The serve is the most important shot during a game because it is the only time that you can hold the ball and put it exactly where you want it. It is completely up to you how to start the point and immediately determines who is on the offense and who is on the defense from the very start. You have the opportunity to set yourself up with the toss and place the ball anywhere. 

Many people underestimate the importance of the serve, when in fact, it sets up the WHOLE rally! Essentially a good serve can put you in an attacking position from the outset...Have you ever felt pressure at the very start of a rally and wondered why? Chances are your opponent has an excellent serve and you felt limited with what you could do with the ball. 

Here is a simple checklist to go through next time you serve:

• Check where your opponent is standing and how they are standing (overall body language)
• Decide where you want to serve to and how to obtain that goal (height on the front wall, angle towards the side wall)
• Follow up your serve: most people forget to still move rapidly across to the T to follow up their good serve. Take advantage of the opportunity to stay as the attacker in the rally! 

Generally, a good target for any serve would be to hit the sidewall, if nothing else. That way, your opponent is forced to either take the ball early, which requires moving quickly and early preparation, or to let the ball hit the side wall and/or bounce, which buys you time and puts them in a defensive position. This is a common target where most serves are hit and this simple thought alone could change your serve and how you begin any squash rally. 

There are simple ways to practice your serve, besides just standing in the box, serving, and retrieving (or having someone else return). Maybe try adding a serve to the start of a drill like rotating drives to add a layer of practice to your session for the day. 

Need some more focused practice? Grab a bucket of balls and serve until the bucket is empty. Play around with the heights on the front wall, the angles, your feet position, and your body position to understand what needs to come together to make your serve GREAT! 

To get a more in depth understanding and more intensive practice, sign up for the 2-hour Serve and Return of Serve 101 Clinic. 

There are some ridiculous figure 8's and other racquet control ​drills in this video... which was one was most impressive to you? 

Next time you're on court, give it your best shot. Take a video, post it to Instagram or Facebook, and tag us in your videos @EastCoastSquashAcademy and we will repost them on our account!

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks to Serious Squash for the awesome video!

The backhand drive is a fundamental shot in a typical game of squash. Unfortunately many players in the beginner/intermediate stages of development tend to neglect its importance in favour for the forehand, as the forehand is a much more natural motor pattern. If you don’t want to limit yourself as a player it would be wise develop the backhand to be stronger than the forehand, as typically most matches are conducted down the backhand side of the court. This is supported by Vučković, James, Hughes, Murray, Sporiš, & Perš, (2013) with their analysis of the men’s World Team Championships in 2003. Results showed 37.2% of shots where played deep to the backhand side of the court comparative to 17.3% that were played to the forehand. It should be noted only right-handed player’s matches were recorded. Another reason the backhand should be a strong focus in your development is that it has been shown to significantly correlate to in game performance resulting in a better tournament result (Williams, Bourdon, Graham-Smith & Sinclair, 2016). In other words the more accurate ones backhand is, the better they will perform and subsequently they will be higher ranked. So what should you do to improve your backhand?

There are several steps to get your backhand to the best it can be, but it all starts with your preparation. The two most important aspects of the backhand are:

1. Get your racket up early. Early preparation is a key to success, as it will allow you to execute your shot when you are comfortable. This position should be where you begin your swing phase of the backhand.
2. Imagining your pushing someone away with your racket can attain the racket up position. There should be a slight bend in the elbow, with the wrist cocked. This should form a diamond position. 

To see this at work, see the image below.

One of the handiest ways to ensure early and proper racket position, is to PRACTICE! To learn more about how to better your backhand and to get more advice about to how to have excellent technique, contact us for a private lesson or for group training classes today! 

References:
Vučković, G., James, N., Hughes, M., Murray, S., Sporiš, G., & Perš, J. (2013). The effect of court location and available time on the tactical shot selection of elite squash players. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 12(1), 66.
Williams, B. K., Bourdon, P. C., Graham-Smith, P., & Sinclair, P. J. (2016, May). A Quantitative Analysis Of Squash Shot Accuracy. In ISBS-Conference Proceedings Archive (Vol. 33, No. 1).

DB/TH

On June 19th Squash Site posted a blog by Malcolm Willstrop (father of James Willstrop current World #6) who proposed that the game move to a best of 3 games scoring instead of best of 5. The current scoring in squash is games to 11 points (point-a-rally) and then best of 5 games. This is the scoring method used for all tournaments on the professional world tour except for 1, the World Series event at the end of the season.  This debate was sparked by the 2017 World Series event in Dubai, where we watched players play in the best of 3 games format for all matches except for the final. Now, players are weighing in with their opinions about this potential change. By altering the stakes of what it takes to win a match, the game of squash will evolve with it. Willstrop has said the quality of the matches were higher as players were less fatigued, going for more risky and adventurous shots and also produced a greater spectacle for the tv viewers. Willstrop believes that matches going 40-60 minutes in length are optimal for spectators, both on tv and in the crowds.

