COACHING & INSTRUCTION: SOLO PRACTISE
THEIMPORTANCEOF SOLOPRACTICE
By Anthony Ricketts New Zealand High Performance Coach
In squash, like any other sport, practice makes perfect. However, squash can differ from other sports in that you are able to do a quality practice, and a great workout session, without the need of a partner. You can refine your strokes and achieve greater consistency without having to rely on someone hitting the ball to you.
If you watch the top players, you will see immediately that they can hit the ball straight up and down the wall consistently for over an hour and a half. They are able to play volley drops with few errors; they are able to hit cross- courts with a consistent width. Sure this is due to many hours’ work with their coaches, but also due to many hours of work on the court on their own, hitting the ball over and over; and then refining the shot so that it becomes automatic – until it becomes a habit.
There are many different solo routines you can do and what follows are a few of these which will certainly make you feel more comfortable on the court and give you greater racket and ball control.
The most obvious solo routine, but also the most effective and important, is to drive the ball straight up and down the wall. Start with the forehand, trying to hit the ball with the same amount of power with every strike. You want the ball to land in the same place each time.
At first you may want to use targets, depending on your ability. Start off aiming for every shot to land inside the service box width and as your racket and ball control improves make the target smaller, half the service box width etc. Also set yourself a challenge - how many shots can I hit in the target consecutively?
It is important to remember that you are not trying to hit a winning shot - this routine is all about finding a rhythm, a flow, with repetition to develop a good habit, and this will mean that the flow of the routine should not stop and that the rally will continue uninterrupted for many minutes.
As you progress and you feel as though you have found your rhythm, hit the ball short every third or fourth shot, around the service box area, then move forward and take the ball on the first bounce and hit the ball down the wall, with the intention of hitting a winner - then move back and flick the ball up and continue the routine. The idea of bringing the ball forward on the third or fourth shot is that it not only ensures that you are moving your feet, but also helps you build confidence hitting the ball straight up and down the wall from all areas of the court, which is crucial.
Once you’re comfortable with this routine, stand back in the forehand corner and begin to hit the ball up and down the wall again, except this time, do not let the ball hit the back wall. This will mean you will have to speed up your swing and make sure you have good racket preparation. The idea behind this is that in a game you want to be taking the ball as early as possible, not letting the ball get to the back wall, and the only way to make sure you can control the ball is by practising repetitive hitting in a
www.isportgroup.com/InternationalSquashMagazine 18 | June 2010 INTERNATIONALSQUASHMAGAZINE
speed situation. You now want to repeat these three different routines on the backhand side.
With the same principal of handling and controlling the ball coming quickly at you and being used to speeding up your swing, now move up to the service line and begin volleying the ball back and forth to yourself on the forehand. One way to challenge yourself and keep it interesting is to count how many in a row you can volley back to yourself without making an error and then try to beat this number the next time you practise. This is a simple routine in principle but difficult to master. Once you are confident in doing this, chances are your ball control will improve to a degree in which you can hit the ball to most places on the court with great accuracy.
With both the drive and volley practices, you may find at first that you are constantly clipping the side wall before hitting the front wall, this will mainly be down to three reasons:
1. Being too close to the ball - as I explained earlier, move your feet and make yourself space
2. Hitting the ball too late - this is often due to late racket preparation
3. The grip - if the grip is wrong this will expose a long term lack of racket and ball control
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