4.0 and beyond

I haven't logged an entry in months. With Niki not teaching anymore and losing my daytime occupation, I've lost the rigor of keeping track of my progress. That is not to say I have not improved. On the contrary, Richard now firmly says I'm playing in the 4.0 level. That's awesome! That was my goal from the beginning when I started to learn and play squash. Now the struggle is excel beyond 4.0 and compete at that level.

The good report is that I'm playing regularly with 4.5 players. The sad truth however, I'm woefully inadequate conditioning wise to sustain my level of intensity and concentration at that level. It's not much of an excuse, but July was off entirely due to a flu that persisted for 5 weeks. During that time, I had virtually no training or playing. Since returning to squash I haven't played enough and I only began running just once in the past two weeks.

On another positive note, I am taking lessons to develop my boast and lobs, which have been non-existent. I am aware of the mechanics of it now, but I need more practice.

Boast

• Just like hitting a straight drive from the back wall, I need to completely turn and face the back wall to hit the ball properly. It means the shoulders should be turned almost towards the back wall.

Lob

• Very important to have knees bent low and body very stable. The racquet face open and the wrist cocked. A slight flick of the wrist while the forearm and upper arm remains straight and swing upwards towards the ceiling.
• on the backhand side, I have to practice the motion at the tricep. It doesn't feel natural and strong enough to generate much lift on the ball. Also a little upward bounce on the knee helps prime the movement.