The Elshorbagy brothers (EGY, Mohammed current WR #3, Marwan current WR #7) then stated on social media that they are advocates for keeping the best of 5 game format. They agree that it is fun for the World Series event, but state that they don't want to the sport to change. The argument for keeping best of five is that it demands a lot more physicality and endurance as well as mental strength. Both of the brothers hope to maintain the tactics behind a best of 5 game match by maintaining the longer scoring format. Chris Simpson (ENG, Current WR #34) quickly agreed with the brothers and argued that "we are proud that many consider us the amongst the fittest athletes in the world".  In the same article, Lee Beechill, former World #1 and current PSA Squash TV commentator, ads to the debate by arguing that the best of 3 format demands an intensity and quickness from players that shows their athleticism in a different way. He also states that watching this year's World Series event was exciting, captivating, and overall an excellent experience from a spectator's perspective. 

Soon after the Elshorbagy Brothers' comments were published, Ali Farag (EGY, current WR #5) wrote a pro-cons article for PSA. He makes great arguments for both sides, but most notably that most people don't want to switch to best of 3 just purely on the fact that it is change! Although he believes best of 5 is best for himself, he closes with the statement that "the game is way bigger than any individual and we need to put the growth of our sport the top priority over anyone’s own benefits."

Most recently, Nick Matthew (ENG, current WR #4) also put his two cents on social media, also advocating for considering the change...

Lots of players have given their opinions...but what do you think? Vote below! 

We will continue to follow the debate and keep you updated....and let you know the results of our poll, too!

TEAM ECSA: How did you prepare for this tournament?

Aaron Frankcomb: This is a great question...Now that I am not a professional squash player, I have been putting my coaching clients first.....not my competitive squash. I absolutely still love competing, but this was something I had accepted when I decided to step off the tour 6 years ago. When I was a professional player, I followed a rigid preparation schedule:

• 3 weeks out (or as early as possible), I would determine who were the possible people I could be playing in the draw (or the actual opponent if it was released!), then watch them on PSA/SquashTV/YouTube two or three times to hone in on and determine their strengths and weaknesses. Then I would strategize and write out a game plan for myself that would also work into my own strengths while playing into those weaknesses
• 2 weeks prior to the event I would have increased my match play sessions to 4-5 per week out of my usual 13 sessions per week
• Then a week and a half before the event I would have tapered my training sessions down to give my body a prep
• The week of the event, I would make sure to see my physio and get a massage
• During hitting sessions the week of the event, I would go on court with sole goal of feeling confident, happy, and relaxed. No technical changes at all! They would generally just be coach feeding sessions, solos, and light routines with hitting partners. I would focus on the intent of my targets for all of the shots around the court to make sure I felt good. These were repeated exercises to work on the execution of each shot, one at a time. 
• Two days before my first match of the event was a day off
• The day prior to my match I would do light routines and solo, then finish with one hard game, to give my body a quick shock to be ready for the physical exertion of the event. I would also get used to the environment, venue, and the court conditions.

Team ECSA: What types of players did you encounter over the weekend?

AF: My first round was against Jaszon Chung. He is a runner who is quick on court and retrieves everything, making him also good at counter-attacking. In the second round, the semi-final, I played Nick Janicaud, who I have worked with and played against several times. We know each others games very well which definitely adds another dimension to the match. Nick hits the ball very hard and keeps the game moving at a very fast pace. Lastly, I played Simon Carruthers in the final! His game is much more like a shot-makers; he can move the ball around the court very accurately to make his opponents physically exhausted.

Team ECSA: How do you play against these styles?

AF: Against Jaszon, I needed to make sure to keep him moving and try to keep him running to get him out of position. I utilized a counter-attack to try to emphasize this point. Against Nick, I tried to mix the pace of the ball as much as I could, to try to gain ownership of the pace the game was played at, instead of trying to keep up with his hard hitting and fast pace. Versus Simon, I needed to make sure to use my physicality as an asset to counter-attack his shots. It was a lot of hard work (and always is against a shot maker!) to stay in the rally. I had to make sure I retrieved everything, while also hitting accurately and with pace to keep him moving and under pressure. I was hoping to get him under as much pressure as I could, since I figure from pressured positions it is harder to make those winning shots.

Team ECSA: What was the tournament atmosphere like?

AF: It was fantasic! We had a full crowd at the back of the court for the final and many players hung around all weekend, which always gives a great tournament atmosphere. Jason M has been having record numbers at his events this year so far and it just really adds another level to the events! He does a fantastic job on the Sydney squash scene. I had so much fun and I am very excited to have claimed the Next Gen Open 2017 title this year! ​Thanks to Next Gen and Jason and all of the people who helped run and support this event. 
​

If anyone has been keeping up with PSA's SquashTV and/or current tournaments on PSA, you'll see that this week is the Bellevue Classic out near Seattle, WA, USA. This is a big 100K tournament for the men on the tour right now, drawing in top players like Gregory Gaultier, Ali Farag, Ryan Cuskelly, and Marwan Elshorbagy. The 4-seed in the draw is England's James Willstrop, who is currently ranked #6 in the world. 

