Lesson today

The club where I play squash has a childcare facility. Now that my son is 2 years old, I thought I give it a try and put him there for an hour to see how he does being away from his parents in a strange environment. At $9 per hour, it is the best deal I've seen. So it was that I took the time to get a lesson from Richard. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the lesson. Well the lessons are always good, but I feel especially happy about the assessment games I played with Richard. For the first time, I was able to stay point for point with him all the way to 10 all. He always has an extra gear he can tap into. For my part, I couldn't find or create any opportunities to attack. His lengths and widths are just so perfect that I get no chance. The only thing I could do is try to hit my shot as tight as his which in a nutshell is futile. Nonetheless, I stay with him and rallied to 10 all. The lesson was also good. Richard pointed to just one thing I should work on, the one thing I know I suffer from also, watching. So the drills we did today were all choices on his part and straights or boasts on my part. It helped my watching a little bit, but mostly he has very big swings that tends to give away his shot. He compensates for telegraphing by holding his shot a long time to draw you into committing early, unlike other players who might swing fast and early to catch you unawares. Watching him is not so hard in a drill, but it's different in real time during a game.

One of the drills involved me boasting from both sides depending upon whether Richard hits a drive or a cross. I had to move back to the T as part of my drill. As a result I learned two things about my movement. My recovery from the back hand side is awkward. I can't do the skip step back to the T and I take longer to get there. I also discovered that I can't hit the ball right when I'm standing with both feet together and I can't skip out of that stance at all. I will have to get back on track with footwork drills and practice again.

One final word. Richard showed me today that a trickle boast is very effective in pinning your opponent if you hit the boast in front of him when he is standing against the side wall.