was something that I had not been thinking at all during my training and playing sessions with other players. Now this is something I have to cultivate - "Send the forehand passing shot to the back court - so hit the ball high and not so hard" - will need to put this into practice over the next few days and see the effect on my game.
Once in a while, we play - what he calls "rallies". In "rallies", there are no points but everything else is like a normal game. So, today morning as we were playing "rallies", I was trying to slam the life out of the ball - it has been an old malaise - trying to slam the ball too hard. After a few rallies, that had left me completely breathless, coach gave me a piece of advice that was distilled from his years of experience in playing and coaching squash to novices like me.
He said " This game is not about hitting the ball hard and running harder. So, do not try to smash every ball. Imagine that this court has three parts - front, middle and back court. Now, think where you want to THROW the ball (notice - not hit the ball!!) - front court, middle court or back court. This will decide how high you will hit the ball on the front wall and with how much power."
I found this to be a very different perspective and a correct one at that. That squash is about positional play was something that I had not been thinking at all during my training and playing sessions with other players. Now this is something I have to cultivate - "Send the forehand passing shot to the back court - so hit the ball high and not so hard" - will need to put this into practice over the next few days and see the effect on my game.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The weakest link in my game - that is killing me!!
Well, though I knew it all along - the time has come for me to finally admit it!! The weakest link in my game - one that results in my giving my opponents 4-5 easy points along with control of some important rallies is really not letting me make any progress inspite of this practise of movement around the court and other drills!! It is not the backhand corner, the volley or the drop - (though I must admit that these aspects also need a lot of work)!! The weakest aspect of my game is RETURN OF SERVICE from the backhand court!!
In know in theory that the return of the serve from the backhand court has to be deep - either down the line of cross-court depending upon the type of service received. But in practice, during the actual games, it seems to be easier said than done!! My attempts at hitting down the line on lob serves often result in weak shots that are either too low on the front wall or if they are high enough, then they hit the front wall and then the side wall on the front and the ball moves towards the centre of the court for the opponent to make a mess of my attempts. My attempts at returning the low serves on the backhand that hit the side wall and are ankle high before they drop on the court lead to equally disasterous returns!! In a game, I end up handing out at least 2-3 points on erroneous service returns only and another 2-3 points on weak service returns. I have to figure out a way to work on this!!
Some of the things that I am thinking of to handle this is to hold the racket higher - near the top of the handle so that I have more control on the shots. The problem is that if the serves are too deep or too low - I do not get enough swing on the racket and the resultant return is a weak high return - that either moves towards the centre or makes me a sitting duck. Also, I am not sure if I am taking the serves well on the volley - so the cross court returns that are supposed to land deep in the forehand corner, hit the opponents forehand side wall and makes for easy killing. The funny thing is that I am so concious of this weakness, that whenever I get a serve on the backhand that I can return easily - I get so excited that I try and slam a down-the-line backhand retrun into the tin!! The opponents look at me amazed - they are like "How did you *#$% that up? You could have hit it anywhere in the court and you hit it in the tin?!!!"
Hope to do better on this front soon - with a lot of practise - like everything else!!
In know in theory that the return of the serve from the backhand court has to be deep - either down the line of cross-court depending upon the type of service received. But in practice, during the actual games, it seems to be easier said than done!! My attempts at hitting down the line on lob serves often result in weak shots that are either too low on the front wall or if they are high enough, then they hit the front wall and then the side wall on the front and the ball moves towards the centre of the court for the opponent to make a mess of my attempts. My attempts at returning the low serves on the backhand that hit the side wall and are ankle high before they drop on the court lead to equally disasterous returns!! In a game, I end up handing out at least 2-3 points on erroneous service returns only and another 2-3 points on weak service returns. I have to figure out a way to work on this!!
Some of the things that I am thinking of to handle this is to hold the racket higher - near the top of the handle so that I have more control on the shots. The problem is that if the serves are too deep or too low - I do not get enough swing on the racket and the resultant return is a weak high return - that either moves towards the centre or makes me a sitting duck. Also, I am not sure if I am taking the serves well on the volley - so the cross court returns that are supposed to land deep in the forehand corner, hit the opponents forehand side wall and makes for easy killing. The funny thing is that I am so concious of this weakness, that whenever I get a serve on the backhand that I can return easily - I get so excited that I try and slam a down-the-line backhand retrun into the tin!! The opponents look at me amazed - they are like "How did you *#$% that up? You could have hit it anywhere in the court and you hit it in the tin?!!!"
Hope to do better on this front soon - with a lot of practise - like everything else!!
The injury that kept me away for some time
Have been away from jotting down my training experience for some time and have realized that discipline is as important for blogging as it for the squash training!! I had been down for 4 weeks in between with a hamstring injury - it was a pull and it was so painful that I was barely able to limp - leave alone walk!! I believe it was primarily due to dehydration and playing the hot and humid climate in Bombay - I was playing at 12 in the afternoon and our courts are not air conditioned. I was sweating by bucketfuls - but then that is a normal day of squash in Bombay in summer. Then suddenly I felt someting snap in my left calf - it was as if someone has hit me extremely hard on the calf with the racket!! I crashed on the court and could barely limp out!! Just imagine my luck - the player waiting to play after me was a doctor!! He told me not to worry - it looked like a cramp and I should drink lots of water to rehydrate and ensure that my body gets back all the salt that I have lost through sweating.So I did all of that and was hoping that the cramp will be fine in a couple of hours.
However, things did not get better after a day or so and I realized that the ligament that joins the calf muscles to the bone are injured and would need time for healing. Even moving my left leg was hell!! A lot of fomentation, crepe bandages and massages improved things slowly - but the slow healing - without any painkillers was frustrating. Anyway, I just tried to be patient - did upper body workouts that did not put too much pressure on the left leg and did slow stretching exercises for the hamstring!! It took about about 4-5 weeks for me to start moving around without feeling any pain in the hamstring.
Lessons learnt:
- Warm up the lower body and upper body well before playing
- Always make sure that the body is hydrated well to prevent any major cramps and injuries.
I guess that I learn things the hard way!!!
However, things did not get better after a day or so and I realized that the ligament that joins the calf muscles to the bone are injured and would need time for healing. Even moving my left leg was hell!! A lot of fomentation, crepe bandages and massages improved things slowly - but the slow healing - without any painkillers was frustrating. Anyway, I just tried to be patient - did upper body workouts that did not put too much pressure on the left leg and did slow stretching exercises for the hamstring!! It took about about 4-5 weeks for me to start moving around without feeling any pain in the hamstring.
Lessons learnt:
- Warm up the lower body and upper body well before playing
- Always make sure that the body is hydrated well to prevent any major cramps and injuries.
I guess that I learn things the hard way!!!
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