In the first two rounds of the tournament (he plays in the semi-finals today versus Gregory Gaultier!), he had incredible 5-game wins after being down late in the fifth game. He shows all of the mental toughness any player needs in tight situations like his.

In the first round, James came up against Hong Kong's Max Lee. They battled out the first four games, Lee winning 11-9 in the first, then Willstrop coming back 11-5, 11-5 and then Lee leveling it at 2 games all with an 11-4 fourth game win. In the fifth game, Willstrop was down 9-7 but came back to win 11-9. He is a former World #1 with tons of experience...but experience doesn't directly correlate to that kind of ability to dig deep. In his interview with PSA, he said:"I had to dig in and have faith in what I was doing. I’m very pleased to come away with the win. I just had to keep it as simple as I could really, once you start clouding your head with loads of thoughts it makes it worse. I only think about what I’m out there trying to do and I simplify it rather than think about how many points I’ve got to win. It’s not very easy, but you’ve got to forget about the scoreboard as much as possible."

After this incredible win, he decided he would do it again yesterday when he took on Spain's Borja Golan! James found himself 2-0 up after winning 11-6, 11-7. However Golan stepped it up a level and won the next two games quickly, winning 11-2, 11-6. They were quite tight through the first half of the fifth game, before Golan took a lead at 10-7. Willstrop then came back to bring it to 10-10 and then proceeded to win the next two points and take the match at 12-10 in the fifth. This last game was an incredible round of points and we HIGHLY recommend watching it (highlights in this article!)

Now, what can we take away from these incredible back-to-back five game wins? It is important to note what Willstrop said in his first PSA interview (which he reiterated with the courtside emcee after his match against Golan), which was to TRUST your game. Keep it simple. Once you are in that tight situation, it is highly important not to let the scoreline or the nerves or the stress get to you. If you stay focused on the task at hand, which is executing your game plan, you give yourself the best shot at performing well and therefore the best shot at winning the point, then hopefully the game and the match.  Another option? Set yourself some mini-goals!!

If you haven't watched any of the matches yet, here are some highlights from SquashTV. If you want to watch the full match, we recommend subscribing to SquashTV! Remember, we offer all of our East Coast Squash Academy members a 10% discount on SquashTV, so contact us now for your promo code :)!

A study at the University of Sydney (30 Nov 2016) explores which few sports that are good for your health. They came out with the conclusion that "racquet ball games, swimming and aerobics were found to be most protective against death from cardiovascular causes." 

Obviously, we are stoked! There have been many other conclusions that squash is good for you, including statements that squash is the highest calorie burning sport in existence...but it is always exciting to see a source from our home city, Sydney! Although this article did not talk about squash alone, it is exciting to see racquet sports getting the acknowledgement as a tough sport but also one that is good for you and may prevent serious heart complications or diseases. AND it's a great way to have fun, stay interested, and workout at the same time; no more boring treadmills at the gym for us (yes!). 

This year, squashsite, one of the squash communities biggest squash blogs, posted a hilarious April Fool's article about a mass retirement from all of the current top players. This was extra funny because it was the weekend before two huge tournaments, El Gouna International for the men and then Women's World Championships (also held in El Gouna, Egypt), which is happening right now. 

They gave nothing away about their April Fool's prank until the very end of their tumblr post, where they write #April #Fools. However, after you read through the first paragraph, you can tell the absurdity of it and discover their funny joke. It is hard not to fall for the headline, though! Click here to become part of the prank.  .....Although we probably should've just looked at the date :)

This post though reminded us of a great squash April Fool's video post prank from SquashSkills two years ago. They also did a great job keeping their cool during the video and posted it on YouTube later with the title April Fool's. SquashSkills decided to show a "new anaerobic" court sprint exercise....which you'll just have to watch to believe. Absolutely hilarious!!!!! ***Please don't try this at home!***

With the game of squash changing, it has become even more attacking with the low tin and players are becoming fitter with each passing day. The rallies at tournaments, particularly on the glass showcourts, are incredible feats of athleticism. 

For example, we all remember the viral video of New Zealander Paul Coll (WR# ) playing against England's James Willstrop at Canary Wharf (England) last year in 2016.... (if you dont remember, it is below): 

This was one of the first big videos that went viral for squash because of Coll's insane dives an gets.....and in the end, WINS THE POINT! Even BBC covered it .....click here see their coverage. 
​WHAT. A. RALLY.

It is so exciting to see that more and more websites, not squash related, are covering the epic rallies and giving nods to the incredible athletes on tour today. Deadspin posted an article about an epic rally between James Willstrop (clearly always involved in the toughies!) and fellow Englander Nick Matthew. Even they admit they haven't always given squash credit and instead prefer to roast the sport that we at East Coast Squash Academy love....but they have to admit that this rally is amazing!

The rally is shown in a video on their article....Click here to see it!

The sport is continually reaching more and more people with its entertaining feats of strength, skill, strategy, and mental toughness. It is so exciting to see that more people who aren't players themselves reposting and sharing squash rallies ....we are seeing more and more articles and social media posts about our sport....and we love to see squash grow around the world! How exciting!!