Last weekend, director Aaron Frankcomb successfully competed in the 24thMAASH Open. Following his success, Aaron has shared some of his best warm up tips to help you get on top of your opponent from the word go.
Pictured L-R: Alex Crouch and Aaron Frankcomb before the final of the 24th MAASH Open.
In a game of squash you only have 5 minutes to establish how you are going to approach the game… that’s only 2 and a half minutes each side to figure out your opponent! In this time YOU need to do the following:
You Need To Identify How The Court Plays- Every court plays differently. Traditional hardback courts play different to traditional courts that have a glass backwall and an all glass court plays differently to both types of courts all-together. Other factors that effect how a court plays includes: the temperature, humidity, the quality/newness of the ball and the flooring. Identifying these factors during the warm up will allow you to adjust the weight of your shots and allow you target specific areas of the court i.e. dead floorboards in the back or front corners. To test how the court plays you need to vary your shot selection (lobs, drops, drives, boasts, cross-courts and kills).
You Need To Identify How The Ball Plays – There are three types of balls: a rocket Ball, a standard ball and a dead ball. A rocket ball is typically as hard as a rock and it fly’s around the court. If you identify that you are playing with a rocket ball in the warm up then you will need to adjust your game plan to use the pace of the ball and be really aggressive to the back of the court. A dead ball is typically really soft and spongy, which causes the ball to die quite easily. If you identify that you are playing with a dead ball ball in the warm then you will need to adjust your game plan to use the pace of the ball and be really aggressive to the front of the court. If the ball is neither a rocket ball nor a dead ball and it is playing quite neutral, then you should adjust your weight of shot according to how the court plays.
You Need To Identify Your Opponents Weaknesses – The warm up is a perfect opportunity to test your opponent’s skill. Varying both the weight of shot and the height is a good way to see if there are any chinks in their armour.
You Need To Win The Warm Up
Aaron was fortunate to play some of the best players in the world (Greg Gaultier, David Palmer, Thierry Lincou, Mohammed El Shorbagy and Nick Matthew), some of which had an INSTANT presence on court. For Aaron, this was “intimidating” due to the nature that these players would hold themselves. “Each player followed their presence up with very accurate hitting whilst taking the ball extremely early. This causes the warm up to become very intense and nearly game like, as some players would appear to be so competitive that they look as if they are trying to WIN the warm up by trying to get the ball past you. By holding themselves this way, this causes in many cases their opponents to be psychologically beat before the game has even started”
You Need To Identify How The Court Plays- Every court plays differently. Traditional hardback courts play different to traditional courts that have a glass backwall and an all glass court plays differently to both types of courts all-together. Other factors that effect how a court plays includes: the temperature, humidity, the quality/newness of the ball and the flooring. Identifying these factors during the warm up will allow you to adjust the weight of your shots and allow you target specific areas of the court i.e. dead floorboards in the back or front corners. To test how the court plays you need to vary your shot selection (lobs, drops, drives, boasts, cross-courts and kills).
You Need To Identify How The Ball Plays – There are three types of balls: a rocket Ball, a standard ball and a dead ball. A rocket ball is typically as hard as a rock and it fly’s around the court. If you identify that you are playing with a rocket ball in the warm up then you will need to adjust your game plan to use the pace of the ball and be really aggressive to the back of the court. A dead ball is typically really soft and spongy, which causes the ball to die quite easily. If you identify that you are playing with a dead ball ball in the warm then you will need to adjust your game plan to use the pace of the ball and be really aggressive to the front of the court. If the ball is neither a rocket ball nor a dead ball and it is playing quite neutral, then you should adjust your weight of shot according to how the court plays.
You Need To Identify Your Opponents Weaknesses – The warm up is a perfect opportunity to test your opponent’s skill. Varying both the weight of shot and the height is a good way to see if there are any chinks in their armour.
You Need To Win The Warm Up
Aaron was fortunate to play some of the best players in the world (Greg Gaultier, David Palmer, Thierry Lincou, Mohammed El Shorbagy and Nick Matthew), some of which had an INSTANT presence on court. For Aaron, this was “intimidating” due to the nature that these players would hold themselves. “Each player followed their presence up with very accurate hitting whilst taking the ball extremely early. This causes the warm up to become very intense and nearly game like, as some players would appear to be so competitive that they look as if they are trying to WIN the warm up by trying to get the ball past you. By holding themselves this way, this causes in many cases their opponents to be psychologically beat before the game has even started”
So, overall what are the lessons that these pro’s taught Aaron during a warm up?
“These lessons for me over the years has taught me to not lower my bar for anyone, as I should play at the level I want to play. This places me in the right mind set from the word go allowing me to varying my shots, take the ball early whilst reacting and responding like a game situation”.
Below are Aaron’s final results from the 24th MAASH Open.
The East Coast Squash Academy would like to thank and congratulate Jason on running another great event!
“These lessons for me over the years has taught me to not lower my bar for anyone, as I should play at the level I want to play. This places me in the right mind set from the word go allowing me to varying my shots, take the ball early whilst reacting and responding like a game situation”.
Below are Aaron’s final results from the 24th MAASH Open.
- 1st Round – Aaron Frankcomb vs. Matthew Durda - 3 – 0
- Quarter Final - Aaron Frankcomb vs. Paul Smith- 3 – 0
- Semi Final - Aaron Frankcomb vs. Branighan Swan- 3 – 0
- Final - Aaron Frankcomb vs. Alex Crouch- 3 – 0
The East Coast Squash Academy would like to thank and congratulate Jason on running another great event!
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